Having grown to become the largest workplace health initiative of its kind in the world, the GCC is designed to inspire, motivate and support employees to make little daily changes to their behaviour that have a significant and ongoing effect on their health and wellbeing.
Regardless of their age, sex, fitness level or perceived limitations, the GCC aims to fundamentally change how employees look at being more active.
In teams of seven, participants record their daily activity using a 'GCC Pulse' (a 3D accelerometer), enter it into the GCC website and their achievements take them on a virtual journey around the world. The more active the team, the further they progress and the more they discover.
When applied across a workforce the GCC is not only proven to deliver sustainable improvements to employee physical and mental health, but to also bring business health benefits to its 1,300 participating organisations including enhanced productivity, reduced absenteeism and a stronger culture of resilience.
Over the course of the 16-week challenge the HR magazine team (or 'Ramblers Anonymous' as we are known to the GCC community) will be bringing fortnightly updates on our progress in the challenge:
Week 2
Two weeks ago the accelerometer's arrived in the office and there was a buzz of activity as rival teams started the GCC.
Competitive banter was traded and confidence was high, that in 16-weeks time our team would be top of the league and a healthier lifestyle change would've taken place.
Fast-forward to today and Ramblers Anonymous sits bottom of the office league table, trailing by a huge 209 miles.
There are a number of reasons for this shockingly bad start to the challenge: quite a few missed entries, work commitments and a rather exuberant after-work Friday drinks session, which had massive knock-on effects for the mobility of one team-member in particular for the entire weekend.
On a personal note I got off to a bad start, not getting over the 10K mark for the first eight days. But then there was a remarkable turnaround, posting step scores of: 14K, 21K and a personal best of 24K – GCC I've arrived.
Ramblers Anonymous, may be bottom of the table but on the brightside we have another 14 weeks to catch up. At the pace at which one team has started, I believe they could suffer from 'burnout'.
I'm taking confidence from Aesop's much loved fable, the tortoise and the hare. And to use quite an apt cliché: It's a marathon not a sprint.
The GCC does make you think how sedentary your lifestyle can get and a quick look at your 'GCC Pulse' at 5pm, gives you the motivation to change small things such as, walking home instead of catching the bus and taking the stairs instead of the lift.
There will be another update from Ramblers Anonymous in 2 weeks time when hopefully we've moved up that league table.
