Walking Together Across the Globe: Sentric Safety Group Case Study
The Sentric Safety Group is part of the larger Halma Group, a global collective of 60 companies. Sentric itself consists of six companies: Kirk in the U.S., Castell Safety and Zonegreen in the UK, STI in France, Sentric Tunisia, and Sentric China.
The group specializes in industrial safety solutions, including interlocking systems and safety locks that protect workers from industrial accidents. With 280 employees spread across these global entities, Sentric Safety Group operates predominantly in factory environments, making communication and engagement among employees a unique challenge.
In 2022, the companies united under the Sentric Safety Group brand to strengthen collaboration and foster a collective identity. In 2024, they launched their first group-wide wellness initiative, partnering with YuMuuv to create a global walking challenge.
The Challenge: Uniting a Global Workforce
The Objective
The primary goal of the challenge was to foster a sense of unity among employees across all Sentric locations. By launching a group-wide wellness challenge, Sentric Safety Group aimed to encourage healthy habits, strengthen connections, and build a shared sense of purpose.
Magali Merindol, one of the challenge organizers, explained: “Walking was the most accessible activity for everyone. We wanted something inclusive, something healthy, and something that would bring people together globally.”
The Plan: Walking Around the World
The challenge was designed to simulate a virtual walk covering the 30,000 kilometers that connect all Sentric Safety Group offices globally. To motivate participation, Sentric pledged to donate £5,000 to a charity chosen by employees if the challenge goal was met. After a vote,further strengthening their sense of ownership and involvement, they chose UNICEF.
Implementation and Engagement
The challenge began with a communication campaign encouraging employees to register. However, initial adoption was slow, as many employees were unfamiliar with the concept. “Word of mouth really helped us,” said Magali. “Once people saw others participating and logging significant steps, the excitement started to spread.”
Leadership Participation
Sentric’s leadership team played a key role in boosting engagement. The CEO and senior managers actively participated, sharing their progress and photos in the YuMuuv app’s chat function. This visible commitment from leadership underscored the challenge’s importance and inspired others to join.
Social Elements
Employees were encouraged to share photos of their walking routes, creating a fun and interactive environment. This friendly competition and camaraderie fostered stronger connections across teams and locations.
Results and Feedback
Participation and Impact
The challenge ran for two months and achieved remarkable results:
- Distance Covered: Participants collectively walked 27,000 kilometers, just shy of the 30,000-kilometer goal.
- Employee Engagement: Word-of-mouth advocacy and leadership participation led to increased registrations as the challenge progressed.
Magali noted: “The chats were buzzing with jokes and friendly competition. Even leadership members were challenging each other to get into the top 25!”
Feedback from Employees
- Positive Highlights:
- Many employees reported newfound habits, such as walking more frequently during breaks.
- The flexibility to manually enter steps made the challenge accessible to employees without wearable devices.
- Employees appreciated the diversity of tracking options, which catered to the group’s varied demographic.
- Areas for Improvement:
- Integration issues with Samsung devices and regulations in China created challenges for some employees.
- Some employees suggested integrating YuMuuv’s chat and leaderboard features with existing internal platforms like Microsoft Teams or SharePoint to enhance visibility.
Future Plans
Yearly Global Challenges
Given the success of this initiative, Sentric Safety Group is exploring the possibility of making it an annual event. Future plans may include new themes, such as recycling or other health-based challenges, while maintaining the global element that made this effort so impactful.
Localized Initiatives
The YuMuuv platform will also be used for local challenges, allowing individual entities to tailor activities to their teams.
Expanding Engagement
Sentric plans to explore more ways to integrate wellness challenges into everyday activities, including:
- Promoting family-friendly challenges to extend the initiative beyond the workplace.
- Addressing technical issues to ensure smoother participation for all employees.
- Increasing awareness of features like personal challenges to maximize platform utilization.
Conclusion
The first global wellness challenge at the Sentric Safety Group was a significant milestone in the company’s journey toward fostering unity and promoting employee well-being. By combining a meaningful goal, accessible activity, and charitable incentive, the challenge succeeded in engaging employees across six countries and diverse work environments. As Sentric Safety Group continues to refine its approach, it’s clear that the spirit of walking together—both literally and figuratively—will remain a cornerstone of their wellness efforts.
