Fit Company

Work Fit. Live Fit.

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Interview with Tom Green & Co. Engineers

Before getting into our main questions, what is this Friendly Friday Fun activity we hear about?

It’s a weekly workout we have in the office on Friday mornings that involves people participating together through various workout routines. Our most recent one was side-by-side high planks. Once we were all in plank position we would then pass a weight through the plank line. If someone dropped out, they had to go do wall sits.

How long do these usually last?

I honestly didn’t expect it to last as long as it did, but we went for 7 minutes.

Oh my goodness, what? Seven minutes of planks?

Yep. At that point there were somehow still three of us there, and we had to call it. I can say we ended that routine a little sweatier than expected.

What was the motivation for starting these?

We kind of wanted to do something that would get people talking around the office. It’s worked well. We had about 70% turnout on that last one. We’re a small company but we still filled up the whole conference room for it.

So tell me, how did you come into the role as the wellness leader at your company?

I’d already worked at a company that had a wellness program with weekly competitions and that sort of thing. When I came here, there really wasn’t anything in place and so I tried to get a few things started with the other engineers. One year we did a “Biggest Loser” kind of challenge, but participation was a bit on the low side.

I started other initiatives but those fizzled too, but one thing that stuck was I did get a standing desk. I invited others to use it any time I wasn’t in the office and a lot of people took me up on and it and then requested their own standing desks too. Now, almost the entire office has them!

After that seed was planted, I got approval to keep pushing and see what other wellness initiatives I could start. I soon found your Challenge and got us signed up for our first round in the spring. I was hoping to get 4 people for a team, but we ended up getting enough people for two teams. It worked really well for our group!

That’s a really great way to get your company interested in wellness! How does your team prepare for the Challenges?

At our first event, those who participated were already doing some kind of workout outside of the office. Crossfit, regular gym routines, that sort of thing. We honestly didn’t do a lot of prep. We kinda quickly looked at the PDF and assumed it would be easy. For some of us, it wasn’t so bad, but those a little less fit kind of wished they knew more in advance. With that in mind, we put together an extensive training program for our next one and really closely reviewed what we should be preparing for.

Did you incentivize people to show up for the training sessions?

When we were rolling those out, we got people to participate using a digital sign-in sheet. The president of the company offered to reward everyone who attended at least 50% of the sessions with a free lunch. We got that idea from the tips you sent out and it worked really well. By the end of that round, we had one person with perfect attendance and most at around 80% attendance. The nice thing is that even people who couldn’t make it to the challenge came to the office workouts because they were a lot of fun.

 

Does your company incentivize participation in the Challenge as well?

Just for the daily office workouts. We don’t directly incentivize for the challenge. Instead, the company will pay for the registration fee and make custom t-shirts that the teams will get to wear and keep.

How have the office workouts compared to other types of team-building at your company?

Well, I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and tell me that doing just five minutes of workouts a day with the co-workers has done almost as much for team-building as a big event. Of course big events are very important, but adding these office workouts have been a great way to add team building into our weekly schedules.

What other fitness type wellness events does your office do apart from our Challenge?

That’s it – we don’t have all the departments you might have at a larger company. We started small but we’re building.

One activity on our radar is getting performance blood tests for those interested. The ones you can get done by your doctor usually just look for things that might be wrong with you, but it would be nice to be able to monitor performance markers other than just general health. I mean, we’re engineers – we love data.

What’s the mix of your group looking like right now?

Looking at the roster for our spring participants and it’s pretty varied. Age-wise, we have 20-year-old recent hires to participants in their 60s. For fitness levels, they range from recent mothers looking for something that gets them moving, all the way up to myself and others who go to the gym regularly.

There’s also a couple of people who have gone through significant weight losses working with trainers and nutritionists who joined in the last challenge and are now looking forward to the next one. It was really great to see the look of shock on their faces when they came up to me after completing their first challenge and said, “I actually really enjoyed this.”

Will you say that the wellness culture of your company has changed?

Definitely changed. Early on, when I asked permission to push this and be the annoying guy who begs people to sign up for things they never heard of, I was told okay but be warned – things like this haven’t worked in the past.

That in mind, I went about it differently. I sent out a survey at the beginning of this to get a litmus test of where people felt like they stood and where would they like to be. The majority of respondents said they were not happy with where they were at health-wise. Most wanted to improve. So when I went around asking if they wanted to sign up for something like the Challenge, there was already seeds planted in their minds that made it easier.

