THE EXERCISE EDGE
There are many benefits of working out in the workplace, Julia Hobsbawm writes.
Arriving in New York City from London recently, the first thing I did was go to a spin class at Soulcycle. I needed to clear my head, but I'm also on a job: to complete a fundraiser of 60 cycles before I turn 60 this summer. As I pedalled away, I wondered: Is my workout benefiting my work?
There's evidence that exercise has professional advantages, which makes the assumption that it's separate from work wrong. Time to physically work out must become sanctioned — if not mandated — in the workplace.
Research published in Harvard Business Review notes a correlation between cognitive function — which contributes to job performance — and exercise. What's more, a cross-sectional study published in the Lancet Psychiatry in 2018 of 1.2 million U.S. adults shows it reduced days of poor mental health by 43 per cent.
Corporate fitness has become a big business. It's part of the global corporate wellness market, which was valued at $53 billion in 2022 and is set to grow by nearly five per cent year-on-year to 2030.
Perhaps this explains why Peloton Interactive is angling to become a workplace perk and why Apple Fitness+ and corporate wellness firm Gympass have struck a deal.
It also explains the popularity of activities such as fun runs that incorporate group fitness opportunities into the workplace. In the U.K., the Financial Times reported that Hyrox, a group fitness challenge, is one of a number of exercise groups being adopted by corporates “as part of a broader trend for workplace wellness.”
Given all the career benefits of exercise, it makes sense to reconfigure workplaces for exercise. Big companies are using gyms as a way to bring people back to the office. Marriott International's new headquarters in Bethesda, Md., is a campus where “you can eat, exercise, shower and meet with your manager,” according to a Wired report.
The workplace used to be known for the water cooler, where gossip is shared and networks form. Given the asymmetry of scheduling and the importance of exercise to career and well-being, the workout studio should become the new water cooler.
But most businesses are small, and hardly have space for workouts. That means temporarily converting workspaces for physical fitness — have dance classes in the cafeteria once a week? — or encouraging it elsewhere.
There's an additional benefit of workplace workouts — they provide the kind of bonding that happens away from a desk, outside of the formality of work. Workouts can act as social and cultural glue. In hybrid working times, being around people to bond is all the more valuable.
Soulcycle has, perhaps, become today's golf circuit for powerful women. U.S. First Lady Jill Biden and Akshata Murty, the businesswoman who is married to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, went to London's Notting Hill for a Soulcycle class after the coronation of King Charles III.
Even if you're not sweating with international VIPS, seeing your manager struggle to keep up with you on the spin cycle — well, that's probably a bonus.