Since 2021, pascom has been rewarding employees for keeping fit as part of the company’s employee engagement strategy. The challenge, which takes place between January 1st to October 31st, aims to promote employee welfare and togetherness through fitness. The original concept stemmed from the 2020 lockdowns and the need to keep employees mentally sharp and connected whilst working from home. Through incentivising employees with financial rewards combined with raising money for charity, the challenge has been massively successful. Thankfully, as we fast forward to 2023, things look very different to 2020. As such, the challenge has evolved as a team-building exercise, with many employees now training and completing activities together.
Having successfully reached the targets in 2021 and 2022, it is no surprise that the pascom Get Fit Challenge 2023 target has been raised once again. However, last year, the team reached its 70,000 points target with just a few days to spare, so the new 75,000 points goal promised to be a much more challenging prospect. What is more, the qualifying activities have been redefined for 2023, with only the following activities qualifying:
- Cycling (“Normal”, E-Bike, Virtual)
- Alpine Skiing
- Rowing
- Running/Walking/Hiking
- Nordic Skiing
- Swimming
- Weight Training
- Yoga
- Fitness Training
The new target and qualifying activities combined to mean that the team really would have their work cut out for them. The desired outcome is that the team must work together, involve more employees and motivate each other to succeed and hit both the individual and team targets. If successful, the team would raise a considerable sum of money (a minimum of €7,500) for local charities and earn a €1,000 bonus for each employee who had accumulated a minimum of 1,000 points over the 10 months.
To add further motivation, the 2023 challenge included new “One-Off” swimming, running, walking and cycling challenges. The distances and times required for each discipline follow the Deutsches Sportabzeichen (German Sports Awards), a non-governmental part of the German Olympic Sports Confederation. As such, these challenges were anything but easy.
To go along with the sense of achievement, employees who successfully completed a challenge are set to receive a bonus (per challenge) ranging between €50 for a Bronze time and €75 and €100 for Silver and Gold respectively.
75,000 - Is it really a challenge?
To put 75,000 points into perspective, the pascom challenge runs for 10 months (303 days) and is designed in a way that each type of activity is awarded a specified amount of points per kilometre or per hour. Simple maths shows us that to hit the target, the team would need to consistently hit a minimum of 1732 points per week.
If the team had completed the challenge just by cycling, by the end of the 10 months, each individual would have needed to have ridden a minimum of 1,000 km (just to qualify) and the team must have ridden a combined total of 75,000 km. Meanwhile, running would have required a collective total of 25,000km and weight/fitness training would have needed a total of 3,750 hours in the gym - that’s more than 12 hours per day for 10 months!
Team pascom set off at lightning pace, hitting the required weekly points with ease. In previous years, we have seen significant Skiing points being accumulated. However, the milder temperatures and lack of Snow this winter meant the team took to other sports instead, including putting the new fitness equipment in the pascom gym to good use! That said, when it did get cold, a few brave members of team pascom plunged into the freezing waters of a local lake to “enjoy” a spot of Ice Bathing! The result is that the team didn’t drop points until the last week of June, a week in which a large number of the team were involved in exhibitions and the pascom Partner Summit.
Once the late spring/early summer wet weather gave way to the warmth of mid-summer, team pascom really took off. What was really noticeable was the massive uptake in team fitness sessions. pascom Health Manager, Magdalena Hambach oversaw BodyPump/BodyBalance sessions twice a week. The pascom running club also enjoyed a surge in popularity as did the bike club which saw more members of team pascom take to commuting to work on their bikes on an even more regular basis compared to previous years.
It was also great to see pascom employees taking on plenty of other team activities outside of “office” life. For example, it was common for employees to get together and take on the extra spice challenges and the 2023 Heimat Trails Trophy provided the perfect opportunity for weekend get-togethers to enjoy a few hours hiking through the natural beauty of the mountains of the Bavarian Forest.
Given the tone in which this article has been written, especially considering the title and publication date, it should not surprise anyone to learn that team pascom has indeed rocked the 2023 challenge. We surpassed the required 75,000 points on September 17th as a number of the team were hiking Großer Arber, which is the highest peak in the Bavarian Forest standing at 1,456m (4777ft) tall.
It was hard, but rewarding work, especially considering that when the targets were revealed, few thought it was achievable. But this is the power of teamwork, by sticking together, motivating and sometimes pushing our colleagues to achieve more, the unachievable suddenly doesn’t look so insurmountable!
Mathias Pasquay, pascom CEO
Promoting teamwork and motivation is one of the main objectives of the challenge and is fantastic to see that it is having the desired effect as evidenced by the fact that so many employees have bettered their personal points tally this year and that we overcame a challenging target with a month and a half still to go. What makes this all the more pleasing is that I was starting to worry we wouldn’t hit our goal, especially as it was literally by the skin of our teeth last year. Hitting 75,000 points goes to show just how connected and motivated the team has been, both in terms of the challenge and within the workplace. I am proud of the team and am looking forward to announcing which organisations we will be supporting this year, all thanks to our team’s drive and commitment.
About pascom
Founded in 1997, pascom are the developers of next-generation UCC Telephony Solutions and we upgrade business communications.
With pascom’s innovative on-premise and cloud UC phone systems at the heart of their communications, businesses have a centralised, intelligent hub giving them total control over the organisation’s communications – no matter how diverse and dynamic the business communication channels.
The pascom platform offers excellent scalability and is highly customisable to exactly match even the most specific customer requirements. This is why pascom phone systems are the perfect choice to support Small Medium Enterprises to communicate smarter, more efficiently and more cost-effectively.
Visit www.pascom.net to learn more about pascom and how our solutions support businesses upgrade their business communications.