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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Work forcing walks

872 replies

CaramelCandle · 24/02/2021 13:08

My whole team is wfh. The manager has decided that everyone needs to walk 1000 steps a day on their lunch hour for the next month. We've been put into teams and have to record the steps and the team with the most will win a half day off. There were a few people not keen to take part but everyone has been put into a team anyway. AIBU to think this is stupid? I understand the idea is to get people away from their desk etc but it's the way it's been done so that you're letting your team down if you don't take part that I think is unfair. Surely it would be better to give people a choice without the guilt.

OP posts:
actanonverba22 · 24/02/2021 14:21

Wow can’t believe the vitriol this has received for encouraging a little bit of activity and promoting team spirit....makes me despair

santabetterwashhishands · 24/02/2021 14:21

Put a Fitbit on the dogs collar and let it play in the garden 😂 winner winner

TheKeatingFive · 24/02/2021 14:22

What you do in your lunchbreak should be your own choice. I'd start muttering darkly about medical issues and hope they back off.

TheKeatingFive · 24/02/2021 14:23

Wow can’t believe the vitriol this has received for encouraging a little bit of activity and promoting team spirit.

That's not the point and i'm sure you know it

notalwaysalondoner · 24/02/2021 14:23

I also dislike the idea of it being compulsory but on the flip side 1000 steps is nothing, can you make an excuse why it can be spread out over the day or something rather than doing it at lunch?

roundtheblock · 24/02/2021 14:24

DD has to do something similar for school. We turn off all the location tracking access on all our phones and don't have fitness apps installed. I am not going to enable/disable all these services each time we go out for a walk and again when we get home just for some optional activity, but now DD looks like either she's not doing any exercise or not got enough team spirit...

user1477249785 · 24/02/2021 14:24

Bloody hell. I use my lunch break to go for a run but even I'd go ballistic at this. It's not up to work what you do on your lunch break and there are so many diversity issues with this. I think you should point out the diversity problems and refuse to engage.

AprilThe8th · 24/02/2021 14:24

Do it once then send the same screenshot daily

Xiaoxiong · 24/02/2021 14:24

This is infuriating. In between work, I am dealing with homeschooling, making meals, providing snacks and drinks, in addition to all the life-work of meal planning, food shopping, washing, tidying, cleaning etc, none of which I can outsource right now. DH usually is amazing and pulls his weight 50/50 but he isn't well right now.

I have one child whose lunch break is 12.30-1.30 and then we are supposed to have time for a walk at 3pm after school is finished. But the other child finishes for lunch at 12.30 and doesn't start up again until 2.30 to make space for a walk after lunch but I can't leave the other one home alone!! So we can't have a walk all together until 5pm which is when I usually need to start making dinner.

I haven't even managed to leave the house for the last two days when the weather has finally been warm and pleasant. If work started breathing down my neck to walk in my lunch break I would seriously break down. Or scream. Or both.

Can you just leave the team without it being noticed?

H1974 · 24/02/2021 14:24

Personally, I would love this challenge but wouldn't complete it in my lunch hour, that's my free time away from my desk to sit, eat and enjoy my lunch! I would however do it at my own leisure, just because I go out walking everyday but wouldn't be dictated to the time.

Your employer cannot enforce this and I understand that many people would not like this idea and of course that is their choice, as it should be. If you don't want to do it, don't feel obliged.

Your employer is expecting screenshots of step counts, 1000 steps will be easily be done in and around the house anyway.

DynamoKev · 24/02/2021 14:25

@actanonverba22

Wow can’t believe the vitriol this has received for encouraging a little bit of activity and promoting team spirit....makes me despair
Its not "encouraging" its enforcing. That's the issue.
toocold54 · 24/02/2021 14:25

I don’t think anyone should be forced to do it but I do think it is a really good idea they’ve come up with.

I think the reward should be an individual thing though not a group reward as it’s not fair on the people who can’t take part fully.

