Probation staff put best foot forward

The staff from the city’s office chose the charity Marie Curie Cancer Care and raised £430 for the organisation.

The north west team were among 217 Probation Board staff who signed up for the ‘Global Corporate Challenge’ with each employee pledging £58.80 to a charity of their choice.

Across the Province they pledged £12,759.60 and Marie Curie proved a popular choice with a total of £1,852.20 was pledged.

The Global Corporate Challenge is a worldwide event which aims to bring colleagues together in the workplace to raise their awareness of wellbeing, nutrition and activity levels.

Like other Probation Board staff, the north west team signed up for a 16-week event, which ran from May 26 to September 12. Each team members was issued with a starter pack which included backpacks and pedometers and they set themselves the challenge of walking 10,000 steps every day.

Using the pedometer they recorded their progress on the Global Corporate Challenge website, which allowed them to ‘virtually’ visit locations all over the World. At each location staff were given information about the local area or country, the website also provided nutritional advice and a weekly video from a personal coach, along with the opportunity to record and track weight loss if individuals wanted to avail of this.

Staff travelled the virtual globe in teams of seven and could see how their team was performing against other teams worldwide.

The cost to the organisation to sign each staff member up to this was £58.80 and as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility policy PBNI asked staff to pledge the same amount to local charities. It is hoped that by taking part in the challenge workplaces will benefit from improved staff wellbeing, staff themselves will see the benefits of increased activity levels, as well as helping boost the coffers of worthwhile local charity groups.