Our CEO was asked by the Nashville Business Journal what the biggest storyline in our industry (corporate wellness) is right now. To read it in the NBJ and learn from other industry experts click here or read below for the full version and our thoughts on the future of corporate wellness.

“2021 is the year that we finally start to see wellness as more than fitness, perhaps even divorced from it. Pre-pandemic we were slowly creeping out from under the influence of fitness and towards mindfulness, but after a year riddle by uncertainly, change, social unrest, and trauma the conversations must necessarily go deeper. Step challenges and group yoga can be fine components of corporate wellness programs but they are not enough. The things we see coming up over and over again now are a renewed focus on mental health including attention to community care, understanding the impact racism and bigotry has on health, avoiding burnout, and staying connected when remote.

Corporate wellness is now both simultaneously a necessity and luxury. Most employee benefit (read: retention) programs know they must include some form of wellness while also acknowledging that these programs are seriously lacking. True wellness starts from the top down. Literally. Leadership must be bought into the idea in order for it to work. It has to be bigger than fitness. It must include more than movement to impact the deeper culture of the organization. Are we still glorifying hustle culture? How often are we taking a hard look beyond diversity to inclusion? Are we encouraging conversations where our employees can be vulnerable and authentic so that we can get to the heart of the issue? How are we honoring down and off-time? Wellness programs must start looking beyond physical appearance to mental health in order to have a real impact on the bottom line.”