Showing up

There is a necessary component to a company’s successful workplace wellness programming that doesn’t often get discussed because it’s the cement of it. It’s people showing up for one another and what happens due to that, which might not happen otherwise.

This past winter, while we were extra cooped-up at home due to COVID-19, IWBI’s workforce kept active indoors with our Favorite Trainers program. We reached out to personal and studio fitness trainers our staff had missed in the past pandemic months, and scheduled them to lead us in live, virtual Dance Cardio, HIIT, Pilates, Yoga and Strength & Conditioning classes.

Sessions were scheduled before and after work and at lunchtime so that staff in all time zones could join. And we recorded classes, posting them to Slack, for those who preferred working out at a different time.

Once you signed up, you committed to showing up. It wasn’t just a class for you that could easily get squeezed out by the never-ending workstream. It was a commitment to one’s own physical exercise as well as showing up for one’s colleagues; a commitment to the group. We had that added sense of duty to be present for one another.

In addition to the infusion of greater energy, more staff taking care of ourselves together inspired many of us to join exercise sessions we wouldn’t have done solo, without the group’s company. Some of our natural yogis got the push they needed from the group to do cardio classes they wouldn’t have found the motivation to do on their own. Others were inspired to join for the social aspect of sharing a group activity — something we’ve all done a lot less of this past year. And for those co-workers whose days were littered with non-stop meetings but still wanted to do live group classes, they were inspired to calendar regular evening times to stream the recorded classes and do them along with other colleagues.

In the end, we all got to experience high quality physical activity with in-demand trainers whose classes had formerly booked up two weeks in advance when they taught out of Solidcore or the Fhitting Room.

Now that it’s spring and the weather’s turning sunnier and warmer, we’re putting Favorite Trainers on pause in favor of encouraging staff to get outdoors, soak up some Vitamin D, and spend less time in front of screens. But given that we’re not yet back in our office, not all staff are ready to hang up the camaraderie of Favorite Trainers. Showing up for one another winds up being a powerful factor of Favorite Trainers. So post-Favorite Trainers we’ll be calendaring some set times for all staff to show up plus take on the rotating role of curating the web for some motivating fitness classes.

Staff that frequented Favorite Trainers the most prioritized their day to make the times work, even if that meant suspending work to return to in the evening, or re-scheduling meetings. It also gave our staff with young families a time to burn off energy together. For all of us, Favorite Trainers gave us that much missed casual time to spend together outside of work meetings.

It may not surprise you to learn that one of Favorite Trainers’ regulars was none other than our President and CEO, Rachel Hodgdon, who said that she relished how our staff “actively encouraged each other to be well and take care of ourselves… deepening IWBI’s culture of health;” a leadership priority for Rachel. While showing up for one another may be the unspoken cement of successful workplace wellness programming, encouragement and involvement from the top is what makes it possible at all.