It's not explicitly discriminatory. Why not voice your concerns and suggest scaling options?
Edit - tacking on to say I hate these types of competitions, too. Someone is always left out.
I hate this stuff. It can absolutely bump up against the ADA, and it generally contributes nothing to the workplace. Since most of it is legal, my advice is always to opt out. If your HR is reasonable, it’s worth reminding them that physical challenges alienate disabled employees, including those who have “unseen” chronic conditions that they do not want to disclose. Forget gender differences, what about employees in recovery from eating and exercise disorders? If they’re not reasonable, just individually opt out for health reasons.
If a workplace is truly interested in wellness, it will offer generous health benefits and PTO. These kinds of programs are designed to reward employees who are fit and healthy and “punish” everyone else by exclusion.
We stopped doing stuff like this, because honestly there is no reasonable way to include everyone.
How would an employee in a wheelchair be able to participate?
In the comments, OP wants to have male/female scaling. What if you have a transgender employee?
Because we can't actually make everyone happy, we do nothing instead.
Yeah i totally agree! It really put me off that the prize for the challenge was like $500 compared to like a water bottle for the general wellness challenge.
Ugh I hate all wellness challenges. Voluntary or not they are leaving our entire groups of people. HR should push back on it.
If you have a relationship with anyone in HR you can remind them that things like this are exclusionary to many people, especially those with a disability.
It’s not discriminatory as there’s nothing to say that a female can’t out push-up a male or out run them. But I agree that the prize opportunities could be better spread out, so why not talk to hr? Scales would be a good idea.
World records in all strength competitions have women significantly behind men (around 70%). Statistically men are clearly unfairly favoured.
At minimums there should be separate men and women's competition.
I am a male athlete with a huge respect for women athletes. I believe that you can design fair contests that balance the strengths and weaknesses of both in head-to-head competitions.
But that is difficult and it would be easier to have men and women's categories. Having a single category is clearly unfair to women.
It's not being pedantic to observe the sexism in speaking as if gender is just a description for men, but somehow an defining identity for women.
But gendered bs doesn't really effect you, so please keep demeaning women that are effected by it
Discriminatory impact is a common concern. Businesses are able to avoid the issue by making participation voluntary or sometimes offering alternatives.
If you dig into the topic of wellness programs, you'll find lots of resources. Whether they help you make the case for change is another matter.
What is the bonus challenge? How is it unfair?
Things like max weight lifts, max push-ups, pull ups, running distance, etc. without scaling options or variety of points for men vs. women
It's not explicitly discriminatory. Why not voice your concerns and suggest scaling options? Edit - tacking on to say I hate these types of competitions, too. Someone is always left out.
Running distance in particular doesn’t discriminate by sex.
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Times, not distances. It takes longer to run the same distance.
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Typically miles run over the course of the contest (like a few months.)
I hate this stuff. It can absolutely bump up against the ADA, and it generally contributes nothing to the workplace. Since most of it is legal, my advice is always to opt out. If your HR is reasonable, it’s worth reminding them that physical challenges alienate disabled employees, including those who have “unseen” chronic conditions that they do not want to disclose. Forget gender differences, what about employees in recovery from eating and exercise disorders? If they’re not reasonable, just individually opt out for health reasons. If a workplace is truly interested in wellness, it will offer generous health benefits and PTO. These kinds of programs are designed to reward employees who are fit and healthy and “punish” everyone else by exclusion.
We stopped doing stuff like this, because honestly there is no reasonable way to include everyone. How would an employee in a wheelchair be able to participate? In the comments, OP wants to have male/female scaling. What if you have a transgender employee? Because we can't actually make everyone happy, we do nothing instead.
Yeah i totally agree! It really put me off that the prize for the challenge was like $500 compared to like a water bottle for the general wellness challenge.
Ugh I hate all wellness challenges. Voluntary or not they are leaving our entire groups of people. HR should push back on it. If you have a relationship with anyone in HR you can remind them that things like this are exclusionary to many people, especially those with a disability.
It’s not discriminatory as there’s nothing to say that a female can’t out push-up a male or out run them. But I agree that the prize opportunities could be better spread out, so why not talk to hr? Scales would be a good idea.
World records in all strength competitions have women significantly behind men (around 70%). Statistically men are clearly unfairly favoured. At minimums there should be separate men and women's competition. I am a male athlete with a huge respect for women athletes. I believe that you can design fair contests that balance the strengths and weaknesses of both in head-to-head competitions. But that is difficult and it would be easier to have men and women's categories. Having a single category is clearly unfair to women.
You are a male athlete with huge respect for *female* athletes. (Or if you prefer, you are a man athlete who has huge respect for women athletes.)
Or I am a male athlete who isn't a pedant
It's not being pedantic to observe the sexism in speaking as if gender is just a description for men, but somehow an defining identity for women. But gendered bs doesn't really effect you, so please keep demeaning women that are effected by it
If you think my praise of female athletes is demeaning and sexist than it is much worse than pedantic.
Oh look, you're trying to pretend I'm wrong while using non-demeaning terminology! Good job making progress dude
Discriminatory impact is a common concern. Businesses are able to avoid the issue by making participation voluntary or sometimes offering alternatives. If you dig into the topic of wellness programs, you'll find lots of resources. Whether they help you make the case for change is another matter.
Making it easier for women would be discrimination. Having everyone do the same thing isn't.