How to Set Up a Step Challenge (Free Template Included)

When it comes to encouraging physical activity in the workplace, it’s important to design employee wellness programs that will motivate all your employees to get active. A workplace wellness challenge is a great place to start. They build camaraderie, boost morale and increase employee satisfaction. 

To help you get started, check out our free 30-day step challenge Google Sheets tracker.

But what kind of challenge is the best to start with? A simple activity like walking allows for employees of all fitness levels to participate. A step challenge at work encourages healthy habits both in and outside of the office, fosters healthy competition and increase motivation throughout the organization.

In this blog, we’ll walk through what a company step challenge is, how to set one up, and best practices to maximize engagement and results.

Table of Contents: Click on the sections below to jump right to your specific question.

• What is a Step Challenge?
• Why Do a Step Challenge?
• Tracking a Step Challenge
• Typical Step Challenge Rules and Rewards
• Tips for Starting a Step Challenge
• Step Challenge Ideas and Examples
• Free Step Challenge Tracker Template
• FAQs

What is a Step Challenge?

A step challenge is a fitness challenge where participants track their steps each day to reach a personal or team goal. A company step challenge is typically organized as part of a wellness initiative and helps foster friendly competition while promoting physical activity and healthy habits.

Step challenges are easy to manage and can be structured in different ways depending on your workplace goals. Some companies opt for an individual vs group challenge format, where employees can either compete on their own or as part of a team. In an individual challenge, participants track their own steps and compete to hit personal milestones. In a group challenge, team members combine their steps toward a shared goal. This format is especially effective at boosting camaraderie, making it ideal for hybrid or remote workforces.one goal. Team challenges are great for bringing colleagues together, especially with remote workers.

Employers can set up inclusive, collective team challenges by involving several teams so that they are going up against each other. The benefit of using team-based challenges is that employers are able to encourage healthier habits, as well as boost overall team camaraderie.

Why Do a Step Challenge?

A well-designed employee step challenge does more than promote physical activity, it’s a healthy way to foster friendly competition between co-workers. They encourage personal well-being as well as organizational well-being by building a culture of health consciousness. Here are some specific benefits of a workplace step challenge:

• Reduced Labor Costs
• Promote a Culture of Goal-setting and Achievement
• Build Teamwork & Group Cooperation
• Encourages Healthy Habits among Employees
• Increased Productivity

Promote a Culture of Goal-setting and Achievement

Competing against your peers, or by yourself in order to achieve a healthy challenge is a great way to re-encourage people to foster a goal-oriented mindset.

Build Teamwork & Group Cooperation

A step challenge is an awesome way to help foster friendships, improved communication, and team bonding for your organization. You will notice a stronger team camaraderie after your step challenge!

Encourages Healthy Habits among Employees

Once your employees get used to achieving fitness goals, they will be self-motivated to keep improving their health and wellness.

Increased Productivity

Healthier employees are happier and more productive.

Reduced Labor Costs

When your employers are more effective, you’ll be able to get more output from your team, and accordingly, reduce your overall labor costs (as compared to their output).

Tracking Step Challenges

Thanks to wearable tech and smartphones, tracking steps is easier than ever. Most employees already use devices like Fitbits, Apple Watches, or their phone’s built-in health apps to monitor daily activity, making participation seamless in a walking challenge. These tools automatically log step data throughout the day, removing the need for manual tracking or reporting.

To get the most out of a workplace step challenge, it’s helpful to use a platform that can sync with popular fitness devices and centralize everyone’s data in one place. A tool like IncentFit does exactly that; it connects to over 30 fitness apps and wearables to automatically pull in step counts, populate leaderboards, and provide real-time updates across teams. That means no spreadsheets, no self-reporting, and no guesswork – just clean data and a fair playing field for any and all employees, regardless of their location!

Typical Step Challenge Rules and Rewards

One of the best parts about running a step challenge at work is how flexible they are. You can tailor the rules to match your workplace culture, goals, and activity levels, no one-size-fits-all required.

Here are some common rule ideas to help structure your challenge:

• Progressive step goals: Start with 8,000 steps/day in week one and increase by 2,000 steps each week to keep participants challenged.
• Walking meetings: Require one team meeting per week to be held while walking – great for movement and morale.
• Minimum activity streaks: Encourage employees to hit a daily step count (like 6,000+) for a set number of days in a row.
• Team-based participation: Set rules around team averages or require every member to contribute to the group total.
• Bonus activities: Offer extra points for taking the stairs, walking during lunch breaks, or completing wellness quizzes.

