A sustainable walking platform for employee steps challenges

The app promotes sustainability, healthiness, and team-building by planting trees the more that employees participate

Spotted: Employers know that unhappy employees make for less productive workplaces. Researchers have quantified some of those feelings, finding that when employees feel isolated, productivity drops by 21 per cent.  

Team building is a long-standing method of fostering more connected, communicative employees, and following the many months of working from home during the pandemic, steps challenges became one way that remote workers were able to do something together. Lithuanian startup Walk15 recognised the popularity of such challenges and designed a platform that makes the exercise as good for the planet as it is for employees.  

Companies choose from four subscription plans with pricing based on the number of participants, with a free option for individuals or very small businesses. Once a company has set up an account and downloaded the app, the challenge begins. As well as reducing vehicle emissions by encouraging walking, businesses can choose to contribute to a cleaner atmosphere by planting a tree for every participant during the challenge.  

Participants choose to count their steps individually or as part of a team, and the dashboard builds a visualisation of the CO2 that is saved throughout the challenge as the number of steps increases.  

Walk15 recently became the first Lithuanian company to win investment from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). So far, the startup has raised €600,000 for expansion and further roll-out of the platform. More than a thousand companies across Europe – including Denmark, Germany, Latvia, and Lithuania – are already using the platform for company team building.  

As a new way of working emerged across much of the world, innovators sought ways to help companies do a better job in taking care of employees and the environment. Other innovations Springwise spotted include platforms that help companies monitor employee carbon emissions and hire and manage employees internationally.

Written By: Keely Khoury