EXCLUSIVE: More than 1,400 employees at Fujitsu UK and Ireland are participating in the Global Corporate Challenge (GCC).
The GCC is a 16-week initiative, which takes place between May and September and invites employees from around the world to form teams to represent their organisation.
It aims to help staff improve their relationship with exercise and nutrition.
As part of the challenge, participants create a goal of taking a certain amount of steps per day, measured as they walk, run, cycle or swim.
Fujitsu UK and Ireland has supported the GCC in the workplace for the past three years.
In 2012, it supported 20 teams of seven employees, but the demand was greater than anticipated.
In 2013, it set a close date and accepted all employees who applied before that date. Around 1,000 people were interested, but it could only support around 700.
David Brackwell, head of wellbeing and inclusion at Fujitsu UK and Ireland, said: “The GCC is constantly refining its approach. In that second year, it came back to us with a lot more data.
“There was stuff about self-reported improvements in health, weight loss, increased engagement at work and performance. It created a really feelgood reaction in the organisation.”
For the 2014 GCC, Fujitsu UK and Ireland filled more than 1,000 spaces within two and a half days, but still had interested employees who had missed the sign up. It ended up having enough people to form another 100 teams.
“When you look at some of the weight loss statistics we get back, this isn’t a group of people who are at the gym everyday,” said Brackwell. “They are people like me, who have made a decision, made a change, and it has made a real difference to them, in terms of their health and their fitness.”
Fujitsu UK and Ireland communicated the event via email and the organisation’s all-employee newsletter, which provided details about the event and how to register.
“There has been a little bit of publicity on our intranet, and we also did some post-event publicity,” added Brackwell.
“Last year, we did a bit of a splash with the winning team. But in terms of attracting interest, we haven’t had to go out and strong-arm people. I think that’s quite illuminating.”
