Prior to the pandemic, teams could gather freely for fun bonding activities to foster greater camaraderie and connectedness. Now, when team members cannot go for a hike together or participate in a walk-a-thon for charity, employees can still tap into the magic of shared experiences thanks to the connectedness that technology brings.
Virtual group fitness classes are a prime example of activities that can unite remote workers by allowing simultaneous participation from the comfort of one’s living room or yard. For distributed team members with manageable time differences, livestreamed classes of all types offer exciting ways to spark enthusiasm and motivation. And even when multiple time zones are involved, recorded sessions can be played back at convenient times.
Let’s Talk Trends and the New Normal
A survey of 2,185 professionals from 19 countries conducted by ClassPass during October 2020 explored respondents’ evolving workplace sentiments and health concerns. Several key findings that are reported in full in COVID’s Impact on Employee Wellness are summarized in the accompanying chart.
Most importantly for team-building purposes, three in five professionals who had participated in a team workout said they felt more connected to their team afterward. Additional data indicated that teams were most likely to book a private high-intensity interval training session or a yoga class to stay engaged and workout together.
Among all respondents, nearly everyone (96 percent) reported feeling more motivated and less stressed after exercising, and 89 percent shared that they feel more productive during the workday after exercising. Notably, 70 percent of respondents cited fitness benefits as the most important benefit outside of health care benefits. As a final helpful data point for HR professionals, 80 percent of respondents indicated that making time for fitness activities has been crucial to establishing a work-from-home routine.
For Best Results …
Well-designed employer-sponsored fitness programs can positively impact employees by reducing stress, increasing engagement, boosting productivity and fostering retention of top talent. Offering fitness benefits can also make an employer more attractive to job seekers because candidates increasingly expect them.
When building out a fitness program at your organization, keep these best practices in mind.
- Seek customizable, flexible solutions. Employers should be nimble and offer solutions that bring the most value to employees at the right times and right places. Perhaps a few members of your team would prefer private personal training sessions; others may value virtual group workouts they can take part in live or play back at any time. Select a fitness benefits provider that offers a wide range of options and allow employees to change their enrollments as their goals evolve. Enabling employees to adjust their wellness benefit choices throughout the year instead of just once during open enrollment can help maximize your organization’s return on investment.
- Support habit formation. Look for benefits that people can incorporate into their regular routines and which will empower them to do their best work while developing good habits that stick. In other words, offer fitness benefits people will use and appreciate. For example, give employees permission to step away from their devices and savor their lunch breaks. They can use that time to eat or knock out a kickboxing class before returning to work for the remainder of the day with renewed vigor.
- Offer unusual and unique classes. Doing this can be as simple as allowing employees to sign up for classes streamed from other cities. With travel restricted during the pandemic, employees could still enjoy an international experience by participating in a relaxing yoga class taught by an instructor in the United Kingdom. Closer to home but certainly not down the block, a strength training class could be led by a teacher in Los Angeles.
- Make it fun. Add an element of friendly competition by introducing virtual team challenges and offering prizes or recognition. There are plenty of creative ways to make virtual group fitness something employees are enthusiastic about.
- Keep your finger on the pulse. Survey employees to gather feedback on the fitness program and make adjustments based on the feedback. Expect to receive requests regarding new exercise trends and do not be shy about adding options to keep people excited. Staying well-informed about employees’ preferences allows HR and the organization to maintain program alignment with employee demand.
As the new year unfolds, employees will be eager to recommit to healthy habits and still be looking for ways to reduce pandemic stress and enhance their lives. Offering a strategic mix of wellness benefits that includes virtual group fitness classes to unite team members across the miles alongside a range of fitness options employees can access on their own will help employers provide much-needed boosts to the health and well-being of their most valuable assets.
01 January 2021
Category
HR News Article