Service Design: Creating a Remote Wellness Service

 

Scene

In March of 2020, the majority of businesses and companies in New York were greatly affected by the pandemic. Many workers were forced to work from home indefinitely including me. This posed the challenge: how would my team and I be able to continue to provide value to the client we work for?

 
 

Some Background

I currently work in corporate wellness as an exercise specialist. Plus One is a health management company I work for that provides on-site wellness to different companies nationwide and internationally across a broad range of industries. These companies range from law firms to media to financial services.

With the rise of healthcare costs, companies are looking for ways to reduce these costs while increasing employee productivity and morale in the workplace. Research has shown that one of the keys to a successful wellness program is building a physical workspace on site so that it makes it easy and convenient for employees to have access to. Employers are hiring companies such as Plus One to provide on-site services in order to decrease their employees' health risk.

Three primary reasons companies invest in health & wellness programs:

 
 

I work with a team to provide on-site service for a global law firm in their fitness center. To provide this highly personalized service, my team has an exercise specialist, an assistant manager and a manager. Our client that we work closely with is the operations manager of the firm. My team and I provide massage therapy, group fitness classes and personal training. Our service relies a great deal on interacting with members of the firm. Whether it’s demonstrating how to use the exercise equipment or sweating it out with them in a fitness class, we want to make sure they have an experience at the fitness center that will make them want to come back again.

This shows my team.

 
 

Situation

When the executive order for all nonessential workers to work from home was put in place, there was uncertainty for me and my team. Inevitably the fitness center had to close which meant we wouldn’t be able to use the facility and any of the equipment. Our service revolved around the fitness center and without it there was not much to work with.

We had to find some way to still connect and interact with the members. How can we help improve peoples’ health without using the fitness center? How do we provide tips and information to our members without speaking to them? Overall, how do we continue to manage their health without having a physical presence?

 

An associate emailed us with some preliminary feedback as we began to find ways for a solution.

 

Our idea would be to use the power of technology to provide wellness tips and resources for our members to use to help them feel like we are there with them on their health and wellness journey every step of the way. To take what we currently do for them physically and turn it into something virtual.

 
 

Solution

We started with a brainstorming session. We first talked through and wrote down what we do for the fitness center members already: 

  • Demonstrate exercise movements with proper form and technique

  • Provide training programs and offer nutritional advice when asked

  • Talk and listen to them as a way for them to relieve stress and as a way for us to showcase our expertise when it comes to wellness topics

All of this helps us build trust with the members. 

So I started thinking of ways to continue to provide these services while taking into consideration the fact that these people are now working from home. We would need to adapt to their environment. 

There have been various times when I have had personal training clients go on vacation and ask me if I can provide them with a workout program while they’re away. I would record myself demonstrating the exercise for my client. It proved to be a useful way of continuing our training program despite not being with each other. 

That’s when I came up with the idea to implement instructional at-home exercise videos done by me and the other exercise specialist. Members would know it was created specifically for them and not a random video used from the Internet.

A video of me demonstrating an exercise movement with instructions on the side.

Furthermore from our session we felt there would be other areas of wellness that would be affected. So in addition to the exercise videos, we included nutritional advice, ergonomics and stress management. We wanted to make sure people were making the right food choices despite being home all day and that they set up their working stations efficiently to reduce the risk of injury. Furthermore, we wanted to inform people of ways to cope with the stress of the pandemic.

A table of contents of what would be included in the toolkit.

 
 

Deliverables

We designed the Remote Well-Being Toolkit. I was in charge of designing the training program and creating instructional exercise videos. I and the other exercise specialist would come up with the exercises and instructions for the given week. Then we would split the exercises we needed to film between the two of us. I would then take all the videos and upload them on our company’s website. Once approved by my managers, they would include additional health tips and send it to the marketing team to put this all together so that it could be sent out on a weekly basis to the employees in the New York office.

This shows the fitness page of the toolkit.

 
 

Impact

Within the first couple of weeks, employees were emailing us saying how much they enjoyed using the toolkit. It gave them a sense of encouragement and new ideas for their wellness routine. With the success of the toolkit, our client felt it would be beneficial to share with the entire firm across the world in hopes that other offices can keep their health, spirits and productivity up during this crisis.

“Thanks for this! I've been managing on my own but this helps me right when I started running out of ideas and enthusiasm!”

– Associate

 
 

What did I learn?

When designing this service, I learned that:

  • Having the ability to adapt is not only important in achieving success but in achieving continued success. Being able to bring the same quality of service despite having limited resources proved our adaptability.

  • People look for an outlet and guidance when dealing with the stress in their lives. Being able to provide solutions really showed our value to our client.

  • Collaborating and drawing from previous experiences was pivotal in designing the toolkit.

  • Being organized was important to keep track of the exercises that were filmed and the exercises that had already been used for a certain day/week.

After receiving feedback, I learned that:

  • In order to keep our members engaged, my programming needed variety so that it can appeal to users of all levels.

  • Having a consistent attire like my uniform would give the videos much more of a professional look.

  • I can reduce distractions from showing up in the videos by reducing the clutter where I demonstrate the exercises.

  • It was important to make sure that the camera angle was able to catch the entire movement and not have my arm or legs cut off while I was performing the exercise.