Posts

Which Corporate Fitness Trends Will Shape 2023?

/, , , , , /by

Content Impact Award - TalentCulture 2022As a corporate fitness professional, one of my favorite activities at the end of each year is to set aside time to look back at what has unfolded over the past 12 months. It helps to review what has worked for our clients (as well as what didn’t work so well). An open-minded, reflective analysis is always a good way to put things into perspective before considering new possibilities and mapping a game plan for the New Year.

As part of this process, I’m constantly tracking what’s happening with corporate fitness trends. So much has changed over the past few years, thanks to the pandemic and the increase in remote work, it’s important to keep ahead of what no longer seems as relevant or useful and what is gaining traction. And in looking toward the year ahead, all the signals indicate that much more change is still to come! 

So, fasten your seatbelts and let’s look at how employers can prepare for the future. Based on trends I’ve been following, along with my direct experience with our teams and our clients in recent months, here are 3 emerging priorities that are likely to define corporate fitness in 2023:

1. More Personalized Training

Get ready for a big surge in employee demand for more personalized services — things like personal training and small group training. Multiple factors are driving this corporate fitness trend. For example:

Early in 2022, as people slowly started to emerge from a more sedentary pandemic lifestyle, I started hearing that employees were looking for help to get back on track with their fitness and wellness goals. Not surprisingly, during the Covid years, many people developed some unhealthy habits — especially in terms of diet and fitness. The isolation of working and living at home full-time didn’t help, either.

Many people are now looking to break out of that cycle and are longing for a stronger sense of community. So, prepare to see an upswing in more intimate training environments that give employees broader support and guidance, along with opportunities to connect with others and share their journey through community experiences.

Also, my clients confirm that employees are interested in wellness goals that involve more than physical workouts, alone. People want to get back in shape, but they also realize the importance of focusing on things like sleep, nutrition and stress management. And this means they’re increasingly interested in a more holistic approach to health and wellbeing. These objectives are often easier to achieve with programs that include individualized coaching.

Digital tracking tools can also be helpful in supporting people in their wellness objectives. Already, more than 20% of Americans are using wearables that provide convenient access to personalized health and fitness data. Many people want to use this data more effectively to develop tailored workouts and lifestyle management programs that will help increase their training efficiency, improve their daily habits and elevate their health outcomes.

2. More “Hybrid” Fitness Program Memberships

Another thing I’m starting to hear often from our clients is that their employees are looking for a seamless, connected fitness experience that aligns with their busy lifestyles. They want to workout where they want, when they want.

This is where “hybrid memberships” come in. These relatively new programs provide employees with a combination of corporate fitness center access and virtual fitness classes, along with partnerships with local yoga, boxing and Pilates studios. 

With these hybrid memberships, employees can workout at their corporate gym, at home or on the road when they’re traveling—all with the convenience of one membership rather than having to cobble it all together themselves. It’s the best of all worlds. And it’s bigger than just a brick-and-mortar fitness center—it’s a program.

Here’s one example: Kevin is a financial services professional in Indiana who comes into the office three days a week. During those visits, he goes to the on-site fitness center to lift weights. Typically, he talks with several fellow employees while he works out. It’s a great social experience. On the other two weekdays he works from home. On those days, he works out with a virtual fitness class through an app that’s connected to his fitness center and the same staff he knows and trusts. Over the weekend, he takes a spin class at a local studio that contracts with his company through the hybrid health program. Again, this hybrid program lets Kevin work out where he wants, when he wants. It’s all built into his schedule!

Inclusive hybrid memberships like these give employees the convenience, choice and variety they’re asking for. Plus, it provides access to the kind of connectedness and community people need with engagement that is hard to find elsewhere.

3. More Active Time Outdoors

We’re also hearing loud-and-clear from clients and employees that they want to get outside and move! A recent survey from the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry and McKinsey & Company, asked employees this key question:

“In which sports/physical activity categories do you expect to see a lasting increase in participation vs. pre-COVID-19?”

Of the 12 categories listed as potential responses, 84% of survey participants picked “outdoor activity” as their first choice. 

Obviously, survey results like these underscore just how massive the pandemic’s impact was on corporate wellness programs. Over the past year, some companies started to experiment with fitness activities and events designed to get employees outdoors. Now it appears that this trend is catching on and may be here to stay.

For instance, one of our clients — a leading insurance company — has invested in a mobile open-air fitness trailer from BeaverFit. This makes it possible for employees to participate in healthy outdoor activities on a daily basis. Combined with programming delivered by on-site fitness professionals, this open air program is flourishing. And workforce wellbeing is improving as a result of employee participation in regular activities with physical and mental health benefits.

