A lot of people in business will tell you that they go the extra mile, but it doesn’t really mean much. At Fuel, we’re proud to say the extra mile is more than a figure of speech.

Setting the goal

Beyond the usual workout session, we wanted to make our latest fitness initiative, Get Movin’, a real feat, since our employees thrive under challenging circumstances every day. Our teams specialize in moving goods across great distances, so we wanted to see how well they can travel those distances themselves.

We challenged our employees to run, walk, or bike a combined distance of 500 miles – the distance between our Toronto and Chicago offices. Participants were split into two teams, with team members hailing from each of our North American offices, each responsible for completing 250 miles of the total trek. The goal was to have the teams come together to achieve a collective goal: hitting the 500 miles. However, Fuel employees being Fuel employees, their competitive nature kicked in and collaboration quickly became competition, with the teams challenging themselves to see who could complete the 250 miles first. 

Exceling together

Not only did both teams smash their goal of 250 miles respectively, their innate drive to always do more kicked in again, and the teams decided they would each take on the full 500 miles – reaching a combined total of 1000 miles completed. We’d like to say we’re surprised they went above and beyond what was asked of them, but that’s honestly the usual vibe around here.

What does it mean to have a strong company culture? For us it means keeping our employees engaged with team-building activities that don’t feel forced, but are actually fun; activities that get people working together and get their blood flowing. We love seeing our teams work towards a common goal and have a blast in the process. And we love it when they come back to us asking, What’s next?