Three must-have elements for your health and fitness program

Published by HealthFitness on October 1st, 2024

To state the obvious, providing exercise options like equipment at a corporate fitness center is a core part of its operations. However, if your corporate fitness center only has a collection of workout machines, free weights, and some functional fitness items like medicine balls and yoga mats, you're likely struggling to engage and retain employees and your recruitment of new employees may be lackluster at best.

Here's why: It’s not enough to have a fitness center, you need a robust program to boost engagement and support employee health and wellness. While employees want workout options at work, most also want to dive deeply into wellness programs in addition to fitness to expand their overall approach to physical health and wellbeing.


According to the consulting firm McKinsey, which surveyed about 7,500 consumers in six countries, 79% of respondents said wellness is important and 42% consider it a top priority. The firm found that consumers viewed wellness across six dimensions:
  • Better health, extending beyond medicine and supplements
  • Better fitness that addresses personal needs
  • Better nutrition with food that helps them accomplish wellness goals as well as address any underlying medical conditions
  • Better appearance that includes service-oriented offerings
  • Better sleep that can be enhanced through specific strategies rather than just products or supplements
  • Better mindfulness approaches that help foster a sense of calm and presence
How can that translate to your corporate fitness center operations? Drawing on the results from the McKinsey report, that means what employees really want are three key elements:

1. Insights
Offering personal training will always be important for a corporate fitness center, but the level of expertise shouldn't stop there. Employees are eager to learn from experts on topics like nutrition, sleep, stress reduction, and mindfulness. Offering regular opportunities for education through experts like health coaches is part of what can draw new members and keep existing members engaged.

Another major part of insight is helping employees understand the "why" behind topics like these. That might be as basic as, "Why is exercise important for you?" or "Why does sleep have such a ripple effect on your health?" When employees gain this type of awareness, it's easier for them to acknowledge how wellness approaches affect them personally.

2. Connection
While some people do enjoy using a corporate fitness center on their own, many lean toward connecting with others as part of overall wellness. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), social connection is a powerful tool for physical and mental health and helps protect against serious illness and disease.

The CDC adds that people with stronger social bonds are more likely to live longer, healthier lives. Bringing an aspect of connection within a corporate fitness facility can have a profound ripple effect that keeps employees invested and engaged.

Connecting with others might mean group training, small education classes, or simply comradery of being around likeminded individuals within a designated workout space. Employees want to feel included, and that means a sense of belonging and community.

3. Emotional wellness
A survey from market research firm Mintel notes that mental and emotional wellbeing has overtaken physical fitness as the top reason for exercising, with nearly 80% of those surveyed saying that's their biggest driver.

In part, this trend surged after COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, when emotional health took a nosedive with so much isolation and stress. But it's continued now as more employees return to the office and workplaces have dropped restrictions. In its report, Mintel suggests this might be because the pandemic made many people realize they want to take better care of their mental health.

Employers need to recognize how much of a major motivator this can be for employees and adjust their health and fitness offerings accordingly. For example, employers can offer group exercise classes such as yoga, meditation, sound baths and stretch breaks. Employers can also add spaces to help employees take a moment to decompress and relax. In addition, employers can provide educational breaks on topics such as mindfulness, social wellbeing and gratitude to support employee mental health.
 
Building a wellness and fitness program
At this point, understanding wellness isn't just a "nice to have" component for a fitness center, it's a crucial part of strategic growth. Physical health is obviously important, but if employers aren’t addressing other aspects of wellness, it's likely employees will lose motivation, particularly if they're struggling with issues like stress or nutrition.

Learn more
Integrating wellness components together can be tricky, however. It's challenging to anticipate what an entire employee population might want, much less individuals within that group. That's why turning to a provider like HealthFitness can be so helpful. We have ample experience in building a culture of health within a corporate fitness space and in the broader organization. We stay on top of wellness trends and consumer preferences to keep employees engaged and supported. Connect with us for a no-obligation meeting.