Face-to-face motivational interviewing and email-based interventions both increased daily steps by 1,624 during an 8-week workplace program among 155 Hungarian university employees, but the personal approach demonstrated superior long-term retention of benefits. The face-to-face group maintained higher step counts through 6-month follow-up and achieved 997 additional MET-minutes per week at one month post-intervention compared to controls. This finding illuminates a critical gap in workplace wellness programming: while digital interventions offer scalability, the human connection inherent in face-to-face counseling appears to embed behavioral changes more durably. For aging populations where sustained physical activity becomes increasingly vital for healthspan extension, this suggests that initial investment in personal coaching may yield better long-term returns than purely digital approaches. The 1,624 daily step increase represents meaningful health impact—roughly 15-20 minutes of additional walking that could reduce cardiovascular and metabolic disease risk. However, the study's limitation to university employees and relatively short follow-up period constrains broader applicability. This represents confirmatory evidence that personal touch enhances intervention durability, though the magnitude of difference between approaches warrants larger-scale validation across diverse workplace settings.