To dread this company charity day?

I wouldn’t have booked a day off. Just wouldn’t have fund raised, not bought the kit and would have hurt my foot 15 minutes in.

I wouldn't have done it either. It's not very inclusive to have such a physical event. What about less mobile members of staff or staff with other health issues.

Hi @PawsAndReflection
NightWatch here - you posted this multiple times so I’ve got rid of the duplicates

42km walk and the website stresses that it’s challenging. There are going to be lots of people who can’t manage it.

This is what I would do:

Stick your sponsorship form on the office notice board. If anyone signs up, that’s great. If not, so be it. Don’t ask friends and family if you don’t want to.

On the day, pack a packed lunch and drinks. Start. Go at your own pace. When you’ve had enough, stop. Eat your packed lunch. Go home. Or if it’s a nice day, stay in whichever park you made it to and have an ice cream.

Stick your sponsorship form on the office notice board. If anyone signs up, that’s great. If not, so be it.

Nobody in the office is going to sponsor anyone else if they all have to do it!

I would absolutely not be able to do that. It's probably discriminatory as well. I'd have no qualms saying I'm not doing it.

Is that a cough coming on?

Can you use your last LFT to t
"test positive" and then have to work from home?

This is a classic case of some twat in management having a "great idea" and not fully thinking it through.

I'd not be using a day of annual leave to avoid this and I sure as hell wouldn't be doing it either!

• it's ablist - does your company have access to everyones medical records and know 100% this is a reasonable ask? I'm autistic and the idea of being surrounded by hundreds of people participating in forced fun completely freaks me out
• are the company acutely aware of my financial information to be assured in a cost of living crisis I can afford to buy the necessary equipment?
• is there an assumption that my friends/family can afford to sponsor me? The idea of asking for money during these difficult times strikes me as inappropriate.
• are my working hours in line with this event? What about childcare or those with caring responsibilities?

It would be a hard no from me.

Nobody in the office is going to sponsor anyone else if they all have to do it

In my office, we’d all be sponsoring each other for 10p a mile or something pathetic but mutually supportive like that.

Requiring a mixed bunch of people to walk 28 miles when a number of them won't have walked further than the end of their drive for years is extremely foolish and guaranteed to cause health issues or joint injury to some of the participants, especially without building up to it gradually.

I used to work for a search & rescue team. We would regularly be out for 7-8 hours in difficult terrain, trained weekly, were equipped to professional standards etc. A 28 mile walk on hard-paved surfaces is not something to be undertaken without proper prep.

Someone needs to have a word with management.

I would be plausibly enthusiastic beforehand, all the while having no intention of actually doing it. On the day, I would be waking up with a high temperature, oh how sad to miss out on this fabulous event.....

We also have to fundraiser a minimum of £300 each in the next 4 weeks What?! Work can't demand that X money of your salary or X money of the salaries of people who do not work for them go on something that they've chosen.

Has the boss with this bright idea had HR sign off on this?

Ridiculous. Firstly the assumption that everyone is capable of this and secondly the ignorance that everyone can afford to donate and have friends/family that can afford to. Shocking level of stupidity

Yes to what everyone’s said. Voluntary, fine. Compulsory, bloody awful idea. What’s on the 30 item kit list?

Contact HR.

How do they expect all employees to walk 45 Km. Depending on the size of the office there will be people with disabilities, high blood pressure, not mobile, pregnant women.
Have they done a risk assessment?
What about the weather? If it is in summer there could be a heat warning, in winter who knows.
What are they doing to keep people safe if there are stragglers and it is dark. Have they heard of Sarah Everard?
How are they going to compensate people for their injuries / health issues?

Amazing that the amount you have to raise is the same as the COL payment.
Do you agree with the charity you are fundraising for?

This is ridiculous. You can’t make a walk of any nature compulsory, let alone one graded as Tough and for experienced trekkers.

Someone - or even better a group of employees - needs to be challenging on the following issues-

As well as being too difficult for most people, any non-hikers are going to have to lay out at least £300 for a cheap pared-down set of equipment from that list, or risk injuries/lots of discomfort.

What is the date? The website recommended 4-6 months training for people who aren't already very fit.

And very discriminatory against many people who will have disabilities, health conditions, overweight, 65 year old knees, child or other responsibilities, etc.

There is a half length option - are people allowed to do this instead?

Sponsorship amount - a lot of people will not be able to raise that from friends and family. What happens if people can't?

I suspect it's a pet project of a high-earning sporty type Director, who forgets others are not in the same position.

Are management are HR also walking the event and buying the things for the pack?

I can’t quite get over the fact that more than one person in management, and presumably HR too, have thought that this is a good idea.

Remove you annual holiday day. I'm sure others will chicken out before the start.
I did a 10 mile walk as a teenager and was crippled with blisters which lasted ages.
Say you will make a private donation to the charity as you aren't asking friends and family during this spending crisis.

No doubt your contract will state you are obliged to follow any 'reasonable' request from management. This isn't reasonable by any stretch of the imagination.
I'd be informing my line-manager that I cannot do this for health reasons, copying-in HR, and say you'll be in the office as usual on the specific day. Let others you think feel the same know what you are doing.

Are you perhaps meant to do this in teams as a relay? Otherwise it's idiotic.

Apart from the actual length of the walk I don't have anyone I could ask to sponsor me. When DD was little and did sponsored stuff at school I used to write just my name on the sponsorship form and stick a tenner on it.

£300 is a ridiculous and unachievable ask.

This is obviously ridiculous & it's crazy that any even half-right-thinking organisation proposed it, let alone thought they could compel people!

But the idea you'd book annual leave rather than address this, along with all the 'pretend to be sick on the day' suggestions baffles me!

Just be an adult, and explain why it's a bad idea, and why you aren't doing it.

It's for 'participants with an adventurous spirit and an open mind.'
I would hope those unable to afford it, or who aren't physically able, aren't disadvantaged by the suggestion that they are unadventurous and closed minded!