County Down based construction firm GRAHAM has launched a '100 Day Challenge' that requires staff to be physically active for at least 10 minutes each day.

The challenge, as part of the company's health and wellbeing calendar, is helping 250 employees from across the UK to focus on getting fit for the summer.

Explaining how the '100 Day Challenge' is part of a wider company commitment to supporting staff wellbeing, Michael Smyth, GRAHAM's HR Director, said: "Good wellbeing is good business and our commitment to driving excellence in people management led to GRAHAM embarking on a new approach to employee wellbeing. 

"In response to staff feedback, GRAHAM started to implement a quarterly focus on a single wellbeing topic to support our people live a healthier life. In Quarter 1 of this year, we focused on 'Eat well' and nutrition, in Quarter 2 it's 'Get fit for summer' and exercise, in Quarter 3 it will be 'Prevention is better than Cure' and fighting illness and then in Quarter 4, 'Healthy minds' and mental health."

Mr Smyth continued: "Each quarter we invite staff to take on board helpful practical advice and tips for success, which are posted on a dedicated GRAHAM wellbeing intranet site. We also organise engaging webinars, group-wide activities and competitions such as the 100 Day Challenge."

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Through the current initiative, GRAHAM employees work in teams of six and track their activities using the Strava mobile app and website and earn one point for every ten minutes of activity, gaining up to a maximum of six points per day. Points are also awarded for achieving key milestones and, as a further incentive, prizes are awarded for performance and perseverance. A dedicated dashboard allows teams to track their progress and see where they are on the leaderboard.

Mr Smyth added: "We recognise that staff having the right skills, behaviours and physical and mental wellbeing will support them to flourish in all aspects of their lives, whilst delivering real results for the business in terms of engagement, retention and productivity.

"To help us get our health and wellbeing provision right, we have sought expert advice from Support to Perform, which provide solutions to help optimise the health and wellbeing of your workforce to enhance engagement and maximise productivity."

Hillsborough headquartered GRAHAM operates 23 regional offices across the UK and Ireland, including in Hillsborough and Belfast, and employs 1100 people in the region.

Dr Jonathan Bloomfield, Director of Support to Perform, commented: "We have designed a brand new Corporate Health Challenge for GRAHAM, encouraging staff to log a wide variety of exercise activities in order to score points. Part of this unique design was to be wholly inclusive of all fitness abilities and interests within GRAHAM and to keep things competitive and fun too. This is certainly not your average everyday steps challenge."

In December 2018, GRAHAM won the inaugural Excellence in Health and Wellbeing Award at the Investors in People (IIP) Awards. The prestigious accolade was in recognition of GRAHAM's pioneering employee health and wellbeing initiative, CONNECT PLUS. 

GRAHAM was also awarded IIP Platinum accreditation last year, the highest accolade that can be achieved against the IIP standard and is currently held by only 3% of IIP accredited organisations.