Group Aims to Include Wellness in the Workplace

Q: Grupo Body Systems is a holding that includes several business lines. How do these lines complement each other?

A: Grupo Body Systems was founded 15 years ago with our Body Systems Activation House business line, which focuses on sports clubs and fitness training of groups. Ten years ago, we started Body Systems Corporate Wellness, which targets companies and their employees. Wellness is a more inclusive concept than fitness, since it includes healthy eating and how to manage emotions and stress. This line offers us access to 40 million Mexicans. Given that Mexicans work long hours, face long commutes and spend a significant part of their day sitting, we believe they are bound to suffer higher stress levels. We have created experiences that can last between five minutes to one hour. These are the things that allow workers to improve their quality of life and to achieve a work-life balance.
Q: What reception has Grupo Body Systems’ services received in Mexico?

A: We launched Body Systems Corporate Wellness at the same time the Ministry of Health announced that Mexico is ranked second worldwide for adult obesity. At that moment, only 2 percent of the Mexican population had a gym membership. We decided that the best way to have a major impact was to work with companies. 
Since then, our program has been well-received and we are confident that adoption rates will increase. Around 40 percent of the labor force in Mexico is composed of millennials, a generation that values work environment and what a company can offer them in terms of wellness. Companies that are truly engaged with the development of their employees know that they can no longer generate engagement by simply offering the promise of a career path within the company. Talent recruiters also know that their companies must have these kinds of initiatives and benefits to lure the best candidates. We believe this will lead to an exponential adoption of our corporate wellness program. 
Q: What trends do you expect in terms of wellness and fitness for both users and companies in the coming years?

A: Technology is impacting everything, including the wellness and fitness industry. This will allow organizations to obtain information regarding the health of their workers. I also think that the use of wearables will help fitness trainers and management areas of sports clubs or gyms to track the performance of their clients, which will allow them to optimize the services and products being used.
Another likely and interesting change is related to virtual group classes, which can be implemented in gyms. However, I do not think we could ever fully replace the existence of trainers in the fitness experience. Live instructors generate more enthusiasm than any virtual instructor. 
Q: What are the company’s expectations for the coming years?

A: We want to continue helping in the development of a wellness culture in Mexico. When we started, only 1.8 percent of the Mexican population was an active user of sports facilities and there were no more than 3,000 sports facilities in the country. According to our 2017 survey, there are 12,700 sports facilities in the country, with almost 4.2 million users; this means that more than 3 percent of the Mexican population uses these facilities. 
We believe that the industry has a great deal of potential. After 15 years in business, we are impacting between 80,000 and 100,000 people weekly. We are present in over 300 sports facilities and we work with 37 national and transnational companies helping them create and develop their wellness programs, delivering thousands of life-transforming experiences to their employees. We are optimistic that these numbers can easily grow. We have transformed into a strategic partner for big companies, gyms, sports clubs and sports facilities. We have helped them attract and engage both the best talent and members through our portfolio, showing them that their most strategic partner is Body Systems.