The Proclaimers walked 500 miles, Peter Kay set off to Amarillo and Johnny Cash walked the line.
Staff from The PHA Group took inspiration from all three as their STEPtember campaign saw staff rack up more than 15 million steps in one month to raise £670 for PHA’s chosen charity of the year, Solace Women’s Aid.
This was the agency’s inaugural STEPtember campaign, an agency-wide scheme devised by the PHA Culture team to get staff active while coronavirus restrictions remain in place, and to raise money for our new charity partner.
Each team recorded the number of steps they had taken each day, with an agency-wide target of reacahing 10 million steps in total in the month of September. PHA agreed to match all staff donations if the target was met, and to add a further £150 if the stretch target of 15 million steps was reached.
In true deadline day fashion, uncertainty reigned and the result was looking touch-and-go, with the number stuck at 14,977,363 as end of September loomed. PHA were also operating one key player down, with Chairman and spiritual leader Phil Hall hobbled by knee surgery and unable to take part.
Happily, a final round of late submissions took the numbers sailing beyond the 15 million steps mark, and onto the £670 total.
The Central Services team took home the crown of STEPtember champions, racking up a sensational 12,541 steps a day, while reputation management and entrepreneurs and business came steaming into second and third place respectively.
Conversely, the internal post-mortems are now underway in Strategic Communications, Sport & Fitness and Social, all three of who finished in the bottom three. Head of Strategic Communications Neil McLeod is said to be crestfallen, and is rumoured to be proposing an ‘everyone must walk to work’ edict within his team to arrest the slide by next STEPtember.
Performances have ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous, with staff members going as far as Snowdonia and the Yorkshire Dales to beef up their count, and one unnamed member of staff recording an abysmal 22 steps one Saturday after rather too much merriment on their Friday night.
We’re thrilled to have made such an emphatic start to our partnership with Solace. We’re looking forward to unveiling our next initiative.
Solace Women’s Aid is PHA’s first Charity of the Year. PHA will be supporting the charity, which provides support to end violence against women and girls, for the next eleven months.
To find out more, please visit: https://www.solacewomensaid.org/
