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Wellness: Working well
Workplace wellness schemes now go well beyond gym discounts, with employees expecting wider wellbeing services, outdoor activities and apps, as Julie Cramer reports
Over the past decade, and especially post-pandemic, fitness habits have evolved. In the past, one gym membership near the office often met employees’ needs, but hybrid and remote working now mean people want access to multiple gyms, pools and spas near home, work and while travelling.
Workplace wellbeing has very much taken the ‘driving seat’, with many employees ranking its importance alongside salary when deciding where to work and many businesses are responding by enhancing their wellness support. However, fitness benefits must be inclusive and flexible in order to hit the mark.
The EGYM Hussle network addresses these needs by offering nationwide fitness access, helping operators tap into the corporate wellness market, support workforce wellbeing and drive incremental revenue as part of a broader mission to improve the nation’s health.
Our corporate customers see employee uptake rates as high as 25 per cent. With UK gym market penetration at around 16 per cent, these figures show how the corporate market drives demand – especially among the newly emerging ‘prevention’ user demographic: people motivated to exercise for health, ageing well and workplace productivity.
Compare this with traditional corporate gym memberships, which often see low engagement – typically just 3 to 4 per cent due to limitations in geographical reach, range of activities and pricing. We remove these barriers by offering flexible access to gyms, pools and spas across 94 per cent of UK postcode areas.
The benefits are clear. Regular exercise cuts the risk of illness and injury by over 30 per cent, while we help employers subsidise gym access, enabling previously untapped audiences and revenue to enter our partner venues.
EGYM Hussle is a fitness marketplace, specialising in corporate fitness and B2B partnerships. By working with forward-thinking employers and healthcare providers who recognise the preventative wellbeing benefits of exercise, we help provide health clubs with huge numbers of incremental corporate members, all with zero effort or investment.
The EGYM Hussle model requires B2B partners, such as employers and healthcare providers, to make a significant contribution towards the cost of gym membership. This generates significant incremental revenue for the thousands of clubs we partner with through high volumes of new corporate memberships.
We work with 1,500 fitness UK venues, and 18,500 venues across Europe and the US. Our UK partners include Nuffield Health, Everyone Active and Fitness First, alongside the best independent gyms and studios.
More: www.hussle.com
Fitness remains a cornerstone of employee wellness, with 53 per cent of CEOs saying they offer gym membership subsidies or discounts (making it the most common perk). On-site gyms (39 per cent) and outdoor workouts (39 per cent) like walking and jogging clubs are also popular, proving that companies want to give employees a mix of flexible ways to stay active.
We see that 35 per cent of CEOs report their programme offers fitness trackers and smartwatches to help employees monitor their health in real time. Gamification is also making waves, as 33 per cent of companies use fitness apps and corporate challenges to turn wellness into a fun, competitive experience. Where health club operators can step in is by understanding where they can deploy tech-driven, flexible fitness within their operation.
Workplace wellness programmes have led to a significant improvement in employee wellbeing, as demonstrated by the results of Wellhub Worklife Wellness report. In particular, 59 per cent of participants reported an improvement in their mental wellbeing, primarily thanks to mindfulness practices.
For nutrition, 47 per cent of employees who utilised wellness benefits maintained a good diet, compared to 29 per cent of those who did not. Also, participants were almost twice as likely to get quality rest (39 vs. 21 per cent). These results highlight the remarkably positive impact of such initiatives.
From a broader perspective, our Return on Wellbeing report revealed substantial benefits for companies. It showed that 67 per cent of CEOs noted a significant decrease in absenteeism, with an estimated saving of $2.73 for every dollar spent on absenteeism costs. Also, 47 per cent of CEOs reported that wellness programmes had an extremely significant impact on workforce productivity, leading to an overall 20 per cent increase in employee productivity in companies implementing these programmes.
