By Mia Simon, Internal Communications Manager
First Advantage (FA) is proud to share that its team members completed the company’s inaugural FA Moves Challenge. The month-long activity was planned by the Employee Experience team to emphasize the importance of physical well-being and movement, all while giving back to ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®. Employees and those who chose to donate on their behalf raised $7,820 by the end of the challenge. First Advantage also provided a company donation of $7,770, bringing the final total to $15,590, a remarkable feat for the organization’s first-ever companywide FA Moves Challenge.
Aaron Cook, General Manager, Americas at First Advantage, believes that the charitable aspect inspired participants to pursue their goals with greater determination, knowing their efforts were supporting a good cause. “Supporting St. Jude means supporting hope,” Cook said. “Their work transforms lives, and every step we took helped raise funds and awareness for an important cause. St. Jude is a valuable customer, and the FA Moves Challenge is a great way to support a worthy charity while having fun as a team.”
Participants were able to register as individuals or join teams via Charity Footprints to take part in the FA Moves Challenge. It fostered community, and even a little bit of healthy competition, because team members were able to check their own progress while seeing how their results matched up against other participants. “I liked that the competition combined wellness with purpose,” Cook said. “September was the perfect month to get outside and I’m proud of the impressive number of steps across our team.”
As an organization that prides itself on serving a global workforce, staff members are routinely looking for ways to plan events that are accessible to all employees. Planning an event that was both global and centered around physical movement proved to be successful – First Advantage employees collectively documented a total of 39,256 miles throughout the challenge.
To foster greater engagement and accountability, team members shared photos from their daily activities to a scrapbook newsfeed. This enabled everyone to connect and celebrate their experiences collectively. Exploring the scrapbook became a cross-cultural experience, shifting from picturesque views of Canada’s majestic mountain ranges to peaceful British ponds or meadows, with many images capturing families and their furry friends on their walks.
Doug Nairne, First Advantage’s Global Chief Operating Officer, enjoyed watching teams work together to achieve their FA Moves Challenge targets. He attributes the challenge’s success to providing a shared opportunity to prioritize physical wellness. Some participants were also training for races, while others were simply committed to moving more. But no matter the reason, the experience was impactful to all.
“We spend so much of our day in front of a screen, and the challenge was a good motivator for everyone to set aside time to get outside (or stay inside) and exercise,” Nairne said. “We all know exercise is good for us and we all feel better when we do it. Sometimes we just need a bit of encouragement.”
Building camaraderie is a strong priority for First Advantage, as highlighted by “teamwork” being cemented as a company value. The FA Moves Challenge was a prime example of what can happen when employees come together to accomplish personal and team goals, together.
Though this was the first-ever challenge, employees are already looking forward to participating in similar challenges in the future. “In a remote-first environment, initiatives like this are vital,” Cook said. “They foster connection, spark friendly competition, and bring us together as a community. It was amazing to see the various activities across our dispersed team.” Learn more about First Advantage, here.
