Challenge accepted: Sensibill team keeps active and connected during COVID-19
Photo by: Sensibill
COVID-19 has introduced a range of challenges to people, families, and businesses as they’ve had to respond and adapt like never before. Our days can seem endless and challenging for everyone, especially since no one was truly prepared to operate in physical isolation. Working remotely is an adjustment, and we are working daily to support Sensibillians. To strengthen our people-first culture, we launched a fitness challenge to keep our team engaged and active.
One of our areas of focus at Sensibill is the mental and physical health of our team. We believe that mental and physical health are fundamentally connected, meaning physical activity, nutrition, and social support are important to improving and maintaining mental health. Our team has access to flexible health spending accounts and our Employee & Family Assistance Program and since going fully remote, our team has connected through virtual yoga, breath-work sessions and even a virtual 7th birthday party for Sensibill. In addition, we have introduced company policies to help our employees comfortably transition to working remotely, including shipping any office furniture and technology to their homes. Working from home has been a transition team-wide, but we continue to explore different options to support our team in any way possible.
To further this mission of keeping our Sensibillians active and engaged, we launched a month-long fitness challenge, assigning points for more than 15 unique exercises. Thirty of our Sensibillians rose to the challenge, entering more than 550 workouts and scoring over 15,090 combined points. The highest scoring workout came from Sony, our Business Operations Manager, with 106 points, which included squats, minute-long planks, and more. Way to go, Sony! She commented that the challenge helped her and her family moving all day long.
Photos by: Sony Dhillon
We asked other participating Sensibillians to share their insights into how this challenge has impacted their fitness level and mental health last month, why they decided to join, and how it helped them engage with the Sensibill team.
Q: How did the fitness challenge help support your health while working remotely?
Soham, our Product Marketing Specialist, joined the challenge after realizing that staying healthy during this time was important. He said, “participating in the fitness challenge was and continues to be an investment in my mental and physical wellbeing during this stressful time.” Before the challenge, Soham shared that his workout regimen and nutrition became ‘secondary priorities’, which had its impacts on his mental and physical wellbeing. The four-week challenge has helped Soham become more productive, whether relaxing or working from home.
Photos by: Soham Sen
Lisa, our Product Designer, commented that it’s easy to get sluggish when you’re at home but the competitive nature of the challenge gave her the motivation she needed to ramp up into a solid fitness routine.
Q: Did participating in the challenge help you further engage with the Sensibill team?
It turns out that not only has this challenge offered a fun way to remain active and boost mental health, but it has also strengthened relationships and boosted employee engagement across different teams! Lisa mentioned that because of the competitive nature of her team, they had a good rapport going throughout. Many, if not all of the teams, created their own Slack channel, “encouraging each other to get in our points and stay active as well as sharing our circuits,” added Sony.
Photos by: Lisa Guo
While we continue to navigate the current situation, our company takes the mental and physical health of our employees seriously. Activities like these reinforce the importance of building a strong culture, both inside and outside the office, so we can overcome tough times together. Our fitness challenge is another step towards achieving this balance, and we look forward to sharing more ideas along the way.
Be sure to check out our careers page for opportunities – and who knows, you might be the next fitness challenge winner.