If you manage a gym and are considering a corporate wellness program, you may be wondering how they work.
Unlike other companies, you’re rooted in well-being and fitness, and your employees are likely already active and healthy.
So what do you need to get started, and why should you invest in a wellness program? This post explains everything you need to know about corporate wellness programs for gyms.
What Is a Corporate Wellness Program?
Workplace wellness programs are currently provided to over 50 million U.S. workers, with the intention of reducing medical spending, increasing productivity, and improving well-being (1).
A program includes a mix of activities and initiatives, such as guided workouts and meditation sessions, step and movement goals and challenges, and nutrition guidance, all backed by experts to help your employees thrive at and outside of work.
What Do Corporate Wellness Programs Include?
Corporate fitness programs vary, but typically include a mix of activities that are centered around wellness.
They can include everything from health and nutrition workshops to health screenings and blood tests to fitness apps and guided meditation sessions.
What’s offered in a wellness program depends on the organization. Some employers choose a more direct approach, which includes health screenings and blood tests to detect disease and other health risks early (2).
Other wellness programs adopt a less hands-on but preventive approach. Employees are provided with corporate fitness apps that include guided workouts and yoga sessions, recipes to support their nutrition, or meditation or sleep stories to help reduce everyday or work-related stress.
Corporate Wellness Programs for Gyms
Unlike other organizations, gyms are already in the wellness space, and chances are, your employees are involved in some kind of physical activity and exercise.
This is an excellent starting point.
If you don’t already, consider offering free or heavily discounted gym memberships for your employees. This helps remove a crucial barrier to exercise: cost.
Despite this, you may be missing mental and emotional aspects of a typical wellness program. This may consist of mental well-being support, financial advice, or workshops and seminars on stress, work-life balance, or planning for the future.
Workplace Challenges
Workplace challenges are an excellent opportunity to increase activity.
For example, see who can achieve the most steps or movement, or achieve the best sleep scores in one week.
Personalize these as best you can to your workplace as well for even better results.
Unlike other organizations, you likely have a more competitive and physically active workforce, so motivating employees to take part shouldn’t be a problem.
BetterMe has excellent tools for your business all in one place: a personalized approach to health and wellness, 1,500 workouts for every fitness level, a variety of meal plans and trackers to satisfy any dietary needs, mental health guides, and employer support. Discover all the options now!
Expanding Beyond Physical Fitness
Even though gyms naturally focus on physical activity and exercise, corporate wellness also encompasses mental and emotional well-being. Gyms can expand their offering by adding:
- Habit coaching or habit tracking in an app (many corporate fitness apps include this)
- Mindfulness or guided meditation sessions
- Stress management workshops or tools
- Sleep hygiene education
- Health education talks and increased access to resources
By adding initiatives such as those mentioned above, you’ll provide a more well-rounded and holistic corporate wellness program that goes beyond physical fitness.
When you support employees and provide the tools that are needed to help support their health, you’re more likely to see the benefits other companies experience from their well-being programs, such as (3, 4):
- Up to 20% higher productivity
- Reduced healthcare and medical costs
- Better employee retention
- Fewer sick days and reduced absenteeism
- Better mental health and well-being
Mental Well-Being Support for Gym Staff
In a survey of 131 global employers with more than 11 million employees, 100% said their well-being strategy includes mental health, with almost half of respondents saying it’s the most important part of their strategy (4).
Working in a gym can be rewarding, but it also comes with unique pressures. Gym employees often face long hours, early starts, exceptionally high performance targets, and impossible-to-manage client expectations.
Over time, this pressure can take a toll on both physical and mental well-being. In fact, fitness professionals face significant personal and occupational burnout. One study found 32% of personal trainers and strength and conditioning coaches experienced personal burnout, and 28.5% work-related burnout. Those who are most at risk are women, unmarried individuals, and personal trainers (5).
The study recommends increasing social support, allowing continued professional development (CPD), and allocating personal care time for employees to mitigate burnout, thereby protecting their mental health and well-being.
Consider offering mental health support, or even burnout-prevention workshops and seminars, to raise awareness and combat these issues.
Nutrition Support
Gym employees are known for working long hours, often with early starts and late finishes.
This can result in poor nutritional choices as it’s quicker and easier to buy something pre-made and eat it between clients or group sessions.
So what can you do? Offer free, nutritious meals to employees so they can meet their nutritional goals. Alternatively, workshops on meal planning and hands-on cooking demonstrations can improve access to healthy food options for those short on time.
Another option is to offer discounts on meal-preparation services or provide free healthy snacks, such as protein bars and fruit, at work.
Training and Professional Development
Research has shown that skill development reduces burnout and increases job satisfaction (6).
