NEWS

Taking a step together towards a healthier everyday life. Under the motto "MEDER walks to Palermo", 35 employees of KURT MEDER GmbH took up the challenge of notching up 10,000 steps a day.

Schwenningen. What sounds like a wide-ranging company outing was in fact a health project integrated into everyday life initiated by the Schwenningen-based spring manufacturer. None of the 35 participants walked by themselves to the capital of the Italian island of Sicily. The title of the campaign was instead meant as an incentive, and as a testament to what can be achieved together - after all, it's almost 2,000 kilometers to the island off the tip of the boot of Italy. At the beginning of the project, all participants were given a fitness tracker, which over a period of eleven days recorded the distance covered, number of steps taken and general activity.

On the fourth day came the first encouraging interim results. The data collected by the trackers was already very clear: almost all participants were well above the target of 10,000 steps per day. With the distance covered, they had not only left Germany, they had already gone as far as Naples. As a reward for this achievement, all participants were given a motivation pack containing glucose, magnesium and blister plasters. Spurred on by this little boost in motivation, all of the participants went all out for the remaining seven days, walking, jogging and climbing stairs to collect more daily steps on the road to Palermo. At the end of the eleven-day campaign, suspense mounted as the fitness trackers were handed in and the data was read.

In a large meeting, MEDER Managing Director Magnus Mauch did not miss the opportunity to inform the participants about the pleasing results and pay tribute to the three most diligent walkers. In total, the 35 MEDER employees covered some 3,580 kilometers in eleven days, equivalent to an average of around 14,400 steps per participant per day, or more than 5.5 million steps. It quickly became clear that the original goal of covering a distance from the source of the Neckar to Palermo was well exceeded. "The kilometers collected were almost enough for the way back home. This is a great testament to what our employees are capable of doing together," said Magnus Mauch, announcing the results. As a reward for their outstanding achievement, each participant received a present in the style of the motto "Meder walks to Palermo". "The campaign went really well, the employees were made aware of their exercise during the day by the trackers, they were motivated, and they also had a lot of fun," said MEDER HR manager Katharina Gärtner, who managed the project in cooperation with the Barmer health insurance company.