Employee benefits are one of many things people will consider when weighing up where they want to work. Fitness as a benefit (like discounted gym membership) regularly tops the list. Offering a great fitness employee benefit is useful for corporate talent acquisition and staff retention. Here’s how to select and promote the best corporate fitness benefits for your employees.
Are you an employer? Hussle now offer flexible, discounted access to our fitness venues as an employee benefit. Learn more.
Recruitment challenges for employers in the current employment landscape
Recruiters and HR personnel have noted a shift towards employees calling the shots in recruitment. With more job opportunities – including increased options for self-employment and contract work – people feel able to be more choosy when accepting job offers.
In this environment, employers need to differentiate themselves by offering benefits that meet a modern workforce’s needs. This includes promoting employee fitness, wellbeing, and work-life balance.
How important are wellbeing and fitness benefits to employees?
UK statistics highlight the growing importance of fitness as a benefit. According to Hussle’s 2023 study, 63.1% of those surveyed said that discounted gym access is their first choice of corporate benefit. But almost half surveyed (48.3%) said that their employer doesn’t currently offer discounted gym access as a benefit.
Fitness as a corporate benefit is so important to potential employees that it could realistically make or break their decision to accept your job offer, or to refuse an offer of work from a competitor. Organisations who want to attract and retain the best talent need to offer flexible fitness benefits that suit the work and travel patterns of the entire workforce.
Operational and reputational costs of losing employees
Employees can be lost to other organisations, to self-employment, or to ill-health. Offering fitness as a benefit covers all of these risks. As a most-requested benefit, it helps increase retention and reduce loss to other forms of employment. And as a health and fitness benefit, it boosts people’s physical and mental wellbeing, reducing the risks of absenteeism through poor health or injury.
Losing good employees can have significant financial and operational costs that go beyond the immediate costs of recruitment and training. Losing popular and inspiring employees (especially those in leadership roles) can damage productivity, disrupt team dynamics, and even impact an organisation’s knowledge and skill bank.
High turnover can damage a business’s reputation, making it difficult to attract quality talent in the future. It pays to listen to what people are asking for in employee benefits.
Staff retention strategies using fitness and wellbeing benefits
Best-in-class corporate fitness benefits for staff retention
Competitive organisations simply must offer a range of corporate benefits that meet the needs, schedules, and work patterns of their entire workforce. Fitness and wellbeing benefits regularly top the list of what employees want. These could include discounted gym memberships, walking breaks or walking meetings, wellness and nutrition workshops, in-house wellbeing programmes, and wellbeing champions.
Promote a wellness culture for corporate talent acquisition
Encourage a workplace culture (both in the office and for those working from home) that supports employees in managing their physical and mental health. Ergonomic workplace set-ups, flexible working hours, sufficient break times, and a culture of openness around health and fitness issues are some great ideas to consider.
How employee fitness benefits attract high performing colleagues
Offering competitive fitness benefits could set your organisation apart when it comes to attracting high performing colleagues. Perhaps your fitness benefit could even be a marketable feature that makes your job adverts stand out.
People who value health and fitness, and regularly engage in exercise, are more likely to be energised, focused, productive people. These types of people make great employees, especially at leadership and management level.
Exercise boosts endorphins, reduces stress, demands good time management, and is a strong indicator of a person who takes responsibility for themselves.
By offering great fitness benefits, companies can show that they too understand the importance of physical health and wellbeing. And this will lead to better corporate talent acquisition and staff retention.
How to improve staff retention with flexible fitness benefits
Fitness as a corporate benefit is a good investment in the health of your workforce, and a strategic tool for corporate talent acquisition and retention. Take a look at Hussle’s network of 1000s of UK gyms, fitness facilities, and leisure centres, all accessible via one discounted membership pass. It’s the best way to offer your employees a truly flexible fitness benefit that puts them in control of the way they exercise.
