Connecting with colleagues in other office locations and getting a glimpse of their personal lives and wellness routines is something we don’t have the opportunity to do very often. However, it is something that can be done when colleagues across the world get together to achieve a mission, something that the Irdeto team excels at.
This past August, 181 Irdeto athletes across our 15 global offices participated in our Irdeto Moves challenge to stay connected and keep active to take care of our well-being and contribute to the fight against COVID-19.
When the Irdeto Health and Well-being CSR team started discussions about the summer edition of Irdeto Moves, the COVID situation in New Delhi (where one of our offices is located) was really scary. What caught my attention was that India is a country that is producing vaccines but is struggling with the vaccination roll-out for their own citizens. While chatting with my partner, Jessica, the idea to link our traditional corporate challenge with a charity component came to life. After some research, I found that UNICEF Canada was working with COVAX to raise funds to purchase vaccine doses and distributed them to countries that need help. The charity was straightforward, $10 CDN ($8 USD) secured two doses of COVID-19 vaccines and if we could secure some funding, we could link COVAX donations to Irdeto Moves.
Our leadership team loved the idea to link these two together and season three of Irdeto Moves was officially a go. Our goal? To move together for 50,000 minutes and donate $5,000 USD to COVAX. The results? 107,865 active minutes, $10,000 USD raised and 2,000 COVID vaccines donated to COVAX – doubling our initial goal?
Irdeto Moves was an inspiring 31-day challenge fueled by connection and a mission to give back to society. We set up a Strava account so all colleagues could measure their activity and share pictures and stories about their “movement”. My biggest takeaway from this initiative was realizing that Irdeto has amazing athletes. Some of our colleagues were cycling 250+ km in a day or running 200+ km a week and that was simply awesome! We saw it all– from weekly and team challenges to holiday hikes, morning swims, walking, swimming, sailing, horseback riding, soccer/football, cricket, aerial yoga, strength training, CrossFit – you name it! Our colleagues pushed boundaries by breaking a sweat and personal records, come rain or shine.
“I’m very into sports and I have always appreciated Irdeto’s intentions to give back to society through local charities or global initiatives like the Red Cross or like this year, COVAX. Enriching the lives of our people and communities is part of what we do, and participating in this challenge was a no-brainer for me. It is undeniable that in some countries adequate vaccinations against COVID are not broadly available, and this year’s Irdeto Moves helped to address (part of) that problem.
During the month challenge, apart from the usual exercising in the gym, I spent quite a bit of time riding my mountain bike and hiking during the holidays in Switzerland, Italy and Austria where I was in Kitzbuhel that I have been visiting since I was a kid. It was great to share this place with my son, and add some active minutes to Irdeto Moves!
Connecting with colleagues around the world and contributing to the doubling of our donation to COVAX was definitely a great sign of momentum and display of the passion our colleagues around the world put into this initiative!”
“Before Irdeto Moves, cycling more than 15km seemed to be an extremely hard target for me. However, after seeing some of my colleagues’ extraordinary records during Irdeto Moves, such as cycling more than 50km daily, I was inspired to start a new routine and bike to our Beijing office which is more than 16km. Once I finished this journey for the first time, I realized the great sense of achievement it brought, how it improved my mood and most importantly, how it wasn’t that difficult. With role models as inspiration, people can achieve exceeding results which they didn’t dare to do in the past!
I am very happy that I was able to participate in this initiative and encouraged over a dozen of colleagues from the China office to join the movement. Irdeto Moves was a great way to contribute to the fight against COVID-19 and to get colleagues connected, motivated, and inspired with each other’s activities through Strava. I look forward to season four!”
“As part of the Irdeto’s Health and Well-being CSR working group, I absolutely loved to see how many people participated in this edition of Irdeto Moves! The initiative grew from 20 participants back in January, to over 180 this time around. We have some tremendous athletes at Irdeto, and I found it incredibly motivating to see what people got up to every week. My favorite part was seeing people succeed – we saw people do their first triathlon’s and hit personal bests. To have a little part in that was really rewarding.
For those starting on their well-being journey, don’t be afraid to start small and try new things; celebrate small gains and find joy in your movement. Even on the bad runs, I’m grateful for the ability to run ?”
“Irdeto Moves is a great initiative to connect with like-minded Irdeto colleagues all over the world and have motivated fun while getting healthy. This August, I spent most of my time on my mountain bike experiencing some great South African sunrises and also a daily walk, connecting with my son(something that has now become a habit we enjoy). Seeing the take up and constancy of my Irdeto colleagues, to exercise and remain active for the month, was very inspiring and I look forward to participating in the next challenge!”
“The summer edition of Irdeto moves was announced just before vacation, so it was the perfect timing to use my free time and log some Strava activities. During my holidays, I used my bike to travel to the south of France (600 km across two days), smell the fresh air of the countryside, hear the birds, reflect on my role in the universe and also score points for the company challenge. I also had the amazing opportunity to climb the Col du Tourmalet and the Luz Ardiden mountains in the Pyrenees, climbs I always dreamt of doing.
By integrating movement in our day-to-day lives we allow ourselves to stay alert, give our cells a chance to function properly and express our full potential. As the great philosophers would say “The best ideas we have are the ones found during physical activities”. Thank you, Irdeto for promoting sports and for raising funds for such important initiatives!”
“While being stuck at home during COVID, my goal was to increase my activity levels so I don’t get into bad habits of “not moving” around. The Irdeto Moves initiative was thus perfect for me – inspiration to move more with a fantastic cause of helping the world (even just a little bit) to fight off this terrible virus! Throughout the month, I did a range of activities from golf to squash, cycling, running, swimming, strength training and occasional morning hikes with my wife.
To keep the momentum and enjoy some face-to-face time with colleagues, a few of us in the Ottawa office decided to organize a triathlon. I knew that a few people had trained for triathlon events over the last couple of years, so I thought it would be fun to get all of us together! We had a good turnout, and people did a mix of swimming, biking and running. Sharing stories of the Irdeto Move initiative afterward with colleagues was a fun way to end the event!”