How to run a workplace step challenge that people finish
A step challenge at work is simple to start: pick a few weeks, split people into teams, count steps. Most of the work is in the choices you make before day one, because they decide whether the whole office takes part or only the three people who already run marathons.
The short answer
Choose a format where everyone can contribute, like teams pooling their steps toward a shared goal, rather than a leaderboard of individual totals. Run it for three to six weeks. Let people join with whatever counts their steps, keep individual numbers private unless people choose to share them, and give prizes for taking part, not only for winning.
Pick a format
Each format rewards something different, so pick the one that matches what you want the challenge to do.
| Format | How it works | Rewards | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Most steps | Every person’s or team’s total over the challenge | Whoever walks most | The already-active win every time, and the rest stop checking by week two |
| Team pool | Each team adds its steps together toward a goal or a ranking | Everyone’s contribution | Uneven team sizes, so rank by average per person or set goals by size |
| Improvement | Steps compared with each person’s own first week | Moving more than you used to | Needs a baseline week before it starts |
| Shared goal | The whole company walks a set distance together, like the length of a famous trail | Joining in at all | No winner, so it needs milestones along the way to stay interesting |
| Daily target | Points for each day someone reaches a target they chose | Consistency | Targets need to be personal, or it becomes “most steps” again |
Team pools and shared goals tend to be the friendliest: a slower walker still moves the team forward, and nobody’s total is on display.
How long to run it
Three to six weeks is a common length. Shorter, and there is no time to build momentum. Longer, and attention drifts unless something new happens along the way. Whatever the length, give it a clear start and end date and say them up front.
Start on a Monday, and avoid the weeks around big holidays, when routines (and step counts) fall apart for reasons nobody can help.
Make it fair for everyone
- Let people use what they have. A phone in a pocket, a fitness watch or a ring all count steps. Don’t make anyone buy a device to take part.
- Plan for people who can’t walk much. Injuries, disabilities, pregnancy and caring duties are all reasons some colleagues can’t chase a big number. Formats based on improvement or on taking part let them play on equal terms.
- Think about shifts and roles. Someone on their feet all day starts with thousands of steps that a desk worker doesn’t. Mixed teams, improvement-based scoring or per-person averages even this out.
- Make joining optional. A challenge people feel pressured into stops being fun for everyone.
Keep step data private
Step counts can say a lot about someone’s health and routine. Collect only what the challenge needs: a team total or a weekly number is usually enough, not daily detail. Show team results rather than individual ones, let people choose whether their own number is visible, and delete the data when the challenge ends. Managers shouldn’t see individual counts unless people choose to share them.
Keep it going
- Post a short update every week: the leaders, the most improved team, how far the company has walked.
- Add milestones to long challenges, like the distance to the next city or a famous landmark.
- Hold a walking meeting or a lunchtime walk in week two, when energy usually dips.
- Give the teams names. It sounds small, but it turns a spreadsheet into a group. We have 70 walking team names to start from.
Prizes
Prizes don’t need to be big. Small ones spread widely work better than one large prize for the top walker: something for every team that reaches its goal, for the most improved, for the team with the best name, and a draw among everyone who took part. If the goal is more walking, reward taking part as much as winning.
Running it with reTrek
For small teams, reTrek can do the counting and give the team somewhere to go. A team adventure pools everyone’s steps from their phones or watches toward one real route, like the Camino de Santiago or the Inca Trail, and a short film about the place unlocks for the whole team at each milestone. A team can be up to 10 people, depending on the route’s length. Teams that want to compete can race the same route instead, each walker with their own position on the map.
reTrek has no company dashboard or admin tools, so for a whole company, each team runs its own adventure and someone posts the weekly update. Everest Base Camp is free to walk. Get reTrek.