Many businesses take small steps to improve the physical fitness and raise the morale of their employees. One Richmond-area company, Dominion Payroll Services (DPS), has taken that commitment to another level by counting the thousands of steps each staff member takes during the week as a way to foster healthy lifestyles and give back to local charities.

The ‘DPS Charity Walk Off’ began in 2010 as a positive way to encourage increased activity levels and healthy office competition in the downtown-based accounting and payroll services company. The staff of 30 divides into six teams, and each team member is given a pedometer to wear that tracks the number of steps taken during the 10-week competition, which runs from October to early December. The timing of the Walk Off is important, as DPS organizers say it helps them serve several goals:

“This is a great time of year for us to do this because it provides extra motivation for our staff to stay active even though it is getting darker earlier and the weather is getting colder,” said Lindsay Zolad, an implementation specialist at DPS who also oversees the Charity Walk Off. “The end of the year is also a very busy time for our company, so the competition gives us all the enthusiasm to exercise and get our minds off of work.”

At the end of each week during the competition, team members report their total number of steps to their team captain, and the overall results and standings are shared during a catered staff lunch, which also helps build the unity and competition.

“The lunch is great because it brings us all together for status updates, encouragement and a little friendly trash talking,” said Zolad. “Bragging rights are important too!” At the end of the competition period, the final results are tallied and the overall winners are then announced at the DPS holiday party in December.

New to 2011’s competition is the charitable giving aspect, in which each team selects an area non-profit organization to partner with during the competition. DPS will make a donation of money or volunteer hours to the winning team’s chosen charity, though each charity benefits from a contribution as well.  The non-profits that are represented this year are the Children’s Museum of Richmond, Comfort Zone Camp, Special Olympics of Virginia, FeedMore, The Maymont Foundation and Beds for Kids, and Zolad said that the involvement of the charities makes the competition even better.

“Last year, winners were given Starbucks gift cards at the end,” said Zolad. “Those things are always appreciated, but working with these charities is great because it’s a reminder to us that this is about something bigger than just an office competition, and it’s something that other people in our area can really benefit from.”

There is a wide range of activity levels in the DPS office (they went so far as to assign an equivalent number of “steps” to different activities, such as an hour of yoga or tae-kwon-do), so Zolad knows how important it is to “fuel the fire” of each staff member, which is where the power of the pedometer comes into play.

“Having the pedometer on your hip is a great reminder all day, every day,” Zolad said. “It is constant motivation to walk to lunch instead of driving or take the steps up to the office instead of using the elevator.” As the person who keeps track of the weekly results, Zolad fully appreciates the commitment that her co-workers make to improve their own physical fitness and the community around them.

“It’s great to watch trends shift if a team starts off slow but gets really motivated during the competition. I think it’s inspiring to watch people change their lifestyle and adopt healthy habits that will hopefully last for a long time.”

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