Wellbeing initiatives are fast becoming a major part of employee benefit packages and/or absentee management policies. By providing employees with the tools they need to maintain their optimal levels of wellbeing businesses can have a direct effect on reducing the losses from absenteeism and also have an impact on tackling stress in the workplace. Not to mention the improvements in staff motivation and general workplace morale.
This growing trend is an exciting area for fitness professionals to become involved in. There are a number of companies now in the UK that use freelancers to deliver workplace health, but as always some of the most exciting opportunities lye with the ability for a personal trainer to create connections with businesses in their area and deliver these services themselves.
Here are some ideas of the types of services that you could deliver:-
- Work based wellbeing clinics – short sessions (effective sessions can be as short as 30 mins) where employees can meet with a wellbeing consultant one on one. This time allows individual’s to discuss possible ways of improving their daily physical activity levels and general wellbeing an could include health indicators such as blood pressure and BMI.
- Wellbeing testing – many companies now offer their employees the option to have their personal levels of wellbeing assessed. These sessions normally consist of a range of fitness and wellbeing tests allowing individuals to identify areas in their own wellbeing that could be improved.
- Work based fitness classes – by providing a range of on site fitness and wellbeing classes at various times, employees can find it more time effective to attend fitness classes.
- Lectures – many organisations offer staff lecture/workshop style sessions that focus on a wide range of health, fitness and nutrition topics.
- On-line health programmes – there is a market for the development of on-line health programmes that employees can use to give them the information needed to help them improve their health.
If you would like to get involved in workplace health it can be very simple, and a very profitable addition to your business. Here are my action points to get started.
- Build a product range – decide what services you could offer and the format that these services will take. Remember your intervention will be drastically more successful if you have resources that clients can take away.
- Build a list of target businesses in your area – have a look for local business that may benefit and be open to your services, companies that are seeking investors in people awards are often interested in this kind of service.
- Approach the businesses on your list – consider how you are going to approach these businesses and particularly how you are going to make contact with the decision makers who can give the go ahead to your services.
- Exceed expectations – any business you get on board make sure that you not only deliver the service as agreed but you exceed their expectations. The business world is a small one and news of innovative and good services travel fast!