Case Study 3: A Large Regional Local Government is one of five Workplace Case Studies developed by the Institute for Social Science Research (ISSR) as a part of the Strategic Evaluation of Prevention Programs (SEPP). These Case Studies were informed by 10,000 Steps Coordinators to investigate the relationship between the implementation of 10,000 Steps strategies and their impact on the success of Tournament implementation.
1. Descriptions of the staff composition, local environment, and 10,000 Steps program engagement of the workplaces profiled for case studies.
A large regional local government organisation with over 500 staff across the entire organisation. The staff is a mixture of people working in offices conducting sedentary work and a large population of outside workers who are more physically active in their roles. The organisation has been running Tournaments for around 2 decades by a team of coordinators, with different staff taking on the roles of Tournament coordinators over the years. Although the leadership of running Tournaments has changed between divisions within the organisation, the event has continued and is part of the work conducted by the health and wellbeing group within the organisation.
2. How the social, organisational, environmental, community and policy levels of support for physical activity in the case study workplaces were influenced by Tournament implementation.
- A long-standing history of running Tournaments had contributed to its current longevity in implementation and success.
- The Tournament coordination was run by the work of the Health and Wellbeing Group of the organisation, as part of a broader portfolio of improving mental and physical wellbeing of staff.
- The informal social aspects of the Tournament was a strength of its success. Enthusiastic coordinators who leverage social capital and networks encourage repeat and first-time participation.
- The workplace and industry had an inherent interest in improving the wellbeing of the community through the work that they do, contributing to the enthusiasm towards Tournaments and the health of staff overall.
- A focus on enjoyment and camaraderie rather than achieving a step goal had been successful in encouraging participation in Tournaments. This was demonstrated by the perspective of a coordinator:
… But we just kept assuring everybody […] It’s about a team effort and not everybody’s going to be doing everything every day. You know, it’s all about us just a combined group. No one’s a loser here. We’re all winners. That’s the one message, I think, that 10,000 Steps really gets out there. Yeah. It doesn’t matter what level activity. You’re a winner because you’re active. (Coordinator)
3. The influence of 10,000 Steps workplace resources in determining Tournament success - profiles of how 10,000 Steps resources were used or adapted by workplace coordinators.
- Made good use of the Tournament and Leaderboard functions of the website and mobile app for team management.
- Due to repeat implementation and a high level of experience with Tournaments by this workplace, few online resources were utilised by coordinators at the workplace.
- However, health and physical activity facts available on the 10,000 Steps website were often used in regular communications with participants. These were described as a convenient conversation starter at the workplace. This enhanced the informal person-to-person aspect of coordinating.
- Coordinators opted for homegrown resources instead, such as homemade certificates for Tournament completion. These certificates were seen as less easily habituated to, relative to ready-made resources such as posters. As a result, staff are more likely to notice and pay attention to them:
… I mean, things can go up on the wall and they just become – you know, you just don’t see them. You’re blind to the, because, you know, you just walk past them so many times. But that’s one reason why I left that certificate up out there because I thought it was good to just keep reminding people, you know. (Coordinator)
- The Activity-to-Steps converter/cheat sheet was a popular feature due to participants having an interest in using their existing activities to contribute to their team performance.
… But I’m pretty sure that cheat sheet came from the resources because we distributed that throughout everyone and that started a whole different level of conversation about ‘Wow! They’ve even said this uses calories. And this uses calories’. (Coordinator)
- Strategies that enabled successful participation included a commitment to providing one-on-one assistance, especially to troubleshoot the website registration process to new users.
- It was important to reassure participants that the core objective of the Tournament is to ‘have fun’ rather than reaching a step goal in order to get participant buy-in and engagement.
- To ensure continued participation, the coordinators send out regular emails at the start of the week, with fun facts, as well as team progress on the Leaderboard.