Final Notes on the Future of Corporate Fitness

These three corporate fitness trends are only a few of the emerging ideas we can look forward to seeing in 2023, as the space continues to evolve. With more personalized programming, more flexible options, access to innovative digital tools and a broader range of creative fitness locations, employee wellness is poised to make an even stronger comeback in the coming year. I look forward to seeing other innovative trends emerge that we aren’t even thinking about yet!

How Virtual Fitness Can Help Employees Overcome Barriers to Success

/ /by

An estimated 100 million Americans make New Year’s resolutions each year. For a whole host of reasons, over 90 percent of these resolutions fail. As someone who is in the business of helping clients and their employees achieve their health and wellness goals day in and day out, I have a sense of what does and does not work when it comes to changing behaviors over the long-term. And whether it’s a personal fitness goal or a corporate wellness program, one of the most frequent mistakes I see among both employers and employees is taking too rigid of an approach. Let’s start with employees’ habits.

Many begin the new year wanting to get more physical activity in each day, so they set a time and activity, and say “no excuses.” But sooner or later, life happens. Kids get sick, so they miss a class—which turns into a week, which turns into a month. The issue is that many force themselves into an activity they do not enjoy, or fail to switch things up. As a result, they get bored or their willpower slackens once the year is in full swing. What’s more, many fitness-related resolutions do not account for the fluidity and unpredictability of life, or recognize current barriers to success.

Among employers, there are similar tendencies. Too often employers take a one-size-fits-all approach to helping employees meet their health and wellness goals. And they end up with programs designed to be easily accessible and applicable mainly for in-office employees who work traditional office hours. The most often neglected employees include those who work remotely, have an unusual schedule or travel often, and those who work for companies with geographically dispersed offices.

As employees evaluate habits and attempt to stick to new fitness goals in the new year, employers are uniquely positioned to remove barriers and help employees more easily meet their goals.

And virtual fitness can play a key role in this process.

Recent research found that employees who do not participate in their company’s wellness programs choose not to do so most often because they find it inconvenient, lack information about the company’s offerings, do not feel supported by their employer or are generally reluctant, and in some cases, have privacy concerns. Virtual fitness can help lessen some of these barriers. Here’s how:

Convenient and easily accessible for all. Virtual fitness allows employers to scale their wellness initiatives by offering fitness classes, workout plans and assessments they can stream across mobile and web-based applications, anytime and anywhere. With virtual fitness comes greater flexibility, allowing employers to reach employees who have previously been difficult to engage and support in their wellness goals. Research also found that among employees who do not participate in their company’s wellness programs, 53 percent do not participate because it is inconvenient or they lack support from their employer. Virtual fitness can help employers struggling to engage their remote employees, workers who travel often or keep irregular schedules by putting the options into their hands and making it as easy as possible to participate.

Additionally, by putting classes, fitness plans and assessments into the hands of employees, on tablets and mobile devices, employers remove any barrier to information about the program. Employees are given the opportunity for self-guided and self-directed learning, as well as the necessary structure for many to achieve their new goals.

More privacy and opportunity for family involvement. Some employees are reluctant to participate in wellness offerings due to privacy concerns. With virtual fitness, employees can access information when and where it’s convenient for them. While many employees are eager to connect with colleagues in a fitness class, others are reluctant or self-conscious, especially when starting a new program. Virtual fitness offerings help remove this barrier by allowing employees to get all the benefits of the company’s fitness programming from the comfort of their home or corporate fitness center during non-peak hours. And virtual fitness includes educational tutorials to guide participants through the terminology, moves and equipment used for the format. Virtual fitness also allows employees to work out with their families, making it more convenient and enjoyable to participate as a group.

Endless customization opportunities. Today’s employees want and expect customized experiences in everything they do. With virtual fitness, employees can completely customize their experience and switch things up to keep it fresh—which is another key to any fitness-related goal. For example, employees at our clients’ sites take advantage of a range of classes including Yoga, Pilates, Spinning, Kickboxing, Sculpting and Kinetics, prenatal classes, dance and Step classes. And because classes range in length and skill level, employees can fit fitness into their day and stay motivated more easily.

Virtual fitness also provides “office breaks” to help employees counteract the detrimental effects of sitting at work with 1- to 8-minute activities that won’t disturb their work flow or require a change of clothes. Done several times a day, it’s easy for employees to accumulate 30 minutes of exercise a day!

For many of us, the beginning of the year brings colder temperatures, darker mornings, fuller schedules and more work travel. It’s probably the most difficult time to start a new program, become more consistent with exercise or generally bring our fitness to the next level. Employers that take the initiative to help employees make progress in their unique fitness goals (and make it easy for all employees to do so) will soon find themselves reaching their own wellness program goals for participation and engagement in 2017 and beyond.

Photo Credit: stacysjeannes Flickr via Compfight cc