Laila747 · 24/02/2021 14:25

I wouldn’t be happy with this.
My DD is having to do this atm....she’s 12 though.

sunflowersandbuttercups · 24/02/2021 14:26

@actanonverba22

Wow can’t believe the vitriol this has received for encouraging a little bit of activity and promoting team spirit....makes me despair
Totally not the point Hmm

OP is being pressured into doing work-related tasks during her unpaid lunch break. Her workplace have zero right to do that.

If they want people to do work-related exercise, they need to pay them for it!

acatcalledjohn · 24/02/2021 14:26

@Laila747

I wouldn’t be happy with this. My DD is having to do this atm....she’s 12 though.

"Having to"? By whose orders?

FAQs · 24/02/2021 14:26

I’d love that! Our team would also be up for that but I don’t know if it’s enforceable?

JustLyra · 24/02/2021 14:27

@actanonverba22

Wow can’t believe the vitriol this has received for encouraging a little bit of activity and promoting team spirit....makes me despair
It’s not encouraging though, it’s demanding. And demanding that they use their lunchtime - their own time - to do it.
JustLyra · 24/02/2021 14:28

Also group rewards is a shit system. It encourages bullying and puts pressure on anyone struggling.

Ninkanink · 24/02/2021 14:28

@rainyskylight

I think it’s a great idea. 1000 steps is nothing. It’s good to get outside for fresh air. It’s sunny at the moment. It’s literally just a walk around the block. Done in 10minutes, nice refresh before back at desk. At my work we encourage this sort of activity. It’s good for health and good for productivity.
It is absolutely out of order for an employer to try to dictate what their workers do during their unpaid lunchtime. It’s no business at all of theirs if people want to sit with a cup of tea to maintain their sanity, have a half hour power nap, read their children some stories or go for a walk. My employer is not my moral superior, nor do they get to lecture me/harass me/dictate to me on anything that is not specifically related to my work for them or during my time on the clock for them.
hobbyiscodefordogging · 24/02/2021 14:30

@DynamoKev and @JustLyra
No, it's not enforcing and demanding. They cannot physically force anyone to go for a walk at lunch time. They're relying on peer pressure, but they're not forcing or demanding, there's a difference.

bridgetreilly · 24/02/2021 14:30

I would happily record 0 steps every day and spend my lunch hour sitting on the sofa knitting.

endlesswicker · 24/02/2021 14:30

They'd get short shrift from me. No employer is going to tell me what to do in my own time.

What do the other people in your 'team' think about it?

Lemonsyellow · 24/02/2021 14:31

@actanonverba22

Wow can’t believe the vitriol this has received for encouraging a little bit of activity and promoting team spirit....makes me despair
Don’t be ridiculous. It’s bullying and illegal. And that makes me despair. But often those who go on about “promoting team spirit” by way of some sort of compulsory physical activity are bullies.
PurpleCrocuses · 24/02/2021 14:32

Are people really so lazy that they won’t walk for 10 minutes?

Calling disabled people "lazy" is unforgiveable. Or did you simply forget that disabled people exist?

Ableism is a serious problem in society. The OP already explained that disabled people are NOT allowed an exemption from this challenge but have been put on teams anyway.

How do you think the able-bodied members of teams who lose simply due to having a disabled team-mate will feel towards the person who made them lose?

As a disabled person, I've had to spend my life fighting the misconception that having a disabled person on your team is a burden and something that brings the entire team down. Shit like this only contributes to anti-disabled bias and division. There's a very real chance that disabled employees will experience hostility or be made to feel unwelcome as a result of being the reason their team loses. There are comments upthread about people being accused of "not being a team player" or "making others feel uncomfortable" simply for existing as disabled people. That kind of attitude is deeply ingrained. Ditto the idea that anyone can simply do physical activities if they force themselves to.

All the people saying "it's just a 10-minute walk don't be lazy it's no big deal" need to seriously check their able-bodied privilege.

Polkadotties · 24/02/2021 14:32

That would piss me off, I hate enforced ‘fun’.
I get out of my house every day as I have a horse. In my lunch time I like to sit quietly, eat my lunch and watch something on my iPad.
I wouldn’t want to spend it walking around