Using a range of company-wide communications, KPMG has increased its employee participation in the Global Corporate Challenge by 26 per cent over last year.
The Canadian arm of the professional services firm, which has participated in the international wellness and health program since 2011, has 82 teams of seven members signed up to participate in the 2016 100-day challenge that kicked off on May 25.
“We’re trying to get [the message] out through any firm-wide communication, so we’ll post that on our internal portal, we do have [Global Corporate Challenge] champions and we have leaders that are very involved with the program,” says Danielle Centanni, senior analyst for total rewards and internal program co-ordinator for the Global Corporate Challenge at KPMG.
“They’ll typically take advantage of their networks, they’ll send emails, they’ll try to get people talking and moving.”
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Centanni attributes the increase in participation to a new webinar that outlined the details of the Global Corporate Challenge and how KPMG employees could participate. For instance, employees must sign up in teams of seven, with each member paying a $100 fee. KPMG has a fitness reimbursement program that pays back 75 per cent of that amount, however.
After enrollment in the program, staff are given pedometers which are used throughout the 100 days by teams trying to get the most steps and appear on global leader-boards, says Centanni.
The program introduces new modules at 30-day intervals. According to Centanni, the program might first introduce a nutrition module, and “then a month after that there will be a sleep module and a month after that a mental-health module or a balance module.” By the end of the 100 days, employees with participate in all modules.
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While the annual 100-day challenge is the main focus of the Global Corporate Challenge, employees who enrol in the program have access to the resources for the full 12 months. As a participating employer, KPMG has the option to start three flexible challenges across the organization.
To deal with a decline in enthusiasm from participants as the 100 days progress, KPMG has Global Corporate Challenge champions who motivate others on their team. Informal feedback from participants has been positive: KPMG’s annual wellness surveys have shown improvement in the areas of work-life balance and supportive work environments over the years.
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All employers that participate in the Global Corporate Challenge receive concrete statistics based on the data the organization collects from participating organization. Employers can compare employee statistics before and after the 100-day challenge and see how their employees fare in comparison to global averages.
Centanni is a member of one of KPMG’s seven teams. “I’m someone who really likes to set personal goals, and this very quickly became one of those for me,” she says, noting the challenge of reaching the goal of 10,000 steps a day.
“And that was just the start. Soon enough, it was becoming a rather regular activity, and then you find that you’re looking for ways to get up and move, to stretch. Without having a real conscious awareness of things, you start to make these changes as a result of going along with the program.”
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