How to Promote Yoga Classes at Your Office
“How we get more people to classes?”
This question comes up a lot with our clients who want to have successful employee engagement in their office yoga or wellness program!
Below are some effective tips and strategies for motivating employees to participate more often in your wellness offerings, whether it be yoga, meditation or Pilates classes on site or online.
- Regularly promote the classes to reinforce the program. Promote the yoga classes in an internal company email or eNewsletter. Promote the yoga classes on social media with inspiring images (maybe one taken during the last class?) with the popular hashtags #yogaeveryday etc. This not only is great PR for the company, but employees see it and tend to feel motivated and proud of the company. Place a small, free-standing chalkboard sign or colorful whiteboard outside your practice room in the morning the day of your regularly-scheduled yoga class to promote the classes to people passing by. Be sure to remind them of the regular schedule: “Free yoga here every Wednesday at noon!” You can also have fun with colorful artwork or an inspiring quote for the week.
- Give away prizes. Promote a free giveaway (like yoga mat or a gift certificate for a healthy lunch option) to the person who attends the most classes in a month. We take photos of the sign in sheets and archive them for you on your client Dropbox folder online, so you’ll be able to see who is frequently attending classes.
- Provide the equipment. Arrange through us to have company-branded yoga mats created with your logo and keep them on hand at the office. This way, employees don’t have to remember to bring their own. The branded mats help serve as a sign that the company is committed to the employee wellness program.
- Improve the practice space. How can the ambience of the room or practice area where classes are held be improved? Are there glaring fluorescent lights overhead? What about some battery operated “candles” or strings of colored holiday lights as an alternative? Could some shades be installed for the windows? Are there some inexpensive, attractive tapestries or wall decorations that could be added to create a more relaxing, peaceful environment? There are many inexpensive and creative options.
- Require RSVPs. Consider setting up an RSVP system for people to sign up for classes. Is there a regular company calendar invite for the classes and is the list of RSVPs open for everyone to see? RSVPing for a class makes people a little more accountable to show up, especially if they see other people coming as well.
- Schedule pre-meeting yoga. If there’s a big team strategy or brainstorming meeting coming up, consider scheduling yoga prior to that… it can help get employees relaxed, focus and prepared to do creative problem solving.
- Motivate employees around a theme or challenge. Choose a theme for the month and promote classes around that theme. For example, one of our clients does a “biggest loser” program every April. They shift the classes to being a more athletic, “hot yoga” style. Special emails and flyers around the office promote the program. Other ideas: Encourage people with a “summer yoga challenge” to do yoga twice a week for a month… Or a “countdown to Labor Day” yoga shape up program. The possibilities are endless and can be really fun.
- Ask employees about the best day/time to schedule classes. We often find a simple change of schedule can often make the difference. You might find that different schedules work for different times of the year, or different company departments. We are flexible and change up things all the time with our yoga clients based on their shifting needs.
- Choose a schedule cadence that people can remember. It’s easier for participants to remember a regular weekly class. A class that’s too infrequent or occurs on a random schedule (“the third Thursday of every month”) is too tricky for many people to recall. One or two weekly classes at the same day and time is where we see the most success.
- Ask us about “yoga experience enhancements”. Music, aromatherapy or playing meditative instruments like singing bowls and bells are extra added touches that can make the classes more engaging and memorable.
- Share out the bios and backgrounds about the teachers. We provide class descriptions as well as photos and bios of the teachers in your private online client folder. Sometimes knowing a little bit more about the teachers and what to expect ahead of time is helpful to people considering whether they want to attend.
- Try changing up the class approach. Finally, remember that Chakra 5 can customize the classes any way you want, anytime. Talk to your employees. Is the class too challenging or not challenging enough? Some participants may want to wind down and relax in class. Maybe others want more of a “fitness class”. Many people are shy about doing yoga in front of other people and would feel better doing seated yoga at desks or in chairs. The important thing is to get regular feedback (with anonymous surveys, for example) to understand what people hope to get out of the experience and what could be improved. We often do several types of classes for the same companies to cater to the different needs of different groups. It’s common for us to change the schedule or approach periodically with our regular, long-term clients.
McKenna Rowe is the Founder of Chakra 5 Mobile Yoga, an experienced team of corporate yoga instructors that provides mobile yoga classes on location and by appointment at businesses, schools and organizations throughout greater Los Angeles. Call us to start your corporate wellness program today: 310-853-3885.