Consider offering CPD courses, such as nutrition and strength programming, group exercise certifications, and other relevant personal training and development opportunities.
By providing employees with new skills, you can also offer members new experiences, such as group spin or yoga classes, or even personalized nutrition plans or workshops.
Read more: What Are Innovative Corporate Wellness Ideas?
What Makes a Corporate Wellness Program Successful?
While every organization has different needs, there are key aspects of a wellness program that determine its success.
Continue reading to discover the key factors for elevating employee wellness.
Personalize the Program to Your Gym
The most effective corporate wellness programs are built for a company and its needs and goals.
For example, some organizations may want to prioritize physical activity, while others may have strikingly high absenteeism or excessive sick days.
There’s no point copying another program – you don’t know what problems they’re trying to solve.
When creating a wellness program for a gym, evaluate the company’s goals and data on productivity, sick days, and health claims to identify areas for improvement.
Furthermore, ensure that individual sessions and workshops are personalized.
A study analyzed employee perceptions of three workplace health programs:
- An individually tailored consultation with a physiologist and a dietitian
- A semi-tailored 12-week SMS health message program
- A standardized group workshop delivered by an expert
Employee satisfaction was found to be the highest for the individually-tailored consultation and standardized workshops (7).
When deciding what activities to include, consider what your employees will value most. Also, just because an activity is easy to set up doesn’t mean that it’s the best.
Track and Measure Engagement
When you start a wellness program, it’s essential to track participation and engagement.
This can include participation in activities and workshops, in addition to engagement with an app and all its available features. High engagement shows that your employees are making the most out of the offerings.
Low engagement may mean the activities were not very relevant or that internal communication wasn’t very good (people didn’t know about the event).
These are just a few basic examples – use all the data at your disposal to determine what’s working and what needs improvement.
Are you looking to transform both your business and the lives of your team members? BetterMe corporate wellness solutions provide a holistic approach to physical and mental health that boosts productivity and job satisfaction.
Integrate Wellness into Company Culture
Position your new corporate fitness program for your gym as part of your company culture.
The program should be embedded in employees’ daily routines rather than as a separate initiative. Encourage employees to make use of all resources available to them, whether it’s sleep stories and guided meditation sessions or workouts such as yoga sessions.
In addition, leaders and managers need to lead by example and show support for the program. Research has shown that when employees feel a high level of leadership support for health promotion, they have higher levels of wellness activity participation, lower job stress, and greater levels of health behavior (8).
A simple shift in messaging and support can help you and your employees get the most out of your corporate fitness program.
Read more: Thank You Wellness Week: A Complete Guide to Celebrating Your Team
Adapt as Needed
No wellness program is perfect – that’s why you should adapt your program as needed.
You may notice that a certain activity, such as yoga sessions, isn’t so popular in your workplace. That’s okay! No wellness program needs to be set in stone. You can adapt your program as needed to provide activities and initiatives that your employees value and will actually benefit from.
Always make decisions based on data (e.g. employee surveys, participation, and engagement) to see the best results.
The Bottom Line
For gyms, corporate wellness works best when you build on your fitness culture and add what staff may still need, like mental well-being support, nutrition guidance, and healthier day-to-day routines. Track what people actually use, then adjust the program over time so it stays relevant.
Take the first step toward a healthier, happier, and more productive workplace today and book a call with us.
We would love to learn about your company, team, needs, and goals so we can build a solution that works for you and delivers results.
DISCLAIMER:
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not serve to address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on for making any kind of decision-making. Any action taken as a direct or indirect result of the information in this article is entirely at your own risk and is your sole responsibility.
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You should always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or your specific situation. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of BetterMe content. If you suspect or think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor.
SOURCES:
- What do Workplace Wellness Programs do? Evidence from the Illinois Workplace Wellness Study (2019, pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Doing well by making well: The impact of corporate wellness programs on employee productivity (2018, psycnet.apa.org)
- 22 Telling Employee Wellness Statistics [2023]: How Many Companies Have Wellness Programs (2022, zippia.com)
- Nearly all employers say they plan to maintain or expand well-being offerings in 2025 (2025, hrdive.com)
- Personal, Work-, and Client-Related Burnout Within Strength and Conditioning Coaches and Personal Trainers (2022, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- The Effect of Job Skills and Job Burnout on Job Satisfaction Among Health Information Management Staff (2023, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Employee Perceptions of Workplace Health Promotion Programs: Comparison of a Tailored, Semi-Tailored, and Standardized Approach (2018, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- The Role of Leadership Support for Health Promotion in Employee Wellness Program Participation, Perceived Job Stress, and Health Behaviors (2016, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
