First Main Healthy Living
Raising the bar on staff fitness
Sometimes, a good idea starts with a simple conversation. At Monolith, one such casual chat led to a new pull-up bar at head office – and a project that brought colleagues together in a way nobody had quite planned.
In July 2025, Serghei Cheptea, Regional Manager in Sales, and Dmitriy Babich, Assistant Manager in Fleet, started working out at a local park after work and doing pull-ups. Before long, conversation turned to how useful it would be to have a pull-up bar at the office. Colleagues would be able to exercise without travelling elsewhere.
When the idea came up again in August, the CEO was happy to support it. But he had one condition: the Sales team had to beat its September sales target. Head of Sales Bogdan Strypa and his team – Serghei, Stanislav Casautan, Ivan Cherepovskyi, Oleksandr Listratov, Vadym Strakulenko and Valentyn Lapai – delivered. The project had the green light.
The next step was getting everything ready. Warehouse Manager Juozas Bernotavicius worked out the materials and tools we’d need. Monolith covered the cost of the materials, while Bogdan, Serghei, Stanislav, Ivan and Oleksandr brought tools from home.
On 8 November, the team and the CEO got together to assemble the bar. It arrived in pieces, and the work was tougher than expected. The ground was rocky and it claimed several shovels along the way. Still, nobody was in a hurry to give up and camaraderie was strong.
Some colleagues had brought homemade food, and everyone broke off for a barbecue lunch they’d made themselves. It was a long day, but one punctuated by great conversation and a fine team spirit. By the end of it, the bar was finally in place and a sauna afterwards became a welcome reward.
Today, the pull-up bar is a daily routine. At 4pm most working days, colleagues head outside to exercise together. Men and women alike join in, with laughter and chatter the sound of bonding in action. Some colleagues joke they can tell the time by the noise outside.
A simple idea between friends has become something the wider team can enjoy. It’s a great example of what can happen when people take the initiative, others get involved, and great management support makes it all a reality.
