Fitness First employees 'forced' to shape up

Singapore – Fitness First has launched a worldwide fitness assessment aimed at boosting their employees’ health and fitness levels. However, a “tough” penalty awaits those who fail the test.

To inculcate the habit of exercising in its employees, Fitness First has enrolled its entire workforce, unless pregnant or medically certified unfit to join the programme, to undergo a fitness assessment named “Operation Shape Up”. Unfit employees who fail the fitness assessment will be sent to the "boot camp". However Anthony Tottman, managing director of Fitness First Singapore, explains that boot camp is not as scary or militaristic as it sounds. In fact, it is an exercise commitment and not a punishment for employees to work out three times a week. “Boot camp gives a sense of structure. If you don’t have a gym schedule, your discipline will be lacking. With a fixed schedule in place, it just gives you that bit of extra motivation to get there.”

However, getting the entire workforce of 11,000 across 18 countries in Asia, Europe, Australia to commit to getting fit was not easy. Besides using an internal marketing campaign, senior managers were roped in to personally sell by using word-of-mouth to instill excitement among the 350 Singapore-based employees. Citing that fear can sometimes demotivate people, Tottman says the management’s strategy was making the programme fun while highlighting its health benefits. “[We want to] remind staff that it’s more about giving themselves a personal challenge rather than seeing it as a test.”

Once the word got out, employees were also spurred on by the element of competition between clubs and departments, adds Tottman. Furthermore, the discipline of going to the gym has encouraged employees to maintain a work-life balance. Khoo Lee Lee, HR manager of Fitness First Singapore says employees now leave work on time instead of staying 'till late as “they are now motivated to get to the gym”.

To date, employees have not expressed disinterest in the fitness regime as Khoo believes “the peer pressure of keeping up with or wanting to do better than others is a great motivational factor”.

Operation Shape Up involves six types of assessments to ascertain participants’ fitness levels. They include push ups, chin ups, sit ups, a 20-minute cardiovascular endurance test, a one-minute bike/row test and a sit & reach test.