Be Awesome With People: #HealthyFullContact and Covid-19

How #HealthyFullContact Helped Team Members Maintain Camaraderie During COVID-19

“If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere” – Frank A. Clark.

And yes, we are in 2021! What passed us is a year of many things—pandemic, sorrow, hope, lifestyle changes, growth, and more. Not only did COVID-19 affect the entire world, but it also changed our lives at a granular level. Some were for the better. 

Driven by the state of the world, FullContact’s health initiative helped team members in India maintain camaraderie while developing a healthy lifestyle throughout 2020.

What is #HealthyFullContact?

#HealthyFullContact was one of the major initiatives FullContact invested in late 2019 and early 2020. It grew organically from within the team, who place high importance on physical and mental wellness. 

Initiated and driven by employees, the goal of #HealthyFullContact was to give clear directions on how they can keep their health in check and work in a team to achieve their goals while encouraging others to take part in the activities.

To increase participation and engagement, we gamified the event by dividing the participants into four different groups. We then assigned points to every proposed activity. We published the score tally every day, recognizing winners every other week.

Individuals and teams competed for grand prizes based on a range of events, including solo jogging, weekly team runs, stepathons, Yoga, Zumba sessions, and outdoor games such as badminton, football, and more. We also provided health tips and the opportunity to get a free health check-up at the office (pre-Covid) provided by a third-party laboratory.

And then Covid hit!

#HealthyFullContact: Going Virtual

But even with the pandemic, our members weren’t ready to give up. Knowing that collaboration is one of the most important factors of any successful event, FullContacters brainstormed new activities that everyone could do via Zoom.

Every morning and evening, teams met to work out and play games. Some favorites included follow-along exercise videos, trainer-guided Zumba sessions, external HIIT sessions, virtual push-ups, tree pose challenges, Reverse Plank, Glute-Bridge, Bird-dog pose challenges, and more.

We also initiated Healthy Diet Weekends, focusing on what goes into our food (and ultimately into our bodies). FullContacters shared healthy recipe videos every weekend to inspire each other (while gaining individual points). We decided the more, the merrier, and encouraged members to engage their family/kids/friends in their recipe-making videos to make cooking even more fun!

The dynamics of Virtual #HealthyFullContact completely changed when one member asked, How can we transform calories burnt into helping someone in need? We used the Impact App, which converted exercises into charity. The app contributes a preset amount of money when our members hit their targeted health activities. It’s a great way to do good just by keeping yourself healthy!

All the while, we continued the gamification of the challenger through the bi-weekly rewards and point system. #HealthyFullContact concluded by the end of October 2020, and our members had developed a sustainable and healthy way of life!

Going Beyond Physical Health

Mental Health is one of the most talked-about words of 2020. Ever since the pandemic began, employers and health practitioners around the world started focusing on Mental Health. In light of the isolation and stay-at-home orders, FullContact began to focus on Mental Health as a matter of special importance.

Meeting each other and enjoying lighter moments is a basic instinct of any human. While we couldn’t do anything about meeting in person, FullContact encouraged virtual team catch-ups, games, happy hours, and coffees to make sure that we had enough opportunities to interact with our colleagues. On top of the fun activities, FullContact provided professional coaching focused on remote work stress, maintaining mental health, and any anonymous counseling needed. We scheduled Mental Health holidays and introduced family time off as icing on the cake.

2020 was a year of challenges for FullContact and the world. But the year reflected the spirit of the quote at the beginning of the blog. If you’re not encountering obstacles, you may be on the wrong path. 2020 tested us. Though FullContact faced many obstacles,  we are proud to have watched our members face them while embodying our company values, especially “We Have Grit!” Looking to the future, #HealthyFullContact is becoming a global event where our team members in India and the U.S. will participate in the next phase. We’re excited to see what comes next.