The Fitness Trap: Why 80 Percent Aren't Reached

Traditional approaches in corporate health management often miss the mark. Till analyzed three central problems:

1. Low reach: Classic corporate fitness offerings reach only 10 to 15 percent of the workforce; normal corporate health management programs achieve 20 to 30 percent. Clubs and families, where change begins for many people, remain excluded.

2. Lack of incentive for the majority: The remaining 80 percent who don't enjoy going to the gym aren't motivated. Yet their movement already happens in everyday life – on the way to work, during walks, while cycling.

3. Paradoxical business model: For many corporate fitness providers, the margin is optimized for employees not using the offering. The system works best financially when costs for studio use remain low.

So the central question is: How do you reach the majority who don't find their movement in the gym?

The Approach: Benefits for Movement

The core of the concept lies in bringing together three elements that were previously thought of separately: health through movement, financial motivation through real benefits, and community.

The basic principle:

• Movement is tracked: steps, cycling, wheelchair movement, or visits to sports facilities

• Movement is converted into points

• These points are converted into direct financial benefits

The idea with the non-cash benefit: Companies use the tax-free non-cash benefit of 50 euros per month – but not as a blanket fuel voucher, but linked to actual movement. Anyone who reaches their daily goal (for example, by cycling to work) receives 5 euros. This can be done up to 10 times a month, totaling 50 euros. The vouchers can be redeemed at various partners.

The crucial difference from classic programs: Instead of just offering access, movement is directly rewarded. The benefit doesn't come from the mere offering, but from actual activity.

Inclusion as a Core Principle

A central aspect of the approach lies in truly including everyone:

• Not steps, but movement: For wheelchair users, step counters are cynical. Instead, distance-based movement is tracked, regardless of how it occurs.

• Individual goals: Not everyone has to reach the same numbers, but overcome the same inner resistance. A young mother can have a goal of 20 times 6,000 points instead of 10 times 10,000 steps – what matters is that the goal remains challenging yet achievable.

• Data protection: Participation can also be completely anonymous. Those who want to can share successes and compete with others – but don't have to.

The idea behind it: Fairness isn't created by everyone having to do the same thing, but by everyone having the same chance to participate.

The Effect: Measurable Success and Real Culture

Till shared observations from working with companies that have implemented the approach. The results show up on two levels:

Quantitative effects:

• Average of 379 minutes of activity per week among participants – far above the WHO standard of 150 minutes

• In one company, sick leave decreased by 23 percent in the first year

• Studies on corporate health management show: sick leave can decrease by 25 percent, turnover by 40 percent, productivity increases by 11 percent

Qualitative changes: The cultural effects are particularly impressive. In one hospital, a pilot group of 20 people grew to six locations with 1,000 participants. In another company, IT reported unusually high MS Teams traffic on weekends – employees were arranging joint running tours.

A logistics company in insolvency cut all benefits but kept the movement program. The reasoning: We need the culture especially now. During a charity challenge, employees from 40 countries collectively raised 50,000 euros and shared daily pictures of their activities, from alpine marathons to runs up Sugarloaf Mountain.

The central observation: Conversations shift from small talk about the weather to shared experiences and plans. What begins as a financial incentive develops into genuine communal experience.

Conclusion

The talk showed: When corporate fitness is reimagined – not just as an offering, but as direct reward for movement – something emerges that goes beyond classic health promotion. The approach reaches not just the 15 percent who are sports-oriented anyway, but also the other 85 percent.

When movement isn't just enabled but actually rewarded, when people receive concrete recognition in the form of benefits for every step to work and every lunchtime walk, something fundamental changes. Individual effort becomes shared experience, passive benefits become active culture.

The crucial difference lies in the direct coupling of behavior and reward. It's not the availability of offerings that motivates people to move long-term, but the immediate appreciation of what they do daily.