Monarch Beverage Hits the Open Road for Wellness

Have you ever picked up a mountain bicycle and biked 500 miles a week (Olympic athletes aside, anyway)? Sounds crazy, right?

Not for Miguel Marquez, inventory specialist at Monarch Beverage. He did just that – and in six weeks biked a mind-boggling 2,238.64 miles. In SIX weeks. (I had to emphasize that again!)

Marquez wasn’t alone however. As part of Monarch’s latest workplace wellness initiative, employees that signed up to participate in a biking program biked an astonishing 25,690.87 miles. Their goal was to go around the world in 42 days, and they beat that goal by almost 800 miles. Each individual had a goal of completing 180 miles in six weeks.

Color me impressed.

As company wellness has become a more pressing issue (due to rising health care costs stemming from diseases such as diabetes and hypertension, often caused by inactivity and poor nutrition), organizations are looking for new ways to get their teams up and moving.

Monarch’s employees – some of whom spent over 30 hours a week on their bicycles – were asked to get back on their bicycles and help the company reach the goal of bicycling “around the world,” while also utilizing Indianapolis’ new and updated biking lanes and trails.

Sixty employees initially joined the bicycling program and during the sixth week of the competition Monarch asked the rest of its employees to chip in and help out – over 550 miles were donated by employees not originally participating.

The program was also incentivized: those who submitted at least 30 miles per week were entered into a drawing for an incentive or given prizes. Statistics were e-mailed weekly to keep the motivation going.

Marquez was invited to join a team (employees could bike as individuals or as a team) and his goal was “just to keep up with the first place team and all my coworkers … and go as many miles as possible.” He also shares that he spends time bicycling with his family, but has never bicycled professionally.

Kudos to Monarch employees for their hard work, and to the company for encouraging and supporting its staff to get riding!

What unique wellness initiatives are taking place at your organizations?