In May 2022, coinciding with the lifting of all working from home guidance, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) surveyed a section of the UK working population on ‘Is hybrid working here to stay?’. The results showed that 38% of working adults reported to have worked from home at some point in the past 7 days. In comparison, when a similar question was posed prior to the pandemic, 12% of working adults gave the same response.

This has been a similar picture for the team at Parliament Hill who worked in the office 5-days a week pre-pandemic and now work together a minimum of 1 day a week. So, when Jack Hughes (Partnership Executive at Parliament Hill) suggested taking part in a Tough Mudder this summer in the early months of 2022, we all jumped at the chance to work on something challenging together.

‘It was a great experience to work together as a team and earn that pint at the end’
Jenny Hollywood, Account Executive

As the months got closer, we shared training tips; with members of the team practicing the monkey bars, with varying degrees of success at their local parks. And we (more vocally as the months went on) shared our worries and our fears.

Jack kept on with the positivity… and sure enough the morning of Saturday 13 August came around (with its predicted 38 degree temperatures) and we all met in Morden Park with a mixture of trepidation and nervous anxiety. With 5km ahead of us and 13 obstacles, with names like ‘Arctic Enema’ , ‘Mudderhorn’ , ‘Electroshock Therapy’ , ‘Hydrophobia’ and ‘Devil’s Beard’ , the 10 of us set off.

‘My highlight was after we completed the obstacle, Mudderhorn. This was the penultimate obstacle; I loved the energy of the team and the recognition everyone gave to each other after completing the tallest obstacle of the course!’
Jack Hughes, Partnership Executive

Unfortunately, we did lose a team member partway through the course due to a knee injury. With her consent, the remaining team carried on through to the end supporting each other both physically and mentally along the way. But, we did it! Some fears were conquered, there was a huge amount of laughter throughout, and most importantly the remaining 9 all finished together.

‘I thought it was such a great day for team work and positivity. It was very challenging but everyone was brilliant and kept everyone going.’
Becky Brookes, Marketing Assistant

Huge congratulations to; Andrew, Aoife, Becky, George, Jack, James, Jennifer, Jenny, Kyra and Rita for taking part.

Would I suggest that all teams across the country take part in a Tough Mudder as an ultimate team building experience? No. However, would I recommend taking some time out to socialise and reconnect with your work colleagues? Absolutely!

Will we be doing it again next year? (depends on who you ask in the team).

Kyra Ingrao , Associate Director Marketing and Partnerships

To see more on the work of Parliament Hill please visit the News and Insights page .

Office for National Statistics – Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS), May 2022;

For more on Tough Mudder, please visit the official website: toughmudder.co.uk