As the 2020 Summer Olympic Games (which were delayed until Summer 2021) come to a close in Tokyo, we are inspired by the Olympians. Through adversity, challenges and even a global pandemic, they have been able to adapt, put forth amazing effort and perform on a world stage. Seeing the videos and pictures of these athletes has been thrilling to watch. The concept of the Olympics has always been a beacon of hope and inspiration to many throughout the world. It even encouraged us to share one of the QAD best practices we recently implemented in a similar spirit that quickly became an annual highlight of the virtual workplace.
Bringing Employees Together for the QAD Olympics
Since March 2020, QAD has hosted a series of its own Olympic Games. Much like the actual Olympics, it has been a way to bring teams and individuals across borders together to compete, collaborate and inspire each other. The teams compete for Gold, Silver and Bronze medals and the prize for each is the ability to make a sizable donation to the teams’ selected charity organizations. Instead of traveling and competing in a live setting, we held the QAD Olympic Games much like we have conducted all of our business during the pandemic, virtually.
The most recent QAD Olympics ran from April 1 to 30, 2021. Employees were encouraged to organize into teams and pick creative team names. Some examples of the team names included Captains of Multitasking, Binge Walking, Elastic Waistbands, Not Your High School PE Class, QuaranQueens, the HEARTies, the Krawling Koalas and many more. Participants logged their daily fitness and wellness activities. Some of the competition activities included yoga, crossfit, weightlifting, walking, cycling, swimming and even mindfulness meditation. At the core, the QAD Olympics encouraged a daily routine or practice of choice that supported employees’ physical, mental and emotional well-being, and a leaderboard ranked teams based on average totals. The top three teams that had the best averages by the end of the competition won virtual medals.
Healthy competition and commitment to a team helped motivate many to increase their fitness activities. For many, this commitment continued even beyond the QAD Olympics. With most employees working in their homes around the world, fitness activities provided a nice escape from the home office and Zoom life. Many of the teams shared photos with each other of their favorite places to exercise. Here are some of the collages teams built to recognize each others accomplishments.
The QAD Olympic Teams
“D.S.C.P Team: As usual, it has been a fantastic experience and tough competition, sharing our daily activities and slices of our personal lives. Everyone was highly committed and never gave up! It has been a pleasure to share that with you!” – Damien Trepiccioni, Pre-Sales Consultant
“Both Limerick teams teamed up to do Online Yoga under the guidance of one of our former colleagues Lucia Sheehan Guerin who now runs her own business for Yoga and Wellbeing.” – Martin Guerin, Sr. Release Production Technician
“Thank you, HEARTies, for this great experience! It was a pleasure to be part of this international (6 offices) team. Thank you for your commitment during our international challenge to keep motivated. Other teams were too strong indeed and deserve our hearty HEARTies congratulations. 🙂 Your contribution allowed us to collect 131 € for Hospital Marie Lannelongue. Warm thanks.” – Anthony LeBagousse, Sr. Project Manager
Team Symphonic Diversity with representation from all regions of the world!
Teams showed their sense of humor and also celebrated each other’s fitness achievements. It increased our connectedness, enhanced team spirit and certainly brought a lot of enjoyment to the virtual workplace.
The 2021 QAD Olympics Podium
Gold: The Gold medal went to Team “Don’t Spread COVID Please (DSCP)”. They chose to have the $3,000 grand prize be donated to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). UNICEF delivers essentials such as health care and immunizations, safe water and sanitation, nutrition, education, emergency relief and more to children around the world.
Silver: Team “Pending Approvals” took the Silver medal and elected to have their cash prize of $2,000 given to Fundacja Zobacz Jestem. Fundacja Zobacz Jestem is a foundation that provides help for children and teenagers with emotional problems. It specializes in areas such as eating disorders, autoaggression, depression, suicidal behavior and peer violence. It also conducts educational activities and supports parents, teachers, and all institutions that work and help for children and youth.
Bronze: The Bronze medal was awarded to Team “Binge Walking” and their prize of $1,000 was provided to Feeding America. Feeding America is the largest hunger relief organization in the USA. It works with corporations, organizations and individuals through a network of foodbanks, pantries and meal programs throughout the US providing over 4.3 billion meals annually.
Thank you, Olympians!
Congratulations to all of the 2020 Olympians in Tokyo. You were inspiring to watch and while your abilities are far beyond the norm, seeing you compete did help all of us experience some form of normal even as the pandemic continues.
Congratulations as well to all of our QAD Olympians around the world. Thank you for your continued efforts, teamwork and perseverance throughout the pandemic. You lifted our spirits and showed us what is possible in supporting our customers, communities and each other.
