How OSM Worldwide Got Every Site Moving With a Company Step Challenge
OSM Worldwide, a 300-person parcel shipper, has run a YuMuuv wellness challenge two years in a row and plans a third.
Table of Contents
At a glance
| Company | OSM Worldwide, small parcel shipper for e-commerce retailers |
| In business | About 23 years |
| Scale | Around 150 million packages a year, US and international |
| Team | About 300 employees: roughly 90 office staff and the rest on the operations floor |
| Locations | Corporate office in Chicago and five sorting facilities across the US |
| Interviewee | Eric Hermonson, Head of HR (about 10 years at OSM) |
| Program | YuMuuv wellness challenge, run for two years, about six weeks each |
| Centerpiece | Steps Challenge with weekly wellness mini-challenges |
Background: time to do something as a company
OSM's last wellness effort had been years earlier, so Eric Hermonson, Head of HR, felt it was time to bring one back. Past challenges he had run were mostly internal and self-reported, with no website or fitness trackers.
The goals were to bring a fitness challenge to the whole workforce and to add some team building along the way. OSM's roughly 210 operations staff are spread across five sorting facilities. Many are on their feet all shift, walking the floor, using pallet jacks and moving containers of mail.
Eric compared a few online platforms and chose YuMuuv. Three things decided it: the program was turnkey to launch, affordable, and flexible on length. OSM was not looking for a year-long commitment.
It really checked all the boxes for us.
— Eric Hermonson, Head of HR, OSM Worldwide
The program: steps for everyone, plus a weekly twist
The first year went so well that OSM set up the second year almost the same way. Each challenge ran about six weeks.
Steps Challenge. This was the one employees rallied around. Eric chose it because anyone can join: not everyone runs or goes to a gym, but everyone can walk. There were individual step goals and team goals, and each site competed against the others.
Weekly wellness challenges. Eric liked that YuMuuv goes beyond exercise. Each week added a different habit, such as getting enough sleep, drinking enough water or thanking someone every day.
Communication. OSM shared articles on each weekly theme through email and push notifications. Participants used the mobile app day to day, while Eric used the web dashboard for admin tasks.
| Year | Reward for participants | Top performers |
| Year 1 | Yeti water bottle with a fitness slogan and OSM branding | — |
| Year 2 | Bluetooth speaker | $100 to the top step-counter; gift cards for the next nine of the top 10 |
Results: a company-wide conversation and new habits
The challenge got people at corporate and at every warehouse talking, and it built competition and team spirit across sites.
For many employees it was a first step toward fitness. Eric noticed that people who had never really worked out wanted to do well: some went running over lunch and some signed up for gyms. Staff looked forward to the second year because of how much fun the first had been.
Rewards helped, too. Eric said the end-of-challenge prizes motivated a good-sized segment of participants, especially in the second year.
The energy also spilled over into informal play. In one department, four colleagues each put in $50 and tracked steps among themselves, with the winner taking the $200 pot.
Everyone was really looking forward to the second year as well, because of how much fun we had in the first year of it.
— Eric Hermonson, Head of HR, OSM Worldwide
Why OSM recommends YuMuuv, and what comes next
Eric found the whole process easy in both years, and easier still in year two. He praised the YuMuuv sales team for being reasonable on cost, program length and go-live date.
On the platform, he singled out four things:
- An admin side that is easy to use, with simple setup of new challenges
- The in-app messaging for announcements and standings
- A mobile app that nearly every participant used
- Wellness challenges beyond exercise, such as sleep and hydration
OSM will run the challenge again next year and wants to keep it fresh. The team is considering new formats, such as scoring on how consistently people reach their daily goal rather than on total steps.
You guys built a very good platform.
— Eric Hermonson, Head of HR, OSM Worldwide “I would refer any colleague or any company that's wanting to roll out some sort of wellness challenge.”— Eric Hermonson, Head of HR, OSM Worldwide
