Are Your Fitness Discounts Inclusive?
15 June 2023
To truly benefit your business, your physical wellbeing initiatives must be inclusive for all employees. Read on to discover how to boost employee health.
At Pluxee UK, fitness discounts go beyond Corporate Gym Memberships and Cycle to Work Schemes since our Employee Discounts Platform gives your people fantastic savings with their favourite sports retailers, including Nike, Foot Locker, Adidas, Decathlon and Halfords.
This means that your employees are guaranteed to make their money go further, whether they need new gear or equipment, plan to start a wellbeing-boosting hobby or go camping with the family.
The variety and flexibility of the available discounts alone ensures an inclusive approach, increasing the uptake of your employee benefits offering, thus making it more cost-effective.
Gym & Fitness Discounts
42% of Brits have cut their gym membership to afford the rising cost of living. The Mental Health Foundation suggests as a Nation, we’re exercising 12% less often than we used to pre the cost-of-living crisis.
As we explore in our blog, 'Boost Engagement with Your Employee Benefit Offering', statistics suggest that those aged 25 to 40 are more likely to have a gym membership. However, there are now four generations working side by side in the workplace, making it necessary to please a diverse range of ages.
Our Corporate Gym Membership is an inclusive fitness benefit because it isn’t restricted to the traditional gym environment.
While the aim is to get employees more active, our Corporate Gym Membership is an employee benefit that includes all interests and abilities. The treadmill isn’t for everyone, and classes aren’t always running at a convenient time. Whether your people prefer to get their physical boost out in nature or from the comfort of their living room, with over 3,000 gyms, studios, fitness centres, boot camps and sports clubs across the UK and the Republic of Ireland – employees are spoilt for choice.
Hybrid & remote workers
58% of UK workers prefer to work in a hybrid model (The Home Office Life). Flexible contracts have become the norm in many organisations, allowing employees to choose where they work.
We often hear about gyms reaching out to the businesses in their area to offer discounted memberships. As much as we love to see local businesses supporting one another, this approach may no longer benefit the employees.
When the workforce was in the office five days a week, they could use the local gym before or after work or during lunch breaks. However, will those same employees drive thirty minutes or more to the gym by their office if they’re predominantly working from home?
Probably not. Especially if there’s a gym closer to home.
That’s why we’ve partnered with some of the UK’s largest fitness franchises to form our Gym Benefit, which gives employees up to 25% off membership fees at their choice of location.
Confidence & personalities
Gym anxiety is a real issue for some people. Statistics show that 60% of people feel anxious about going to the gym for the first time, and 32% feel intimidated exercising next to someone fitter than them (Muscle and Brawn).
The gym or group class environment isn’t for everyone, regardless of where they are on their fitness journey.
When you embed our Corporate Gym Membership employee benefit into your business, your people will get access to our vast range of digital fitness partners, giving them discounted subscriptions to online workout programmes with some of the biggest names and brands in the business.
Time & convenience
36% of the population feel that there simply isn’t enough time in their day to exercise (Pure Gym).
Those already entrenched in the fitness lifestyle would consider lack of time an excuse, but it’s a valid issue for many people. Working parents already have a juggle on their hands. In our blog, 'Employee Carers: Provide Support and Retain Your Talent', we share that post-COVID, there’s been a rise in employee caregivers, and those living in the countryside may need to drive a considerable distance to reach their nearest gym.
A thirty-minute drive each way makes a one-hour gym session or fitness class a two-hour activity. Understandably, not everyone can spare this amount of time regularly.
Go out for a run! I hear you cry. Except, high-impact sports aren’t suitable for everyone.
This is why the digital fitness and online workout programmes are such beneficial features of our Corporate Gym Membership. Employees can choose a programme that suits their bodies and abilities and find a convenient time to fit in their workout.
Cycle to Work Salary Sacrifice Scheme
Our Cycle to Work salary sacrifice scheme has many benefits. It's an impactful, salary-stretching employee benefit that also helps you become a socially conscious employer. It also links nicely to the points we’ve discussed above.
Dip into our blogs on these topics:
Hybrid & remote workers
One of the myths around the Cycle to Work Scheme is that the employee must cycle all the way to work. However, employees who commute via train, for example, can still apply for the scheme if they use the bike to travel to the train station because it forms part of their journey.
Once your employee has their bike, they can use it privately, switching petrol power for pedal power when they want to make shorter journeys.
Confidence & personalities
Cycling can be done alone or in groups, but it’s often the social element of cycling that really appeals to people, especially if they’re new to cycling and need more confidence. It’s a mixed-ability, inclusive activity, that employees can reap the physical, mental, and financial benefits from.
Time & convenience
Whether your employees are hybrid or office-based, whenever they use their bike to commute to work instead of their car, they get an exercise session in – twice a day!
When employees make cycling part of their daily lives, exercise becomes part of their regular routine, meaning they don’t need to carve out time for a dedicated workout – unless they want to.
Boost employee fitness with Pluxee UK!
According to research by Pure Gym, 64% of people in the UK feel they don’t look after their health as much as they should. Employers can make exercise affordable again with our extensive and inclusive range of fitness discounts.
Get in touch with one of our employee wellbeing experts to discover which fitness discounts will be best for your business and reap the benefits of a healthier workforce.
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