Four ways of getting more exercise at work

1. Organise a challenge

Retailer Lidl challenged their staff to take (and register) 10,000 steps per day via their smartwatch or another mobile device. The company also organised other sporting challenges, and the participants who competed in every discipline stood to win prizes related to health: from a soup maker to a fitness bench and even a spinning bike.

2. Athletic (and virtual) team building

During the worldwide Global Challenge, staff across the globe could take part in (virtual) hiking or sports activities. During a 100-day period, participants at Orange Belgium used Virgin Pulse to measure their indicators for health, nutrition and rest. The more often they did this, the more locations they could discover. Jogging, swimming, cycling, yoga, rowing or dancing: every movement counted. 

At Orange some 220 teams from six countries, including Belgium, walked around the world almost 35 times.

3. The connected table

The trendy furniture label Herman Miller has developed a connected desk that automatically adjusts its height. When users connect the table with their smartphone or smartwatch, the table lets them know when it’s time to switch from working in a sitting position to standing up or vice versa, and it also quickly adjusts its height automatically.

4. The healthy bonus

In the near future the IoT will make it perfectly possible to stimulate staff to make healthier choices. For instance, sensors can monitor and report how often employees take the stairs instead of the elevator, how often they choose fruit instead of a sugary dessert or how often they’ve used the sports facilities at work. Those who rack up enough points at the end of a certain period can be eligible for a healthy bonus, such as a fun sports activity or a wellness treatment.