In addition to rules, when a challenge includes prizes, employees are more likely to participate. People enjoy being rewarded for their efforts and feel more valuable. Rewards can be anything! Some examples would be allowing employees to decide where to have the company lunch, gift cards, and even extra day off. Feel free to get creative with your rewards. Tying any incentive, monetary or not, to the challenge will increase participation

Tips for Starting a Step Challenge

In some cases, employees may not have any interest in joining the company step challenge. So, if you want to run a successful challenge with a high participation rate, it’s important to provide the right information to encourage engagement. Here are some tips to keep in mind when running a step challenge:

• Keep your step challenges short and focused: Walking challenges that last 4–6 weeks tend to maintain interest and motivation without fatigue.
• Run multiple challenges a year: Seasonal or quarterly step challenges give employees more opportunities to join when it fits their schedule.
• Tie an incentive to the challenge: Even small rewards increase motivation and show appreciation for participation.
• Use creative, low cost rewards: Think recognition-based prizes, digital badges, lunch with leadership, or wellness-related gifts.
• Emphasize teamwork: Group-based challenges foster accountability, camaraderie, and higher overall engagement.
• Promote the benefits of walking: Highlight how walking 10K steps a day improves energy, focus, and long-term health.
• Influence healthy behaviors beyond steps: Use the challenge as a platform to encourage healthier behaviors such as: healthy snacks, hydration, or standing breaks.
• Communicate regularly: Send encouraging updates, highlight team progress, and keep the momentum going throughout the challenge.
• Avoid common wellness challenge mistakes: Focus on best practices that prioritize inclusion, accessibility, and motivation.
• Form a wellness committee to support planning: A committee can help manage logistics, promote the challenge, and keep employees engaged.

Once you’ve covered the basics, it’s time to work through a few logistics: When will the challenge run? Will it be team-based or individual? How long should it last? For example, if you have offices in different cities or time zones, you could structure the challenge to foster friendly inter-office competition.

Monthly workplace step challenges often strike the right balance; they’re long enough to build new habits, but short enough to keep participation high.

Step Challenge Ideas to Keep Things Fresh

Even though employee step challenges are easy to join, without variety, they can start to feel repetitive. The key to long-term engagement is adding creative twists that keep employees motivated and connected throughout the challenge.

Here are a few step challenge ideas and engagement strategies to try:

1. Add a Destination Target
2. Make it a Group Fundraiser
3. Encourage Walking Meetings
4. Promote Stair Use
5. Share Nearby Walking Trails or Routes
6. Offer Weekly Mini-Incentives

Add A Destination Target

A fun way to get people walking more is by adding a “walk somewhere” component to the challenge. You or your employees can choose a location they would like to “walk to” and the goal is to reach that destination in steps by the end of the challenge. This is a friendly approach that get the entire workplace involved!

Make It a Group Fundraiser

Another creative step challenge idea is to make it a group fundraiser. You can use donating to a charity as an incentive for employees to take more steps. With this type of step challenge, you are giving participants opportunities to get involved in charity work while also prioritizing their health. As the challenge admin, you can set company step goals and each time the group hits that target, they earn a donation to a charity. It’s a win-win situation! 

Encourage Walking Meetings

Swap a standard one-on-one or brainstorming session with a short walking meeting to naturally add steps during the day.

Promote Stair Use

Create friendly mini-challenges around taking the stairs instead of the elevator, especially for office-based teams.

Share Nearby Walking Trails or Routes

Help remote and in-office employees discover safe and scenic places to walk during breaks.

Offer Weekly Mini-Incentives

Reward the top stepper each week, or recognize improvement over time to keep everyone engaged, not just the top performers.

If you’re not sure which direction to take, ask your team! A quick employee survey can uncover what types of challenges interest them most, whether they use fitness trackers, and what their wellness goals are. Designing around employee feedback ensures stronger participation, better alignment with your culture, and a more enjoyable experience for everyone.

Free 30 Day Step Challenge Google Sheets Tracker

If you are looking to start your own company step challenge at your company, but want more practice with it before, IncentFit has a free 30 day step challenge google sheets tracker that you can access. All you need to do is fill out the form and receive access to the challenge tracker!

Alternatively, you can also set up a walking challenge using IncentFit’s tried and tested wellness challenges product!

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Ultimate 30-Day Walking Challenge with Free Template

Ready to take it a step further? IncentFit’s wellness challenges platform makes it easy to run a custom workplace step challenge, track results automatically, and boost engagement with built-in rewards and communication tools. Book a demo with our Benefits Specialist.

FAQs

Q: What are creative team names for a step challenge?

Try names like “Pace Makers,” “Sole Sisters,” “The Walkaholics,” “Mission Slimpossible,” or “Step It Up Squad.” Keep it fun and aligned with your company culture.

Q: What is the difference between a step challenge and walking challenge?

A step challenge focuses on counting total steps, regardless of activity type or pace. A walking challenge typically emphasizes time or distance spent walking, not necessarily step count.

Q: What are the best walking challenge prizes?

Popular prizes include gift cards, wellness items (like water bottles or fitness trackers), extra PTO, team lunches, or donations to a charity of the winner’s choice.