Since then, part of our staff meetings have been moving away from BBQ and pizza parties to more deli options where people can build their own salad or put together things that give more options than “here’s something you probably want to eat but maybe shouldn’t.”

Have you guys set any goals about wellness in general?

Well, my goal would be that if I sent out the survey again, that everyone (or at least more employees then last time) would respond that they are happy with their current wellness level and that they believe their company is supportive of them improving their wellness.

                                           

That’s amazing. Thank you Art and looking forward to catching your team on the field again in the spring!

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Interview with OpenSymmetry

Hello, hello!

Looking to learn how fitness can help tighten up your company culture and strengthen community at the office?

Well, we’ve got a fun interview with Christie Moreno from OpenSymmetry to share with you a few ways it can! Christie and the team at her office have been participating in the Fit Company Challenge for several years and we always love catching up with them and hearing about the amazing culture they have at their office.

Would you say that wellness plays an important role at your company?

Definitely. Wellness plays a role right from the start. During the hiring phrase when we’re onboarding new people, we’re very open about it. We let them know about our initiatives and goals and the flexibility that the company offers. In turn, we encourage them to be open about fitness goals and personal goals and anything like that because we want them to know that “hey, we do offer things for this.” I mean, a lot of us even get out during our lunch breaks to go for runs and things like that.

I guess it’s not unusual to see people in their workout attire in the afternoons?

Oh, absolutely not. A lot of us stay in our gym shorts in the afternoon. Sometimes we warn new team members that, if we go for a lunch workout, they can expect us to come back to the office in our shorts. And it’s fine, and very acceptable.

What do you do to get prepared for the Challenge?

We used to be informal about our preparation, but starting last year we started organizing group training events before the challenge. Usually once or twice a week, and they last about an hour. They’re good to self-motivate each other and also to get us prepared for the Challenge itself. After all, no two people have the exact same fitness level. So no matter where they are with their own thing, it’s good to get the ball rolling together as a team.

Have you found that the regular training and exercises really help your team succeed?

For sure. Let me give you one example. A girl at our office had a baby in March last year, got back into training in May and did the Challenge in September! She told us after, that this was the easiest one she ever did, thanks to the training regime which is of course inspiring to all of us.

How do you go about building your team for the Challenge?

Well, we open it to whoever wants to join. We have an internal page where I start posting stuff there and emailing people. I also showed them the Fit Company Challenge YouTube videos so people can get familiar with the Challenge and be like “hey, this looks like something we can do!”

We’re lucky that we get a good mix of people showing up. During our training in April, I was so happy to see four or five of our new hires joining us. I’m talking people who haven’t even been with us for 30 days. But they came out to engage with their co-workers, interact with one another and all that. I have to say it was an excellent opportunity to come out and meet each other.

We’re also lucky because each year we get people to fly in from the other regions where we have offices. These can be people from Missouri, England, India, elsewhere. There’s always at least one who does the Challenge with us.

Have you come across any cross region chatter or friendly competition.

Oh yeah. There was this one gentleman from a couple years ago who came in and he wanted to represent his region really well. So once here, he started doing all these challenges and not just the Fit Company Challenge. Tough Mudders, Spartan Runs. It was all, you know, to show his office that he was their guy and representing them.

Do you find people not participating in the Challenge also come out and support the team?

Of course. We all get really into it. We make our own shirts. We bring breakfast, coffee, pizza, cake to the events. After it’s done, we often go out for a drink and celebrate. We want everyone to know it’s not just about the Challenge, but a great time to hang out and bond with our peers.

When it comes to training for the Challenge, do you open it to everyone or just participants?

Oh, it’s open to everyone. We have these training sessions year round. For people who can’t take part in the challenge, they are still welcome to come to the training sessions. This really helps encourage the team component for everyone at the company.

Our company is actually really forward about elevating fitness and wellness. Anyone who does something like this can expense their registration fees, which is great. Our company also subsidizes our gym memberships. Things like this give us that extra push and lets us know that the company is supporting us and our goals every step of the way.

Give us an idea of the different types of wellness activities your company does.

We used to do yoga once a week in the office, but since we moved we put a pause on that. Right now we have an internal chat system with a gym group. We all post in there to keep each other accountable. Our company on a whole also participates in lots of events like marathons, races, and things like that throughout the year.

Having a message system for the gym is great! How often do you post things there?

