Admiral Group plc – best-known for its private motor insurance and home cover services, including well-known brands such as Admiral, elephant.co.uk, confused.com, Diamond and Bell – has partnered with Gympass to fulfil a comprehensive employee wellbeing strategy for its 7,500-strong UK workforce. A driving force behind this decision was Admiral staff feedback which showed that 84% of its employees wanted the ability to exercise at multiple, different venues and 86% sought access to facilities other than just gyms.
Admiral Group has an enviable reputation as an employer. Named Best Big Company To Work For in the UK in the 2019 Sunday Times Best Companies To Work For round-up, it was also the 7th Best Multinational Workplace in Europe and rated as the 18th Best Workplace in the World by Great Place to Work.
Admiral Group prioritises both the physical and mental health of its workforce. It has an established and robust wellbeing strategy through its ‘Ministry of Health’ initiative, which is available to all staff. Admiral has offered staff access to local gyms for a number of years and was looking to improve its offering to provide more variety, greater access and virtual support, especially given the changing nature of work due to Covid-19.
Like many businesses, Admiral has a diverse workforce in terms of age, ability and interest with many working shifts and at weekends. This means that any employee fitness and wellbeing programme needs to be both flexible and accessible, enabling people to enjoy activity within close proximity to work and home. When lockdown hit, the need for accessing activity within a home environment became a priority.
“We value our staff feedback and having established what our staff want in terms of wellbeing support and services, we saw that Gympass was the perfect fit for us culturally,” says Rebecca Walters, Health and Wellbeing Manager, Admiral Group. “It offers complete services from a health and wellbeing perspective while the variety, flexibility and accessibility of its programme has particular appeal. Its digital platform was also key to offering easily accessible physical activity and wellbeing options that could be done in the privacy of your own home, especially in light of lockdown limitations.
“Gympass complements the work of our ‘Ministry of Health’ and our ‘Healthy Heads’ campaigns which aim to promote good mental health through exercise, nutrition and taking time out,” says Rebecca.
“We are delighted to welcome the Admiral Group to our platform and have every confidence we can help its staff fulfil their wellbeing goals having heard first-hand what they want and what challenges they may be facing,” says Luke Bullen, Gympass CEO UK/IE. “Armed with the knowledge that 84% of Admiral employees wanted the ability to exercise at multiple, different venues at a subsidised rate and 86% sought activities other than the gym, we knew that our diverse and comprehensive platform would satisfy these requests. It’s always a privilege to work with a company that prioritises and values the wellbeing of its staff,” says Luke. “Admiral already had building blocks in place and a team of people championing the benefits of physical activity. This paved the way for us to introduce a diverse range of digital and physical fitness and wellbeing options to a workforce that was absolutely ready to engage in what we have to offer.”
