How OEC's Global Walking Challenge Drew 343 Participants Against a Goal of 75

OEC expected about 75 people to join its first walking challenge. 343 signed up, and a team of three ran it with ease on YuMuuv.

At a glance

Company	OEConnection (OEC), a software company serving the automotive market, with about 1,600 employees worldwide
Interviewee	Julie Lewis, Global Director of Learning & Development, also responsible for global communication, culture and engagement
Program	A month-long walking challenge in May and June, part of OEC’s Olympic-themed year
Participants	343, against an initial goal of 75
Run by	A team of three, with setup done by Julie in under an hour
Format	Teams across regions plus individual, photo and team-name awards

Background: an Olympic year to connect a global company

OEC is a global organization, and Julie Lewis looks for new ways each year to help colleagues connect through learning, culture and engagement. For 2026, OEC chose an Olympic theme, inspired by the February Winter Olympics, with a series of activities people could join.

Employee surveys showed strong interest in a walking challenge. OEC timed it for May, which is Walking Month in the UK and Mental Health Awareness Month in North America, and brought both themes together.

Why OEC chose YuMuuv

With a team of just three for a 1,600-person company, Julie needed a partner that wouldn’t stretch the team beyond what it could manage. She found YuMuuv through her own research, liked what she saw on the website, and had a helpful demo with the YuMuuv team. It was OEC’s first walking challenge and its first organized event at this scale.

The challenge: everyone can win something

The challenge ran for a month, from the second week of May to the second week of June. After teaser announcements on the intranet, email and Teams, sign-ups opened a week before the start.

Teams without borders. Employees formed their own teams with friends, peers or teammates, with no country limits, so a colleague in California could share a team with one in India. A general team was set up for anyone unsure where to join.

Movement for mind and body. The focus was physical and mental health, not just step counts. Whether someone took 10 extra steps around the kitchen or ran a marathon, everyone was part of it.

Rewarding social connection. Beyond team and individual awards, OEC gave awards for the most-liked photo in the YuMuuv chat and the most creative team name, so everyone had a chance at winning something.

Results: more than four times the expected turnout

Past OEC activities drew 20 to 30 people for webinars and around 100 for quizzes, so Julie set a starting goal of 75. In the end, 343 employees took part.

Julie credits how easy it was to join: very few people had questions about signing up, downloading the app or connecting their phone or watch. Once the challenge started, OEC steered people to YuMuuv’s social tools, and the chat filled with photos from around the globe, including from colleagues on holiday.

OEC also used YuMuuv’s fun facts in its own communications, like how many times colleagues had walked around the Earth together and how many hamburgers’ worth of calories they had burned. People got more competitive than expected for small prizes, and the team even discovered a championship speed walker in its ranks. Afterwards, OEC shared a video of the award winners and the best moments from the chat.

Easy for a small team to manage

Julie set up the challenge on her own in under an hour using YuMuuv’s setup guide, and every deadline was met. For a team of two or three people supporting up to 1,600 employees, the challenge was easy to manage from start to finish.

It did do the thing we wanted it to, which was to connect people.

— Julie Lewis, Global Director of Learning & Development, OEC

Looking ahead

OEC will gather more feedback in a survey as it closes out its Olympic year. As a first-time pilot, the walking challenge far exceeded expectations and showed that a small team can engage a large global workforce.