Corporate wellness is no longer just a trend but a crucial aspect of a modern workplace dynamic. Prioritizing employee well-being is about showing your employees you care about their holistic well-being, in and out of the workplace. Creating and implementing a movement challenge is a great way to encourage your employees to prioritize adding movement to their everyday lives.

With our platform, you can tailor challenges to match your desired level of physical activity and collective objectives for motivating your employees. In the following sections, we will explore the different types of challenges and help you choose the most suitable challenge type for your organization.

Types of challenges

Step-based Challenges

Step challenges are about keeping track of how many steps your employees take over a set time. With CorporateFitness.app, whether they use their own step tracker or our app, the steps get counted automatically in the background and show up on the challenge page. It’s easy for everyone, whether they have an Apple Watch, Fitbit, or any other fitness gadget. Most phones can also track steps automatically.

Activity-Based Challenges (distance or time)

Activity-based challenges are flexible – you can make them whatever you like. What sets these challenges apart is motivating participants to get more involved as they must actively ‘start’ and ‘stop’ an activity on their device or app. People can participate by counting steps or doing other exercises like swimming, yoga, or lifting weights. These challenges can be split into two main types: based on how far you go and based on how long you exercise, with various levels of inclusivity.

Distance-based challenges monitor the distance traveled during an activity. Data is tracked through GPS or ‘real-world’ data, meaning that everyday steps are not included towards these distances. Time-based challenges record the duration of physical activity. These challenges are often more inclusive because participants of all fitness levels can record their activities equally.

Wellbeing Challenges

A Wellbeing challenge is the most inclusive because it tracks not just movement, but also healthier lifestyle choices like devoting more time to social interactions over work or reducing scrolling time in favor of reading. It encourages a holistic approach to wellbeing, catering to diverse needs and preferences. Wellbeing challenges are different from the other types mentioned because they do not use data collected through fitness devices. Instead, they are based on self-reporting using the honor system.

As a challenge administrator, you determine a list of activities connected to an overall healthier lifestyle. A Wellbeing challenge can include a variety of activities like reading a book, cooking a healthier meal, reducing screentime, practicing mindfulness, etc. Participants then can come to the app to mark which activities they have completed.

Selecting the Ideal Challenge for Your Organization

Now that you have a better idea about what types of challenges exist, how do you choose the right type for your organization? There are many variables that will inform your decision, but here are a few questions that can help guide you towards the right type of challenge for your organization.

Q1: How do you expect your participants to track their progress?

Supported devices/apps to track. If your group of participants is more likely to use their watch, ring, or smartphone to track their progress, go with a Step challenge. Step challenges work best with a connected device or app because all daily steps are automatically tracked in the background and can be synced into the app. Manual entry is still possible.

Manual entry. If your group is more likely to enter their data manually into the app, consider doing an Activity-based challenge. You could also choose a Step challenge with step-conversion enabled for participants who are engaging in activities other than walking/running.

Both. If you expect a mixture of progress tracking amongst your participants, any type of challenge could work for your organization.

Q2: Do you want to distinguish between different types of activities, such as separating running and cycling?

Distinguish between types. If you answered yes to this question, then you would benefit from choosing an Activity-based challenge. Whether you choose a Distance- or Time-based challenge, your participants have the option to track their preferred sport. Additionally, depending on your goals, there is the option to segment your leaderboards to group by activity.

No preference. If you don’t have a preference, all the challenge types could work for you.

Q3: How do you want to measure progress?

Based on effort. If you want your participants’ progress to be based on effort, a Step or Distance-based challenge would be the best choice. These challenges will encourage your participants to simply move more.

Based on duration. If you want progress to be measured based on duration, then a Time-based challenge would be the best choice. Not only does a Time-based challenge encourage your participants to move more, but it also allows them to measure all types of activities equally. For example, 1 hour of yoga is weighted equally to 1 hour of walking.

Q4: Which metric do you want to report on?

Steps or Points. If your priority is to measure steps, the best type to choose is a Step challenge. There is also the possibility of choosing an Activity-based challenge with step-conversion enabled.

Miles/Kilometers. A Distance-based challenge is the way to go if you are interested in seeing how far your participants can go, literally. Time. If you want to focus on and encourage your participants to spend more time being active, then a Time-based challenge is the best choice for your organization.

Q5: Do you want to include non-fitness data?

Yes, health is holistic. A Wellbeing challenge is the only type that will allow you to include activities like reading, eating healthier, or reducing screen time for your participants to engage in an overall healthier lifestyle.

No, we are more interested in movement. If your priorities are to encourage and facilitate your participants to engage in more movement, then any of the challenges can work to support your goals.

Next Steps

Now that you’ve had the opportunity to carefully consider your organization’s needs and select the type of challenge you wish to establish, what comes next? You can move forward by testing the challenge with a trial event to see how well it works, scheduling a demo for a deeper insight, or contacting us directly for any questions you might have. We’re here to support you every step of the way.