Usually when it’s for an event like yours, we send out notifications so people know the date. I also like sharing the Office Workouts of the Day that you guys have, and also other related content. There was one interesting piece you did on how to set up an office workout spaces and I showed that to our CEO. Ultimately, I’d say I try to send out as much communication as I can.

One last question: do you see people setting goals for the Challenge?

Of course. There’s always the people that say “hey, I want to do this or that.” Often it’s the burpees. Just being able to complete them and not feel bad after is a great goal. Or there’s people that tell me they just want to be able to complete one Inverted Row. When I hear that, I’m like “okay, let’s do it!” Even little goals will make your stronger in the long run.

                         

                         

And that wraps up our interview. We just wanted to say thanks as always – this time to Christie – for being able to spare us some time and inspire us with all they do at OpenSymmetry for their team wellness!

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Interview with Austin Fraser

Hey everyone!

Joining us today is Larimie McGarvey, the Fit Company Challenge team captain over at Austin Fraser. They’ve been coming to the Challenge for several years and always bring a really competitive (and fun!) team to the field!

We were fortunate to have been able to interview her and learn a lot about their company’s inspiring wellness culture.

How many years has your company been doing the challenge?

We’ve done it for three years, and our company has been in Austin for four years.

Out of curiosity, how did you get picked as team captain?

Being the US operations executive, I do quite a bit. When it comes to culture building or company activities, I’m usually the one taking the lead on that.

What are some of the other events and programs you organize?

One of our big ones is our monthly after hours, and we capitalize the AF (Austin Fraser) for AFter hours. These events can be pretty much anything like volleyball, bowling, hanging out with everyone and their families at the park, things like that. We try to keep these events activity-based.

That’s a lot of engagement! How does the company support or promote these events?

We’re a really close office and it’s kind of a part of our culture to share what we have going on and invite people to come along. For instance, I recently found out I was a universal blood donor and sent out an email saying I was going to go give blood and just like that got other team members to give blood too! Getting out and doing activities as a team is something that’s really ingrained in our culture.

Is it safe to say that your company has a culture where it’s not weird for people to suddenly drop and do push-ups together?

Well, that one doesn’t happen too often … but if it did it wouldn’t be an issue!

What type of things have you done in the past or this year to prep for the Fit Company Challenge.

We’re just really competitive individuals at the office who love to win and be successful. While we don’t do any formal team workouts, most of our people are already the kind who do triathlons, marathons, and charitable activities like Race for the Cure. They’re the kind of people who do workouts during lunch break or who hit the gym together after work.

When it came to prepping for the Challenge, did you notice people training together as squads, or by department, or anything like that?

We like to use accountability buddies! People pair off with other people at the same fitness level and ask “okay, what we can do to elevate ourselves?” I’d say that everybody’s kind of on their own different levels of athleticism that they maintain on their own, and collectively it all just comes together and works out really well.

What do you do leading up to the Challenge to get people pumped for the event?

I tend to lean on the emails you send us. They’re timed really well and help people stay in the loop and know what they’re getting into.

For instance, the first year I was involved, I didn’t know what I was getting into. It turned out to be a great challenge, but I wasn’t really prepared on the day of the event. So since then we’ve learned to share more with each other and make sure people know what to expect from the different levels of the Challenge. Having an open mind and open dialogue throughout the lead-up puts everyone at ease so they come to the challenge excited to participate.

Does your company provide incentives to get people to participate?

For competition day, we have people who compete and others who just come out and support the rest of us. Every year, I bring a canopy tent and we have a table set out for people to set their stuff. There will be participants and people who cheer us on and everyone makes a day out of it. After the event we always end up doing something together to celebrate as a team.

Do you guys set dedicated wellness targets each year or is it more organic?

We’re really fortunate here. People really enjoy being healthy and are very health-conscious. We have healthy snacks at the office like chia bars and chickpea chips and all that kind of stuff. But overall the team here is just really conscientious of the connection between their workouts, energy at the office, and diets. We don’t really have to push anyone to get involved.

Where do you think that the main drive for this culture comes from?

A combination of a lot of things. Basically, we start from the ground up. First, we make sure we’re hiring the best people out there. People who are smart, driven, and here for success. Then, once hired, we encourage them to keep pushing themselves for success to be better themselves, to work to get to that next stage of their career or life or whatever they are striving for.

Ultimately, we want to make sure that whenever we have someone come through the hiring process that we’re really transparent from the beginning. We want to be as clear upfront as possible so they know what to expect at the company and are as excited as we are on their first day of work.

