Brick Bodies Offers Employee Health & Wellness Programs at our Baltimore, Reisterstown, & Timonium Gyms

With the holiday season approaching, many of your employees may have resolutions on their minds. To that end, gym memberships are likely to be prominently featured on their holiday wish lists. If you’re thinking of playing Santa and investing in the health and happiness of your employees by offering corporate gym memberships, here are five things to consider.

1. Are you committed to building a wellness culture? 

According to Harvard Business Review, “a successful health promotion program starts with a commitment from company leaders, and its continued success depends on ongoing support at all levels of the organization. In particular, leaders at companies with successful programs establish a healthy work environment by integrating health into the organization’s overall vision and purpose.”  Conversely, if your leaders don’t buy into the value of corporate wellness initiatives, why would you expect your employees to do so?

While facilitating a culture of wellness starts with company leadership, this ethos should also be interwoven throughout your business practices. Continues HBR, “By “total health” we mean a culture that’s supportive of career, emotional, financial, physical, and social well-being – not just an occasional road race.”

2. What do your employees want and need?

Not all fitness centers are created equal. Nor are all corporate fitness plans. Odds are, your employees have given some thought to what they’re looking for in a corporate wellness plan. Interest surveys are not only a simple way to collect feedback, but also to show employees that their opinions matter. From the type of programs offered to operating hours and amenities, aligning your corporate wellness offerings with employee priorities also increases the chances of adherence.

Conducting a Health Risk Appraisal (HRA) can also help you get a better idea of what aspects your plan should address. Cautions Inc., however, “Be sure that you are following Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) regulations while conducting an HRA. If you have fewer than 50 employees, for instance, HIPAA regulations prohibit you from receiving an aggregate report of HRA results. You can either turn to an outside vendor to interpret HRA results or get creative.”

3. How can a particular plan best support employee health?

Corporate gym memberships can be structured in several different ways. In some cases, employers can choose to contribute money to a wellness fund for employees to use as they see fit. However, this may present more of a challenge when it comes to understanding the degree to which employers are utilizing the benefit.

 In other cases, businesses can partner with gyms to offer targeted fitness plans at a discount. In this case, other considerations are also imperative, including accessibility, qualifications of instructors and trainers, and customer service. Each of these factors can directly impact the member experience.

4. What partnership opportunities are available?

Just because you’re ready to implement a corporate wellness program at your workplace doesn’t mean you have to start from scratch. Nor does it mean you have to accept a pre-established program that may or may not work for your business and its employees. Instead, look for a club that will partner with you toward achieving your corporate wellness goals.

Says Corporate Wellness Magazine: “Gyms are so much more than weights and treadmills. Many have services included in the general membership and also offer additional fee-based services. Personal training, massage therapy, snacks and smoothies, and some group exercise classes are often not included in the general membership fee. Are they willing to do a special discount rate for fee-based services and products not included in the membership rate specifically for your employees? Know exactly how much your employees will have to pay out of pocket for activation fees, specialized programming, the dues, and add-ins such as locker fees and parking fees.”

5. How will you measure success?

Measuring success is vital to keeping employees engaged and motivated. Insists HBR, “Program evaluation is critical to maintaining accountability for a wellness program. To do this well, develop an evaluation plan at the start of a program so that useful baseline data collection can occur and be monitored over time….So what should you measure? There are generally two answers: return on investment (ROI) and value of investment (VOI). ROI in this context is generally limited to examining the tangible benefits of a program, such as a reduction in medical costs or absenteeism.”

While there are many factors to consider before starting a corporate wellness program, doing your due diligence and taking time to find the right programs and partners can help you make an informed decision which will benefit both your business and its employers in the most optimal way. Check out the corporate wellness programs Brick Bodies offers here.

Once you’ve read about our great programs, what better way to learn about us for yourself? Sign up for a trial pass at Brick Bodies today.