How Nortal Uses Walking Challenges to Increase Employee Engagement

When meetings moved into our living rooms and colleagues became faces on a screen, many companies asked the same question: how do you keep people engaged and connected when they cannot meet in person?

Nortal found an answer in active lifestyle challenges that unite teams in different countries into one company-wide team. We spoke with Katre Trei, (Virtual) Event Manager at Nortal, about how they did it.

At a Glance

• Company: Nortal – a technology company building digital solutions for governments, healthcare organizations and businesses
• Size: 32 teams in 8 countries, including Estonia, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Oman, Serbia, the UAE and the US (at the time of the interview)
• Challenge: keeping a global team active, healthy and connected while people could not physically meet
• Solution: easy-to-join YuMuuv walking challenges, alongside Nortal's own sports events
• Results: walking meetings, more connected teams and plenty of friendly bets between colleagues

About Nortal

Nortal develops digital solutions that remove unnecessary bureaucracy and friction from everyday life, leaving people more time for what truly matters. Its clients include governments, healthcare institutions and businesses – some of them among the Fortune 500. With teams spread across several continents, Nortal needed a way to give everyone a shared, active experience, even without meeting face to face.

An Active Lifestyle as an Employee Benefit

Nortal aims to cover all the basics of employee benefits and more. For a long time, it has focused on something that improves employees' everyday lives: the habit of being active. The company has found that physical activity initiatives are a great way to build stronger teams, where people cheer each other on, share good practices and notice each other's efforts.

For example, we now have employees who are doing meetings whilst walking around instead of sitting home.

Alongside YuMuuv challenges, Nortal promotes an active lifestyle through many self-organized activities, from skiing and cycling competitions to its annual Nortal Championship.

A Challenge Where It Is Easy to Participate

Nortal has run activity challenges for years. “We have done different activity challenges with Endomondo in the past. Now, when it's left the market, we chose YuMuuv as it seemed very easy to be used.”

For Katre, design and simplicity matter: “The platform must look clear and esthetic, that way people are more eager to participate in the challenges and pop in to check the results. Through that employees are more connected with their teammates, other colleagues, and with the company itself. It leads to a more relaxed environment and people feel that even when they can't be with their colleagues, these steps are not walked alone.”

The other thing, why we chose YuMuuv, is because we wanted to create a challenge, where it's easy to participate. For walking, you don't need any extra equipment so everybody can easily participate.

Walkaholics, Not Workaholics

So what happens when a company truly values an active lifestyle? Dogs get more walks, owners lose a few kilos, and someone may even end up dancing in a lobster costume after losing a bet with a teammate. Most importantly, employees become healthy walkaholics instead of workaholics – in teams that feel genuinely connected.

Key Takeaways: How a Challenge Can Increase Employee Engagement

• Lower the barrier to entry. Walking needs no equipment, so everyone can join. Here is how to create a step challenge.
• Keep it simple and good-looking. A clear, attractive leaderboard makes people check in – and keeps them talking.
• Combine challenges with your own traditions. Company events and digital challenges reinforce each other.
• Connect distributed teams. A shared goal is one of the easiest ways to engage remote employees.

For more ideas, read our guide on how to increase employee engagement.

Join the Challenge

We are thankful to Katre Trei for the chat! Read more customer stories, such as how Paulig Group unites its team at work, or book a free demo to see how YuMuuv could work for your company.