Six ways the pandemic changed corporate fitness for the better
Published by HealthFitness on May 23rd, 2022
A leading pharmaceutical manufacturing company has relied on HealthFitness for 12 years to build strong relationships with its employees, engaging them in their health and wellness. The company’s 4,000 employees work at large corporate campus with multiple buildings — including three fitness centers.
Before the pandemic, more than 2,000 employees were members of the three packed fitness centers, where the HealthFitness team connected with them, providing a busy and continuous schedule of health and fitness programming.
When the pandemic forced a shutdown of the fitness centers, the HealthFitness staff shifted how those connections were made so that employees could continue to thrive during the shutdown and then again once they were back on-site.
As a result, the HealthFitness staff showed up for the employees in different ways that allowed them to maintain their connections. Here’s how the pandemic changed their approach to fitness.
1. Meet people where they are
The first day the fitness centers were shut down in March 2020, HealthFitness Program Manager Megan decided to begin sending out an email every day at 6:00 a.m. to all 2,000 members. She did this for an entire year. The daily email included a motivational quote, a healthy tip and encouraging words shared to make members feel less alone.
“The email was the only consistent communication our members could rely on and it let them know that we cared about them,” Megan said.
And the members did feel cared for:
“Thank you for your emails and your motivation to exercise and keep healthy,” one member said.
“I just wanted to let you know how helpful these emails have been during this stressful time. It’s so important to keep people positive and active. Thanks for keeping them going,” another member said.
While the emails were first sent to members of the fitness centers, the list quickly grew beyond the home site to all locations within the United States “Company directors asked if they could share my daily emails with their teams — and many were not even members of the fitness centers,” she said.
After the full year of daily emails, Megan transitioned to a weekly email for a period, then back to a monthly approach as the team moved towards reopening the fitness centers.
2. Make a shift in programming
Megan said the pandemic changed the approach to their programming for the better. “Our focus shifted from ‘What are the best programs and services we can provide,” to ‘How can we show up and care for each member,’” she said.
The team began focusing on intentional programming that would meet the needs of the virtual work force. This included leading companywide stretch breaks, connecting with employees one-on-one through virtual consults and classes, as well as moderating the amount of new fitness programming that was introduced as to not overwhelm their audience.
3. Start from scratch
Not only did the staff make sure members felt cared for, the combination of intentional programming and meaningful connections made and maintained throughout the pandemic led to increased excitement and sharing of the fitness center activities. As a result, the HealthFitness team started membership from scratch when opening in September 2021 and have grown it from 0 to 500 members in six months — with numbers increasing every day.
4. Make movement matter
The team focused on virtual fitness and education to teach members about the Movement Training System, which the staff uses to evaluate every participant and provides a custom solution for health, fitness and exercise. “Our virtual sessions gave our team more time to educate employees on the importance of movement and now it is part of our culture,” she said.
5. Take fitness outside
Since re-opening, Megan’s team is also taking fitness programming outside with more walks — rain or shine. For example, she worked with the on-site security team to close off an unused level of their parking garage to use in case of rain. “It’s important to provide a routine and consistency to the members, making sure they understand we care about them and they belong,” she said.
6. Use an agile approach to growth
The pandemic has forced a shift for the better in terms of strategy. Before the pandemic, Megan and team focused most on increasing membership numbers. But today, it’s about so much more than increasing memberships, it’s about creating a really meaningful experience.
“We still care about membership, but we also focus on the type of programming and using qualitative and quantitative data to gauge what is resonating most,” she said. It’s put us on a better path to not only grow membership, but have members love the experience.
This agile approach to growth allows the team to keep the needs of the members at the forefront—and it resonates with corporate leaders. “We are now speaking their language,” she said. “And if the company’s corporate leadership pops into the fitness center, the entire team can speak to the strategy and business plan. As a result, they trust us. They know we’ve got this,” she says.
Before the pandemic, more than 2,000 employees were members of the three packed fitness centers, where the HealthFitness team connected with them, providing a busy and continuous schedule of health and fitness programming.
When the pandemic forced a shutdown of the fitness centers, the HealthFitness staff shifted how those connections were made so that employees could continue to thrive during the shutdown and then again once they were back on-site.
As a result, the HealthFitness staff showed up for the employees in different ways that allowed them to maintain their connections. Here’s how the pandemic changed their approach to fitness.
1. Meet people where they are
The first day the fitness centers were shut down in March 2020, HealthFitness Program Manager Megan decided to begin sending out an email every day at 6:00 a.m. to all 2,000 members. She did this for an entire year. The daily email included a motivational quote, a healthy tip and encouraging words shared to make members feel less alone.
“The email was the only consistent communication our members could rely on and it let them know that we cared about them,” Megan said.
And the members did feel cared for:
“Thank you for your emails and your motivation to exercise and keep healthy,” one member said.
“I just wanted to let you know how helpful these emails have been during this stressful time. It’s so important to keep people positive and active. Thanks for keeping them going,” another member said.
While the emails were first sent to members of the fitness centers, the list quickly grew beyond the home site to all locations within the United States “Company directors asked if they could share my daily emails with their teams — and many were not even members of the fitness centers,” she said.
After the full year of daily emails, Megan transitioned to a weekly email for a period, then back to a monthly approach as the team moved towards reopening the fitness centers.
2. Make a shift in programming
Megan said the pandemic changed the approach to their programming for the better. “Our focus shifted from ‘What are the best programs and services we can provide,” to ‘How can we show up and care for each member,’” she said.
The team began focusing on intentional programming that would meet the needs of the virtual work force. This included leading companywide stretch breaks, connecting with employees one-on-one through virtual consults and classes, as well as moderating the amount of new fitness programming that was introduced as to not overwhelm their audience.
3. Start from scratch
Not only did the staff make sure members felt cared for, the combination of intentional programming and meaningful connections made and maintained throughout the pandemic led to increased excitement and sharing of the fitness center activities. As a result, the HealthFitness team started membership from scratch when opening in September 2021 and have grown it from 0 to 500 members in six months — with numbers increasing every day.
4. Make movement matter
The team focused on virtual fitness and education to teach members about the Movement Training System, which the staff uses to evaluate every participant and provides a custom solution for health, fitness and exercise. “Our virtual sessions gave our team more time to educate employees on the importance of movement and now it is part of our culture,” she said.
5. Take fitness outside
Since re-opening, Megan’s team is also taking fitness programming outside with more walks — rain or shine. For example, she worked with the on-site security team to close off an unused level of their parking garage to use in case of rain. “It’s important to provide a routine and consistency to the members, making sure they understand we care about them and they belong,” she said.
6. Use an agile approach to growth
The pandemic has forced a shift for the better in terms of strategy. Before the pandemic, Megan and team focused most on increasing membership numbers. But today, it’s about so much more than increasing memberships, it’s about creating a really meaningful experience.
“We still care about membership, but we also focus on the type of programming and using qualitative and quantitative data to gauge what is resonating most,” she said. It’s put us on a better path to not only grow membership, but have members love the experience.
This agile approach to growth allows the team to keep the needs of the members at the forefront—and it resonates with corporate leaders. “We are now speaking their language,” she said. “And if the company’s corporate leadership pops into the fitness center, the entire team can speak to the strategy and business plan. As a result, they trust us. They know we’ve got this,” she says.
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