Stepping it up at Stanwell

13 February 2020

In 2019, over 40 teams from across our sites participated in the Virgin Pulse Challenge – a health and wellbeing initiative that encourages people to step up their fitness and adopt new healthy habits.

The challenge was a huge success, with steppers across Stanwell clocking a total of 238,205 kilometres over the 100 day period.

We reached some remarkable milestones, with some of the following highlights:

• Over 372 million steps taken;
• 14,354 average daily steps across the business; and
• Most importantly, we burned off the equivalent of 62,000 slices of pizza.

In the end there could only be one winner, with Stanwell Power Station’s Comrade Crusaders team standing on the podium as number one.

There were however, plenty of other winners who participated in the challenge and who found the experience rewarding and highly enjoyable.

People and Culture Graduate, Kaila Sutherland, who captained the Stanwell Grads team said the main benefit to come from participating in the challenge was gaining a better insight into how much exercise she was doing each day.

“I spend a lot of time at my desk in my role, so I had to make sure that I allowed time to exercise each day if I wanted to maintain a healthy amount of steps,” Kaila explained.

“I already do things outside of work to maintain my health and fitness, but this challenge allowed me to change my routine up.”

Business Services Strategy and Risk Manager, Rhonda Rowe, who captained the Tarong Trackers team said she was amazed how simple changes translated to long-lasting healthy habits.

“I have continued to track my steps, even after the challenge ended,” Rhonda said.

“I’m now more aware of how little changes to my daily routine can relate back to my step count.

“One of the biggest changes I’ve made as a result of the challenge had been to utilise my standing desk, rather than sitting down all the time.”

The challenge was also a valuable team building experience for our captains who were able to keep exercise exciting and fun.

“It built friendly comradery with the teams on site and it got people who may not have normally interacted on a regular basis, more involved – there was also a lot of friendly banter,” said Rhonda.

Kaila was of the same opinion, with the motivation of her team spurring her on to improve her healthy habits in the challenge and beyond.

“Participating in the challenge made me realise how motivating and enjoyable exercise can be when you do it with your peers,” she said.

At Stanwell we provide a series of health and wellbeing initiatives aimed at maintaining and improving the mental and physical health of our people, including:

• A Voluntary Wellness Program reimbursement, which covers up to $120 of the cost when Stanwell employees attend their GP and complete a personal health assessment.
• Fitness Passport discounts for gym memberships across each of our regions.
• A comprehensive and confidential Employee Assistance Program through our provider, Benestar, which is on offer to our people and their immediate family. This includes counselling, coaching and workplace consulting services with qualified professionals.
• We are also proud to work alongside Mates in Energy to help raise awareness about mental health issues in the workplace and to lower rates of suicide.

For more information on life at Stanwell, click here.