Wellhub acts as a corporate sales channel, connecting more than 80,000 fitness and wellness businesses around the world to 26,000-plus global employers. We provide a zero-cost solution for gyms and studios to acquire new, high-quality members, transforming the growing demand for employee wellness into an efficient revenue channel.
Our approach is to build valuable partnerships with operators over the long term, by bringing new members and driving engagement via a commercial model unique to each partner.
There are no registration fees to join the Wellhub network, and fair economic terms support each partner’s business goals.
Wellhub works with over 80,000 fitness and wellness businesses worldwide, effectively supporting the growth of all segments of the market. Of these, more than 3,100 are present in the UK and Ireland, including Nuffield Health, 1Rebel and Everlast Gyms.
More: www.wellhub.com
The main trend we’re seeing is a demand for choice and personalisation that goes beyond in-person gym discounts.
Around 60 per cent of people feel anxious about going to the gym for the first time (according to Muscle and Brawn), while 36 per cent feel they don’t have enough time to work out (according to PureGym).
Hybrid and remote working are on the rise and choice of location, digital platforms and external bootcamps allow employees to exercise with convenience – a personal approach that improves uptake.
Studies also suggest that remote workers experience more loneliness and stress than office-based peers. Agile and flexible health clubs play a significant part in creating social connections and should embrace their role in enhancing emotional and mental wellbeing, alongside improving physical health.
Experts believe mental illnesses, such as depression and anxiety, trigger 70 per cent of doctor visits and 85 per cent of serious illnesses. We’ve worked with a children’s hospice for over four years, providing gym discounts to employees working in palliative care, where there’s a high risk of burnout.
Physical activity is proven to reduce stress, and the hospice embedded an affordable, personal and inclusive employee benefit into its wellbeing strategy to reduce the risk of occupational burnout and improve physical and mental resilience. Employee uptake has consistently risen month on month.
Additionally, our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) offers structured counselling sessions, ‘in-the-moment’ support, access to information specialists, app-based resources and crisis support. Over a 12-month period, a university client reported employees accessing their EAP service 278 times, including structured counselling sessions. The mind and body are connected, and the clients who see employee wellbeing most improve offer solutions to support both.
We believe preventive wellbeing strategies are the key to increasing employee motivation, engagement and decreasing absenteeism. Our 5,000 global customers choose Pluxee because we live and breathe this ethos and partner with the best health clubs to make that a reality.
We connect our partners with a new and highly-engaged customer base. Implementing a sustainable growth strategy via targeted campaigns that make memberships more attractive, we unlock unrivalled access to large and diverse audiences.
We work with operators across the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Exercise choice is key to benefits that actually work, so our operators cater to all preferences, such as bootcamps for nature lovers.
More: www.pluxee.uk
Workplace wellness is evolving. Employers are no longer focused solely on perks; they’re prioritising physical, mental and social wellbeing as core drivers of productivity and retention. This opens up powerful opportunities for health club operators to deliver meaningful impact.
Fitness is now seen as a cornerstone of employee wellbeing, and companies are actively seeking partners who can make exercise more accessible, socially engaging and inclusive. Group classes, wellness challenges, and on-site or virtual events are gaining traction as tools to boost morale, grow team connection and support mental health.
Health clubs are uniquely positioned to deliver these experiences, offering not just facilities, but community, motivation and expertise.
Partnering with us is free and designed to drive real growth. Clubs receive 12-month company-funded memberships and high quality leads at no cost, helping convert engaged users into loyal members. We also promote partners to corporate clients investing in wellbeing. In fact, 94 per cent of our partners gain new members through us.
We actively promote a club’s brand to over 2,000 corporate clients and 11 million employees, driving a consistent flow of full-paying members. All we ask in return is their best corporate rate.
We’re trusted by 90 per cent of the UK’s leading national gym operators, with relationships built on reliability, results and wellbeing. We also partner with hundreds of independent gyms, small-to-mid-sized operators and local authority leisure centres, creating one of the country’s most comprehensive fitness networks.
More: www.epassi.co.uk
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