Last question: do you guys set goals as a company, or is it more centered around the individual?

Oh yeah, there’s always goal setting going on here. It’s kind of in our nature. We have people who want to go out and learn another language, or save up and buy a new car or a new house. Everyone has their personal goals and as a business we want to understand those and not just their professional ones. Once we do, we see how we can help them achieve their goals in both personal and professional arenas.

                         

                         

We’d like to thank Larimie again for having taken the time to talk to us. We were so impressed with how entrenched wellness is at Austin Fraser with their wider company culture, and it’s no surprise they always place as one of the top teams at the Fit Company Challenge!

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Looking to crank up your wellness culture? Learn from a top-ranking company

Hey FC Team!

Today’s interview is a little different from our recent ones. We were fortunate to have a few words with Sarah Miranda from Sun Coast Resources. They’ve participated in four Challenges so far and have placed 1st or 2nd place in their division each time! This definitely makes Sun Coast one of the most competitive teams that participates in our Challenges.

If your company enjoys its friendly rivalry and are the types who to go the events looking to win, there should be a few things you can learn from their training repertoire down below.

Enjoy!

How many years has Sun Coast Resources participated in the Challenge?

We’ve just completed our fourth year.

If I’m not mistaken, you’ve consistently been ranked near the top?

We’ve placed first or second place in our division every year.

Wow! So what does wellness look like at your company?

It keeps us busy all year. Our CEO is all about wellness programs. We do walks to raise money for charities. We have a 5k club that does four-to-six competitive runs. We also do step challenges internally at the headquarters, stress management month, and weekly yoga. And, of course, the Fit Company Challenge has been a cornerstone of our wellness program, keeping us active and training together all year round.

Does your company need to incentivize employees to participate in all this wellness?

Our company handles all the entrance fees and sponsors the runs, of course, but there hasn’t been the need for any big pushes. We’re fortunate that we’ve gotten to the place where people just do it because they want to.

How does your company prepare for the Challenge every year?

A couple of ways. We’ve got our on-site gym, our wellness programs, and trainers who come in. One thing in particular is that we created a whole training program that’s based off the Fit Company training packets. With those, we then do eight weeks of training prior to the challenge.

At the start of all our preparations, we also do a weigh-in, check BMI, things like that. After eight weeks, we do a second round of tests and we always see significant improvement in everyone’s bodies. I mean, when they get into it, they start pushing hard. It’s not just an “I need to get fit for a wedding” kind of push, but one where they know they want to compete.

I heard you guys have fun selecting your team captains. What’s your process?

We have a team captain “tryout” system in place, where we do a mock Fit Company Challenge with the equipment on hand. Whoever lands in the top six spots gets to become a captain. The captains then go through rounds of selection like a sports draft and build their teams from the pool of participants. Often, the captains are well-rounded athletes and they pick their teams based on everyone’s strengths, such as picking one person for endurance, one for speed, and so forth. By the end of the day, everyone will find themselves in a team for the Challenge, often with people they never worked with before.

No matter who makes it to the top, our team captains are also the kinds of people who really care about their squadmates. They’re the ones who push them to improve their health and up their fitness game.

Speaking of competitive, Sun Coast consistently scores in the top of its division each year. What’s that like?

Well, we’ve been really competitive since our first year. We started our wellness program four years ago, and three months in was the first time we did the challenge and its grown ever since. Now, we go to each event with the goal of pushing ourselves, and placing among the top teams. I mean, we’re just so competitive against each other even during training that it would be hard to go out there and not try to win our division.

What range of fitness levels are you working with at the office?

We’re a corporate headquarters filled with office workers, but about half our employees here at any time are drivers. A lot of people spend their days sitting down and often start with some back problems and flexibility we need to work through. We started out catering to the athletic and competitive types, but now we’ve expanded it, encouraging anyone who wants to compete to get in there and grow our participation.

Have you noticed any of the training habits continue after the event?

Absolutely! At most corporate gyms, you’ll see people hit the elliptical and then get back to work, but we’re seeing people using kettlebells, tension bands and other stuff we picked up from the event.

Has the culture at your company shifted as well?

For sure. It’s easy to be unhealthy in Houston (chuckles), the cards are stacked against us! But in just this last year, we’ve seen a really big culture change at Sun Coast. It’s become cool to be healthier, to go to the gym on a lunch break. I’ve seen that people are buying healthier food, eating more fruits, and enjoying high protein meals. The whole culture has shifted at the office.

Has the Challenge impacted team spirit?

