Step It Up, a two-month pedometer competition that rotates between LLU Health entities, allows employees to form teams of four and contend for prizes based on number of steps per team. Employees wear pedometers and record their daily steps online.
“This is a fun way for departments to get healthy together,” says Olivia Moses, DrPH, administrator of the Living Whole Employee Wellness Program. “Our goal is for employees to walk an average of 10,000 steps per day.”
A competition for University employees ran from February to April and had 750 participants. The average number of daily steps per person was 8,423, and the total steps of all participants reached 366,973,931. The impact was seen not only in the number of steps, but in number of pounds. University employees who lost weight lost an average of eight pounds. Nine employees lost 20 pounds or more.
“We get so busy we don’t make time to take care of ourselves,” explains Dr. Moses. “We’ve seen offices change their very culture—people now go walking during breaks instead of sitting for lunch. The University’s participation in the competition and how many steps our employees achieved exemplifies LLU Health’s Live It campaign.”
Watch for more information on the upcoming August competition for University Health Care employees. For more information on the Step It Up competition or the Living Whole Employee Wellness Program, e-mail livingwhole@llu.edu.