Converting kilometers into trees

PNO team members are contributing to a greener planet by running and walking in the first quarter of 2021. During the three month long initiative “PNO – more than kilometers”, PNO converts the distances walked or run into trees donated through our partner WeForest. 

“PNO Health” is an ongoing project started in 2020. The purpose is to ensure a healthy organization, which is centered around the people at the company and focuses on both the mental and physical health of the team. New initiatives are being introduced semi-annually to continuously develop the format. First initiative incorporated movement into daily work routines by proposing easy actions like stand-up meetings and walk & talks. 
The second initiative is “PNO – more than kilometers” and runs from January to April 2021. 

For every kilometer, a team member runs, and every second kilometer he or she walks, PNO donates a tree. 

“Staying active is crucial to our well-being and therefore we wanted to implement an initiative that was approachable for everyone. Some are already active and some needed a greater purpose, and connecting to planting trees should hopefully do just that. We will continue to introduce health initiatives as this is something that we prioritize.” – Solvej Lee Ørnstrand, Head of People, Communication & Sustainability 

In a time of Covid-19

Due to the global pandemic, all PNO colleagues are at the moment experiencing some sort of lockdown in their respective countries. The accessibility of normal sports and fitness facilities is limited in most of the Nordics, but running and walking is still possible. By creating a challenge where kilometers are converted to trees, the team members are engaged by a greater purpose and motivated to complete extra walks and runs in the first three months of 2021. 

Christian Schulz is Senior Business Controller at the Group Office in Copenhagen. Before “PNO – more than kilometers,  he was already very active and is normally both swimming, biking and running every week. However, his runs have become about the double distance after the challenge began: 

“The good purpose gives me motivation to go for some extra kilometers during my runs, or go by foot instead of public transportation during the week. Knowing that my efforts will turn into trees makes it very fulfilling to push a bit harder than normal. Of course it has also become a competition – you want to win over your colleagues and earn the most trees. A leaderboard is shared each week to keep track of who has completed the most kilometers, so you can keep track of how far you are from top-3.”

Christian joined PNO in January 2021 and has only met a few colleagues so far, as most people at the Group Office are working from home at the moment. Being unable to meet the people of the company, the health initiative also served as a social aspect and a way of interacting with the new colleagues: 

“Even though I haven’t met many colleagues face-to-face, I already had interaction with them because of the health initiative. It has given me a sense of team spirit and made it easier to become part of the PNO team – you have something not work-related to talk about. Furthermore it makes me happy that I have joined a company, which promotes activities to the benefit of its employees’ health and the planet.”