Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
We came - we stepped - we conquered
More than 700 members of staff, both teams and individuals, took part in the annual initiative that challenged staff to walk, cycle or swim at least 10,000 steps a day over a six week period to complete a virtual journey from London to Rome (team challenge) or London to Paris (individual challenge).
As part of an innovative health and wellbeing project headed up by the University, staff were given branded pedometers on which to record their steps (as well as funky eyewear and selfie sticks!). At the end of every week, team/individual results were recorded and staff were able to track their progress on a specially designed interactive map.
And the results are…
John Hamilton, Head of Safety, Health and Wellbeing at Leeds Beckett, said: “We created the Beckett Steps challenge to try and engage all colleagues at our University in something that would be fun, but would also improve their health and wellbeing.
“We have been genuinely amazed by the level of interest this year, with one in three of our campus-based staff taking part. The competitive elements introduced for 2016, including the treasure hunts and ‘selfie of the week’, have certainly added another dimension to the challenge – who would have thought our ordinarily friendly staff were such determined winners!
“Beckett Steps 2016 has been an overwhelming success. Once again I would like to offer my sincere thanks to all the staff who made it possible, and who dedicated so much time and effort to the challenge, including all the participants.
“I am very much looking forward to 2017’s challenge. Today Rome – tomorrow the world!”
Whilst the team are still waiting on the results of the pre and post–event questionnaires, 2015’s challenge demonstrated a 35% increase in physical activity level, a 5.2% increase in overall wellbeing, a 5.3% increase in mental wellbeing, a 1% to 3% reduction in blood pressure and a 0.3% reduction in BMI (IPAQ and Warwick-Edinburgh scores).
Jim McKenna, Professor of Physical Activity and Health, explained: “Workplace initiatives, like Beckett Steps, are important for a number of reasons. At a personal level the walking it promotes helps individuals to become more biologically healthy Importantly, this generates better work performance, especially where the work has a considerable cognitive load; this might involve being more organised or doing things more efficiently within limited time slots.
“Social health is often enhanced too, because participants join together in a collective effort; when people are walking together they often discuss work-related issues. This collective effort away from work, combined with individual participants feeling healthier, often has a powerful spin-off that enhances team performance in work. That helps to deliver organisational aspirations and goals. Set against the evidence that most organisational initiatives to enhance performance are abject failures, we begin to see the deep value of the initiatives like Beckett Steps.”
Jim, with Dr Mariana Kaiseler, Senior Lecturer in the Carnegie Faculty, and PhD student, Clare Smith, worked collaboratively with the wellbeing team to inform measures used and improve the quality of the challenge evaluation. Once published, this year’s outcomes will be assessed in fine detail and further qualitative work will also be conducted to understand experiences related to workplace physical activity and wellbeing.
Duncan Folley, Principal Lecturer in Computing, Creative Technologies and Engineering, and winner of the individual Beckett Steps Cup weekly knockout competition and £25 Virgin Experience Days vouchers, commented: “I found the step challenge quite addictive. I was prepared to put the time in as I was planning to do a long bike ride over the summer break, however I didn't realise just how much time I would invest in it. The last week in particular was hard work - getting up at 6am to put the hours in - I also lost a stone in weight. But my endurance has improved tremendously and the challenge provided a nice talking point with other staff involved in the challenge.”
As well as the weekly City and Headingley campus walks, Big Walks around York, Fewston and Swinsty Reservoirs and along the Leeds to Liverpool canal were introduced as part of the initiative. A Big Climb up Pen-y-Ghent, lead by Carnegie Great Outdoors, also took place on Sunday 5 June.
Beth Hallam, Prospectus Officer and group walk leader, added: “I absolutely loved this year’s Beckett Steps Challenge. The ante was certainly upped from last year, and the sense of camaraderie and competition was great. It’s certainly inspired me to get out walking and visit some of my local beauty spots more often.”
To view the final interactive map go to http://bit.ly/28RbrW8.
To view the 100’s of selfies and pictures taken go to http://bit.ly/28L7ior.