The 2.6 Challenge: BDO staff get their blood pumping
When some members of BDO’s Leadership Team were asked to take part in The 2.6 Challenge, it seemed like a no-brainer. Wellbeing is always at the top of our agenda, and it was a great way to ‘virtually’ bring together people in the firm and raise money for some very worthy causes.
With the entire workforce currently working remotely, and many with additional responsibilities such as home-schooling, we knew it would take some well-thought-out communication to get people motivated and engaged. Thankfully, my company-wide email sharing our Leadership Team’s 2.6 Challenge pledges seemed to inspire others and we had a fantastic response. We’re obviously a competitive bunch!
We asked staff to pledge their own wellbeing activities on our internal social media platform Yammer and to share their chosen charity and donation. We’ve seen a huge number of pledges, including a 2.6-minute headstand, 26 minutes of hula-hooping, 260 burpees, 26.2 miles on a static bike, and a 2.6-mile run every day for 26 days! And that’s just scratching the surface.
We’ve seen some really creative challenges and the number of colleagues getting their families (and pets) involved has been fantastic. It’s an incredibly challenging time for most of us but, for some, having the opportunity to spend quality time with household members has been really enjoyable – I even managed to convince my wife to join me on my 2.6 Challenge bike ride.
So far, donations from our people total more than £5,000 across a huge number of national and local charities, including Age UK, Sarcoma UK, Meningitis Now, Refuge, Breast Cancer Now and BDO’s own charity partner MIND.
As the UK continues to stay home, we are seeing the challenges continue and the donations increase and we’re thrilled to be playing a small part in supporting the UK’s charities.
Above: BDO employee Steve Le Bas and family
