What does the future of corporate fitness look like?
Here are three big ways the future of corporate fitness will shift in the years ahead.
We all know the future of the workplace is changing. More employees want to work remotely full-time. Many others want a hybrid work schedule. But the bottom line is fairly simple: Employees want more flexibility!
According to a 2020 FlexJobs survey, 81% of employees claim they would be “more loyal to their employer if they had flexible work options,” with 27% of workers saying that the ability to work from home is so important that they are willing to take a 10% to 20% pay cut to work remotely! So, as an industry, we need to be similarly flexible in providing seamless wellbeing experiences—with corporate fitness programs that can be accessed when and where it’s convenient for employees.
Related: Employers revising well-being strategies to address impact of pandemic
There’s a huge opportunity for our industry to rethink how we can help employees engage with their wellbeing. I’m talking about all facets of wellbeing—social, emotional, mental and yes, physical. This will involve adapting to what in some instances will be a permanently altered business landscape.
Below are three big ways I see the future of corporate fitness shifting in the years ahead.
1. Corporate fitness will be borderless and limitless, but will still convey a strong sense of belonging
Prior to COVID-19, many employees looked to their local gym or corporate fitness center for a sense of community. In the future, they will be likely seeking it virtually. A recent survey found that a whopping 50% of Americans don’t plan to return to their gyms after the pandemic.
Whoa.
However, this presents a big opportunity for us to fill this gap by building and nurturing communities within employee populations that are both borderless and limitless—a direct result of our new reality.
We need to rethink the corporate fitness center model and consider options that adapt and support the new future of work. We need to build communities beyond fitness centers—to engage more people, in more ways. It’s a matter of delivering more services that impact multiple wellbeing dimensions and doing it in a different way that enables employers to reach a broader audience.
Adapting to this notion of borderless, limitless communities will give employers an opportunity to reach employees that they might not have been reaching previously. I’ve seen it first-hand. Prior to COVID-19, many of our corporate fitness center clients allowed access to onsite programs based on the eligible population for the campus where the facility was located. However, during the past year, after we began offering services exclusively virtually, many of those companies extended their reach and offered services to entire eligible U.S. populations—in many cases reaching tens of thousands or more individuals than they ever had before!
Interacting with these online communities of co-workers fosters trust, respect and mutual appreciation inherent to communities and connection. It also goes a long way toward ensuring employees feel cared for and valued, which, in turn, leads to a sense of belonging. And this belonging benefits both the employee and employer – resulting in higher productivity and engagement, along with better recruiting and retention opportunities – which all contribute to an improved bottom line.
2. Corporate fitness will leverage technology based on intent, not necessity
Tools like WebEx, Zoom and Teams definitely served their purpose during the pandemic. But now is our opportunity to create and leverage technology based on intent, not necessity.
Physical health and movement, while certainly important, is only one piece of the wellbeing puzzle. Employers need to build and include programs that showcase how we can help the whole person in multiple wellbeing dimensions—not only physical, but social, emotional, and mental—using technology.
For example, many companies live-streamed content during the pandemic led by fitness professionals with real-time, one-to-many experiences. And sure, fitness classes were a big hit with employees, but so too were energy and stretch breaks, educational seminars and classes for kids.
Or, what about video conferencing that enabled many employees to experience real-time connections with fitness professionals to help with ergonomic consultations for their at-home workspaces, movement efficiency assessments, and nutrition coaching.
Many of the employers I’ve talked to over the last 15+ months want deep, data-driven integration, segmenting and targeting capabilities with programs that address subjects like stress, resiliency, mindfulness, sleep, safety and financial wellbeing. Eventually, because of this data and technology integration, employers will start offering these health and fitness programs to their employees using technology, wherever and whenever works best for them — whether they’re in person, at home, on the production line, on the go, or simply an early riser.
3. Corporate fitness will be relentlessly people-driven
This might seem counter-intuitive based on the increasingly remote nature of work, but people will never be more important to corporate fitness than they will be over the next few years. In fact, according to our own research, 75% of employees say a personal touch is important to their health and wellbeing.
Employees want easy access to live experts who are credible, engaging and who provide one-on-one support and a much-welcome familiar face. Like I said, this will be especially important in the post-COVID-19 landscape, when many employees are working remotely—the personal touch is a critical complement to digital engagement.
With the streaming and video technology I mentioned above, employees can take a class with 20,000 other employees via an app. However, it’s those corporate fitness staff that help facilitate and foster real, meaningful connections between co-workers virtually that are often an extension of what began in the corporate fitness center, before COVID-19, and now extending beyond that as we expand our reach.
The future of corporate fitness will certainly look different in the years ahead—that much we know for sure. But, if we keep our focus on the different facets of employee well-being, flexible options, building community and our people, corporate fitness can still make a substantial impact on your bottom line.
Ann Wyatt is vice president of client strategy and engagement at HealthFitness, where she oversees a national account management team. Her role includes strategy development and driving engagement for new and existing corporate fitness programs, employee recruiting and training, program quality assurance, and operations management.
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