Sian Daniels, Assistant Tax Manager at BDO
The East Midlands office of accountancy and business advisory firm BDO LLP has launched its annual charitable 30-day step challenge to support National Walking Month.
BDO’s East Midlands team will complete a minimum of 10,000 steps each day throughout the next 30 days.
The challenge forms part of BDO’s wellbeing strategy which encourages people to connect and collaborate and be more active. The challenge was chosen to coincide with National Walking Month as walking is proven to benefit both physical and mental wellbeing, improving self-perception, self-esteem, mood and sleep quality, and reducing stress, anxiety and fatigue.
Money raised from the challenge will be donated to one of four charities; The Samaritans, Papyrus UK, MIND and Cruse Bereavement Care. The team will be aiming to beat last year’s record of 187,790,812 steps.
Sian Daniels, Assistant Tax Manager at BDO, said: “It’s fantastic to launch the 30-day step challenge for a [second] year – it forms part of our wider programme of diversity and inclusion initiatives, helping to raise awareness around mental health, eliminating stigma and giving people the confidence to talk about any issues they might be facing.
“Wherever possible we encourage our people to talk rather than email, creating meaningful social relationships within their working environment. We believe it makes a positive difference to the way people interact in the office, while also improving productivity. The 30-day step challenge helps to build those positive social relationships, with colleagues walking to meet each other during the day rather than emailing, or taking a break together in their lunch hour, getting out of the office and away from their desks, and getting those steps in.”
