A team of nearly 150 staff at top 30 professional services firm Bishop Fleming have started a virtual challenge to circumnavigate the globe.
The firm, which delivers audit, accounting, tax, and advisory services to businesses and private wealth advice to individuals has launched the challenge as part of its Back:Better campaign as it looks towards the end of the Coronavirus restrictions and returning to normal operations.
Designed to foster employee engagement among its people, the challenge will also promote health and wellbeing and provide vital fundraising opportunities as part of the firm’s approach to corporate social responsibility.
Andrew Sandiford, Managing Partner at Bishop Fleming said: “After an unprecedented 18 months of being distanced from each other, this challenge is a great initiative to bring us back closer together whilst having some much-needed fun.
We are an innovative, relationship-led business and that is why we’re launching our Round the World challenge – we want as many of our people, their families and our clients to join us in the attempt.”
Paul Seymour, Marketing Director and Challenge Leader added: “The flexibility of our challenge is what makes it so inclusive. Any activity that can be measured can be included, such as walking, hiking, running, cycling, swimming, rowing or even stand-up paddle boarding, meaning it will appeal to people of all abilities. Literally every step will count.
We’ve plotted a route that takes in six continents and 31 countries – a total of 40,000 miles and will be using an innovative online platform to aggregate the activities of our people and plot our journey in real-time.”
With nearly 40% of its workforce forming Team BF on the virtual starting line, the aim for the challenge will be to grow the team with additional staff, friends, family, contacts and clients along the way. The firm already has various hiking, running clubs, half marathon, cycle rides and beach cleans being planned for later in the year as part of the challenge.
The challenge will launch from the firm’s new flagship office in Bristol, which is the largest office in its seven-office footprint, heading east through Europe, Asia, Australia, North America, South America, and Africa before returning to Bristol.
Bishop Fleming are part of the Kreston Global network of independent accounting firms and will be virtually visiting many of its fellow Kreston firms as waypoints on the journey to foster relationships with them, whilst promoting its international credentials to companies wanting to do business in the UK.
