Wellbeing at Work in a Post Covid Lockdown World
Wellbeing at work programmes for colleagues take many different forms from HIIT workouts, pilates and yoga classes to access to onsite massages. Prior to lockdown many of these initiatives involved external suppliers, such as the yoga teachers, Tim and Shannon from YogaTonicUK, visiting the local offices on a regular basis.
Offering corporate yoga for colleagues proved popular as it encourages colleagues to keep physcally active; improving core strength and flexibility, whilst also aiding the mental health of the students. Being able to switch off from work responsibilities is a great way to help manage both stress and anxiety.
Staff wellbeing programmes – what’s changed?
Is the face to face delivery of such corporate wellness initiatives either viable or required? What will wellness or wellbeing programmes, such as offering weekly yoga classes, look like as lockdown eases?
Despite lockdown easing, we are still required to socially distance and our working habits have indeed changed over the last 12 months.
Below, I’ve put together a few thoughts together on the considerations that corporate wellness initiatives will have to take into account when delivering programmes for the benefit of their colleagues.
10 Things to Consider When Deliving a Wellness Programme in Post Covid Lockdown
- Changing working habits – will employees need to return to the office 5 days a week?
- If hybrid working is the future will there be enough people to attend the physical class?
- Will potential downsizing of office space limit the scope to provide classes?
- How do you support colleagues not based near the office?
- Will meetings be held off site?
- Do companies percieve external suppliers (PT’s, instructors etc) as a risk?
- Have people become more comfortable doing classes online?
- Does the trade off of working from home outweigh the desire to attend face to face classes?
- Do ‘one-off’ weekly classes offer enough flexibility for colleagues?
- Should wellness be offered to family members as well?
Online yoga or live yoga studio classes?
There is of course no ‘correct’ answer as organisations have different values, operating models, logistical considerations, timezones and budgets to consider – to name a few off the top of my head. One thing that is for certain, is that ways in which organisations support with colleagues has changed.
The hybrid working model is a term that seems to trending at the moment. This is also the case for those offering wellbeing support, such as yoga classes, for companies.
Corporate yoga – what next?
As the working habits of employees change, how wellbeing at work and corporate wellness is offered will also need to adapt. After 2020, I think we have become pretty good at dealing with change! Similar to the hybrid way of working for employees, wellness providers need to be able to offer a broader service or access to classes, without losing the personal touch.
There are certainly opportunities for a personalised service and greater flexibility in what and how we support businesses.
One impact of people working from home more, is that they may be spending longer periods of time at their desk. Despite the potentially positive impact of not having to commute, some have found that they are hardly moving at all from the start to the end of the working day. To address this, we have created a selection of short desk yoga videos to keep people moving whilst at their desk.
Providing online yoga classes is indeed different, and can be harder to create connections with students. That’s why at YogaTonic UK we like to provide personalised onboarding for our partners and their employees. The success of any initiative is to keep the colleagues engaged with regular communications and the chance to build a 121 relationship with the students. With both live online yoga classes and over 500 recorded classes, colleagues can fit their wellness time around their life, rather than the other way round.
If you’d like to find out more, please do DM me. I’d love to hear from you.
