Prioritizing employee wellbeing in a hybrid working environment with Gympass

In this article, our People Ops Specialist, Susanna, shows how Empatica introduced Gympass to help employees enjoy improved physical and mental health. This comes at a time when we are embracing our new hybrid work model, and offering a flexible solution to adapt to the needs of all team members was paramount for the company.

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Focusing on employee wellbeing in the post-pandemic world

The last couple of years have been tough for everyone. The pandemic has taken a toll on people’s mental health, and, as a matter of fact, the WHO revealed that COVID-19 has led to a 25% increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide.

One of the goals of the People Operations Team has been to enhance team happiness, and a great way to achieve this was to introduce a benefit for improving all aspects of employee wellbeing in addition to other existing benefits. We needed a flexible solution suitable for a hybrid work model, that team members across different regions and countries could fully benefit from.

For the team, there was no ‘one size fits all’. We wanted to provide support to the whole person - mental, emotional, and physical, and we embarked on a journey of researching multiple options that covered these areas; a solution that we could adapt to meet the evolving needs of our employees.

Enter Gympass.

A flexible all-in-one solution

Gympass is an all-in-one digital platform that offers activities for the mind, body, and mood, which are accessible anytime and anywhere. It includes over 50,000 gyms and studios worldwide and over 13,000 virtual classes, with hundreds of activities from physical, to mental health and nutrition, amongst others.

We launched Gympass in January and Empaticans were both excited and grateful for this platform, which, on our plan, gives access to over 1,800 gyms worldwide with physical courses and access to personal trainers. One of the best aspects of this solution is that the platform also offers great mental health benefits, including one-on-one therapy sessions with a psychotherapist, access to meditation, coaching and productivity apps, and services in multiple languages. In addition, the membership offers free access to nutrition apps for keeping track of one’s diet and eating healthy.

With Gympass, we discovered that there is something for everyone, and we are delighted to be able to offer a benefit that provides a wide range of opportunities for employees to improve their physical and mental wellbeing. It’s just a matter of exploring the very many options and opportunities that the platform offers.

Some fun facts

In the last couple of months since we signed up with Gympass, it has been interesting to see some data reflecting how employees embraced the platform:

• 97% sign-up rate: Within one month, almost all our employees created an account and started using the app.
• Calories burned: The app calculated that we already burned more than 90,000 calories combined in the past 2 months!
• Gyms visited: Across different cities and locations, Empaticans have visited 25 different facilities/gyms so far.
• Geography: Team members have checked into more than 13 cities in 4 different countries, not only in Italy and the USA, but also in Brazil and Spain!

From online therapy to multi-city gym access: How Empaticans are benefiting from a Gympass membership

We asked some Empaticans to tell us how a Gympass subscription has helped improve their lifestyle habits and choices, and some responses we received show that there have been positive results; from improving their commitments to keeping fit, to having one on one therapy sessions with psychotherapists for their mental wellbeing, and using any of the many meditation apps available to help manage stress. Nutrition enthusiasts are not left out, as they now have a wide range of apps to help keep track of their diet.

For Ava, an Embedded Software Engineer in our Milan office, one of the things she enjoys about Gympass is that she can finally stay committed to a workout routine and register for therapy sessions to improve herself. In her words:

“If it was not for Gympass membership, I wouldn't have ever been so committed to working out and trying different sports. Company aperitivos are great but you also need to exercise together, to keep up with the beers. On top of that, having a therapist was something that I always knew will help me become a better version of myself, but I had never made the effort to start going to one. But with a variety of therapy apps being available, I managed to finally mark it in my to-do checklist.”

Domenico, a Junior Data Scientist, on the other hand, has mostly enjoyed the flexibility of being able to use his membership in any city he visits:

"Having Gympass as a perk is amazing! I’ve enjoyed so many services available both from home (one on one classes with a personal trainer, meditation and nutrition apps, therapy with a psychologist) and in all the gyms in the city I live in or am in for a few weeks. The flexibility I have is unique since it allows me to practice sports wherever and whenever I want. In addition, there are proposals for all kinds of sports activities, which pushes me to try things I would not have done otherwise. I am very grateful for this benefit that Empatica provides!"

Empaticans in our Boston, USA office have equally benefited from this perk. Eniola, a Program Manager in our Clinical Ops team says “it’s a great benefit, second only to the full healthcare coverage”. On how she has been using her Gympass membership, in her own words:

“I’ve been able to access a variety of local gyms, without having to pay individual membership fees. I also started working with a personal trainer through the app. It’s been great.”

Looking forward to more successes

So far, our first couple of months with Gympass has been considered a success, and we are proud to see that introducing Gympass as a benefit has contributed to fulfilling the team’s goal of improving mental and physical wellbeing and enhancing employee happiness!

Besides Gympass, Empaticans currently enjoy other benefits such as flexible working hours, individual learning and development budgets, personal growth plans, stock options, among others. As we continue to evolve and adapt to our new hybrid work model, employee wellbeing remains a priority and we’re constantly looking for ways to improve or add to the benefits that team members currently enjoy.

Join us

If you are looking to embrace new career opportunities, and be a part of our team, we’ll be happy to welcome you! Check out our careers page and apply for any of our open positions.

Read more on other benefits we offer, and why it’s great to work at Empatica in this article.

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