My work's "optional" wellness challenge has become a bloodsport.
By @codywelp · Work
My company runs a step-tracking challenge for a gift card every summer. A few coworkers are taking it so seriously they've created a side-channel to litigate the rules, and now they're accusing me of cheating for having a high-step weekend with my kids.
The full story
My company does this "optional" (everything is optional in quotes) wellness challenge every summer. The grand prize for the person with the most steps is a $200 a place nearby gift card. Not a trip to Hawaii, not a new car, a $200 gift card. But you would think it was for a life-changing amount of money based on how some of my coworkers are acting. As a mom of two (a 7-year-old and a 9-year-old), my daily step count is pure chaos. Some days I barely hit 4,000 because I'm just a glorified taxi service driving them between school, soccer practice, and playdates. Other days, I'm a machine. We spent a recent Saturday at a local amusement park and I think I clocked more miles than a marathon runner just tracking them between the roller coaster and the cotton candy stand. My life is already an involuntary wellness challenge, you know? Well, a few people in our accounting department have taken it upon themselves to be the official enforcers of this challenge. They started their own Slack channel (it's called "Step-Up-Or-Step-Out," I'm not kidding) where they debate the rules and post screenshots of their progress. They even drafted a multi-page "Official Rulebook & Code of Conduct" pdf. It’s longer than our actual employee handbook. This past weekend was our town's big summer street festival, which for parents means hours of walking around while the kids beg for fried dough and try to win a giant stuffed animal. My step count was huge, something like 26,000 steps. I synced my Fitbit, didn't think twice about it, and on Monday morning I wake up to a message in the group chat from one of the accounting guys. they asked me to "please verify the activity type" for my weekend steps because my total represented a "significant deviation from my weekday baseline." I was floored. He was basically accusing me of cheating. I replied, "The activity is called 'parenting,' you should try it sometime." Which, okay, maybe a little passive-aggressive. This opened the floodgates. Another coworker chimed in and referenced section 3, paragraph C of their fan-fiction rulebook, which says steps must be from "dedicated fitness activities" and not "incidental lifestyle movement." They are literally debating whether chasing my son after he stole my funnel cake counts. I don't know what to do. This has gone from a fun little thing to another source of stress. I feel like I have to submit a timesheet for my own feet. It's just so ridiculous.
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