Absolutely. I spend most of my time in my office in our gym, and I’m constantly hearing people from different departments talk about the Challenge after they signed up. They’re like “oh you’re so and so from such and such department. Nice to meet you!” It’s people who wouldn’t normally interact with each other who are now suddenly meeting outside of work, recognizing each other in the gym, and so forth. And this wouldn’t have happened if they weren’t all working towards the same goals.

What do you do to keep the momentum going before the event?

We send out weekly email updates, mention how the training is going, point out new healthy options at the cafeteria, that sort of thing. We also provide new workouts each week, one that’s strength-based and one about endurance. We encourage our participants to do each workout twice.

What does Sun Coast do to celebrate after the event?

We make a special announcement to the whole company. We point out which teams came in what place, as well as our company’s overall placement. We also take tons of photos during the event and share those with everyone.

Any final thoughts or comments?

We literally talk about the Fit Company Challenge year-round. It’s significantly changed the lives of some of our people. They set goals, make health targets for their next year, contribute to these events, see changes in their own bodies.

Special thanks again goes to Sarah for having taken the time to talk with us about their company and participation! It’s great to hear from teams that really go all out for wellness and enjoy the friendly competition.

We’ll be in Austin at the end of the month, and then over in Dallas then San Antonio in early May. Looking forward to catching up with everyone on the field!

Yours in wellness,

The FC Squad

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Interview with Buffini: Become “One Big Company” through wellness

Welcome back to Squad Talk!

We’re off to the start of a great event season! We had an awesome first event in Houston and our next one is in coming up fast in San Diego this Saturday. To everyone getting ready for the San Diego Challenge, we wish you great times with your team!

To help get you motivated, we’ve got another quick interview ready for you today. It’s with Bonnie Nuciforo from Buffini & Company. They’re a company that really prizes wellness and we love that the Fit Company Challenge is now part of their wellness programs and company culture.

Enjoy!

How many times has Buffini & Co. been to the Fit Company Challenge?

This is our third year!

Are the same people returning this year or is it mostly new faces?

This year, our group looks to be about a 50/50 split of returning participants and new faces.

What sort of participants signed up for the event?

Our participants are from all across the spectrum as far as fitness is concerned. We’ve got the advanced ones who know where they stand and then those who more or less signed up because everyone else was getting out there. But even then, because these are not exercises you do every day, there’s something for everyone to brush up on before the event.

How do you get people out there and make sure it doesn’t sound intimidating?

We participated the last two years and it has always been really well received. So past participants told co-workers how amazing it was and reassured them that it’s friendly for all levels. This isn’t an event that’s going to knock you out, just push you. It’s a fitness event, sure, but it’s all about getting people together, getting people outside, and then having fun. The fun part really makes the difference.

Have you noticed any benefits so far at Buffini & Company?

Events like this help propagate a good team culture, a sense of “we’re all in this together.” It’s easy to sit at your desk and never talk to someone from across the building or in another building, but bringing them out to events reminds everyone that we’re all one big company and one big team.

What are you guys doing to get ready for this coming event?

Well, I have my background as a bootcamp trainer, so getting people organized is second nature. We set up two weekly workouts. Wednesdays after work, the participants get together for a one-hour bodyweight workout, and then on Saturdays I bring out my equipment – kettlebells and bands for a different style of training that not everyone gets on a daily basis.

What other sort of wellness initiatives are taking place at Buffini & Company?

Most of us want to be healthy individuals and the company offers a lot of extra incentives to get enrolled in health challenges, tutorials, lessons and so forth. We have a company “beBetter” wellness program that we can update and check regularly. We also earn what we call “Buffini Bucks” anytime we participate in something that improves our wellbeing. At the end of the year, all of us get together and we spend all our bucks at an auction for things like TVs, coffee makers, etc. It’s a real blast and it often pushes us to make more the following year by getting into new health and wellness programs.

Any final thoughts about the road leading to the event?

It’s been pretty cool to see people who work together now working out together. We don’t always get to talk to people from other departments, but getting out there and being able to work out together really creates a bond. Our team workout sessions are not the same as going to the gym with the regular buddies. It’s a different atmosphere that you wouldn’t normally get to experience.

Thanks again to Bonnie for having taken the time to talk to us and share all the awesome programs Buffini & Company are doing for wellness. We know they’re busy getting ready for the event this weekend and can’t wait to catch up with them in person.

Hope to catch you on the field soon!

The Fit Company Squad

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