6-minute read
With variations of onsite, hybrid, and remote work now the norm, figuring out how to bring people together — in a way that feels fun, not forced — can be tough. But it’s vital to employee health. Social connection is essential for health and happiness. Well-being/HR leaders can fill this core human need as employees move toward healthier habits together by making it a priority in step challenges and wellness programs.
Walking for Mind and Body: Exploring the Benefits
Adopting a habit of walking offers a multitude of gifts. Here’s a sampling:
- Enhanced energy, vitality, and feelings of well-being
- Better mental health, mood, and self-image; less stress, reduced risk of depression and anxiety
- Time to think, reflect, or enjoy a podcast on solo walks
- More fun and social connection when walking with others
- Increased sense of optimism, courage, and capacity for joy
- Expanded opportunities for life enjoyment with greater well-being
- Augmented mental clarity, creativity, and ability to focus
- Higher confidence and satisfaction from self-efficacy/self-improvement
- Reduced chocolate and sugar cravings
- Renewed enjoyment of nature’s sights and sounds
- Improved blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and circulation for heart and brain health
- Elevated fitness — endurance, lower-body strength, core stability, ability to do more with less physical effort.
Actionable health tips, such as simple ways to stick with a walking habit, significantly broaden these benefits.
Walking is easy for most people; plus it’s convenient and inexpensive. No special equipment, skills, or clothing required means fewer barriers to getting started. Comfortable shoes and a safe route are the only necessities.
Even short bouts of walking are beneficial, making it an ideal form of physical activity for a range of fitness levels. Beginners can start with 5-15 minutes twice a day, gradually building time and distance as strength and endurance improves.
Walking and Talking Together
Did you know that walking, like many other forms of physical activity, primes us to seek connection? That buzz we feel after exercise results from brain changes that also help us get more pleasure out of socializing.
Walking provides many opportunities for social interaction and emotional support. Taking a walk with friends and family promotes physical health along with meaningful relationships, helping fulfill that fundamental need for belonging and connection.
Why Walking Is Perfect for Connection
- “Want to join me for a walk?” is generally a welcome invitation.
- Conversation tends to flow more easily while on the move and side by side instead of face to face.
- Walking together is fun, making the habit easier to cement.
Life is more fulfilling and meaningful when shared. Because a rich social life and walking both elevate enjoyment and health, walks with others increase the odds of being around longer to enjoy them.
“Walking has inspired my neighbors, friends, and family to get out there and exercise. Walking with someone makes the time go faster and gives me more energy!”
Paula N.
Walktober Participant
Delta Air Lines
Step Challenge Benefits
Walking or step challenges encourage employees to be more physically active by increasing daily steps.
These fun, interactive wellness offerings can be tailored to fit any employer’s needs and goals. Step challenges can be individual or team-based and tracked using wearable devices, smartphones, or other methods.
They can have profound positive impact on employees’ physical, mental, and emotional well-being while also fostering social connections and your organization’s culture of health plus a sense of camaraderie. Specific benefits include:
- Improved physical health — Regular walking increases energy, endurance, and vitality while reducing the risk of chronic disease.
- Better mental and emotional well-being — Exercise lifts mood and reduces stress and anxiety.
- More social interaction — Step challenges heighten a sense of community and teamwork in the workplace and beyond.
Employee Connection Through Employee Walking Challenges
We’re more likely to thrive when we feel connected to coworkers, family, friends, neighbors, and others. Even sharing small talk with a stranger matters. Knowing and being known, offering mutual support, engaging in conversations are all vital for well-being. The advantages are numerous:
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- Additional support for adopting habits like physical activity, nutritious eating, and avoiding risky substances
- Better mental and physical health
- Support in times of stress or grief
- Enhanced work performance and career satisfaction
- Higher participation in wellness initiatives
- Fewer feelings of social isolation/loneliness to avoid negative health outcomes like inflammation and chronic disease
- Probability of a longer lifespan.
It’s easy to see why the surgeon general’s advisory report on loneliness recommends “making social connection a strategic priority in the workplace at all levels (administration, management, and employees).” And even easier to grasp why emphasizing social connection as well as walking together makes so much sense for organizations of all types and sizes.
Walking enhances social connection; bringing a friend along makes the walk more enjoyable. Both activities improve well-being. What kind of difference could a happier, healthier, more connected workforce make in our communities? In the world?
“… though wellness challenges may be focused on behavior change like physical activity or healthy eating, they really are actually more about bringing people together and creating community.”
Emily Page
Senior Wellness Manager
Washington University in St. Louis
10 Ways to Foster a Culture of Walking
As you build a culture of walking throughout your organization, manage messaging to ensure you encourage everyone: “Walk at a pace you enjoy,” for example, welcomes hopeful beginners to power walkers.
Ideas:
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- Run an annual step challenge designed to promote social connection
- Ask participants to reflect on what they get out of walking — tangible and intangible benefits — and share those insights
- Make gathering a walking group easier by offering times and locations
- Encourage hybrid/remote workers to walk daily with family, friends, and neighbors
- Publicize indoor and outdoor places to walk — public parks and trails, school grounds, city sidewalks, shopping centers, and sports arenas
- Partner with community relations to advocate walking-oriented volunteering like trail clean-ups, Girls on the Run coaching, or Special Olympics support
- Organize a team for a 5K/10K event and sponsor registration
- Champion walking 1:1 meetings
- Share meaningful health tips to keep participants informed and inspired about the benefits of more daily steps
- Organize walking groups; they help fortify meaningful relationships while enhancing personal well-being and social support.
Walktober Step Challenge: Walking Together, Creating Connection
Year after year, Walktober participants tell us how much they enjoy coworker connections while experiencing the step challenge together. Whether interacting on a community post, cheering on teammates, or walking together, they love striving toward a common goal and supporting each other through the tricky times and celebrations. Many organizations have made Walktober an annual autumn tradition.
Participating in the Walktober step challenge offers benefits for organizations as well as participants, including a stronger sense of community, feeling more connected with colleagues, and improved health/well-being.
What’s New for Walktober 2025
We’re pleased to announce a better-than-ever Walktober step challenge for 2025, redesigned from the ground up to promote social connection and overall well-being:
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- A rich participant experience for mobile and desktop
- Reimagined ways to experience progress
- Immersive photos and videos featuring spectacular autumn landscapes
- Activity stats, daily progress bar, and achievement badges
- Individual and team participation
- Motivating Friends feature with messaging, reactions, and emojis
- Real-time poll questions
- Interactive community page for connection and camaraderie
- Organization-wide goal setting and progress tracking
- A whole new look and feel — including a whimsical landscape that changes with the calendar
- Real-time tracking.
“The biggest success story is how this program brought our school together… the majority of our school staff completed the program.”
Walktober Participant
Prince William County Schools
Check out the new Walktober — designed to create connection, drive engagement, and build camaraderie.
Recommended Reading
5 Reasons to Launch a Workplace Walking Program
10 Ways to Get Employees Walking for Better Health
Walking for Mind/Body Well-Being: The Simplest Way to Help Employees Thrive
Beth Shepard
Well-being consultant, educator, writer ｜National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach ｜Certified Lifestyle Medicine Coach｜ACSM Certified Clinical Exercise Physiologist ｜25+ years in wellness ｜Jazz enthusiast.
