Lifestyle

Work it!

Krueger

Krueger

FIT TO BE TRIED: Verizon’s gym boasts everything from a Pilates studio to on-site personal trainers.) (
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Dark corners, bathroom stalls, private showers. Those were Lauren Krueger’s only safe havens when she started exercising two years ago at the on-site gym at Verizon’s corporate offices in Basking Ridge, NJ. In theory, having a gym just a short walk from her desk was a perk — but emotionally, it could be stressful.

“I always had weight issues,” confesses the senior analyst, 31. “When I was working out next to these people I work with, it was like, ‘What if I don’t have the same level of fitness that they have? Am I going to be embarrassed?’ Then, when you’ve taken your shower, you’re trying not to like, ‘show’ yourself in front of these people you work with.”

“It’s been a couple of years, and you work through it,” adds the Madison, NJ, resident of how she surmounted her anxieties. “Your comfort level increases.”

The fact Krueger’s lost 50 pounds since 2010 doesn’t hurt, either. She also boasts of higher energy levels and less back pain, and can now be found five days a week at the mammoth 14,000-square-foot gym that’s tricked out with everything from a Pilates studio to a small army of personal trainers. Even high-powered executives such as CEO Lowell McAdam can be found pumping iron in plain sight. Explains Krueger: “They’re like local celebrities in our little universe.”

Verizon is merely one of a number of businesses investing in on-site gyms and classes for their employees. In a 2011/2012 Staying@Work Survey Report, global consulting firm Towers Watson found that 38 percent of American companies offered on-site fitness activities.

“It’s definitely growing,” says Jessica Matthews, an exercise physiologist at the nonprofit organization American Council on Exercise. “Employers are seeing the value of having health initiatives in their buildings. . .especially with the Affordable Care Act coming down soon.” (The federal Affordable Care Act, which goes into effect next year, offers financial incentives and insurance discounts to businesses offering wellness programs.)

Ultimately, a company’s investment is worthless if its gym isn’t conveniently located — or if the fees take a toll on workers’ wallets. Shelly Wolff, Health and Workforce Effectiveness Leader with Towers Watson, has seen these gyms fail for an obvious reason: They’re too unappealing.

“It’s not unlike real estate: location, location, location,” she explains. “Making sure it’s easy to access, private enough so people feel comfortable, and of perceived equal quality of what you would purchase yourself.”

For instance, a month at a Manhattan New York Sports Club can set you back roughly $80, plus a $49 joining fee. Equinox? $188 per month, plus a $250 initiation fee. Krueger’s monthly gym fee: just $15 a month.

Verizon assembled its first on-site gym in 1990. A veritable experiment, it included just one step machine, one treadmill and a couple of floor mats. “There were lines of people waiting to use just that,” says Verizon’s senior health and wellness coordinator Joy Ghanim.

Over the years, the company has expanded their facilities to keep apace with employee demand. “Our goal is to be the happy place,” says Ghanim, “so people have someplace to go to relieve the stress from being at their desks for such a long time. They’re more productive at work.”

And that’s to say nothing of other health benefits. “We know that people who exercise do manage their stress better,” agrees Wolff. “They are generally more healthy. They incur less medical costs. The absenteeism rate should be a lot lower. That’s the research that you see.”

Indeed. A 2012 presentation from the

UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity suggests adding physical activity to a work day — even something as simple as energy-boosting stretching or “recess” breaks — can reduce work-compensation claims, health care spending and stress.

Studies such as these have even perked ears at the US Department of Labor. Last year, they co-sponsored a paper by the nonprofit Rand Corporation that expressed the necessity for more research into wellness programs, which can include anything from an on-site gym to nutritional guidance.

Employee workouts at the Boston Consulting Group, meanwhile, are decidedly more tight-knit in both location and camaraderie among coworkers, which in itself can provide some much-needed encouragement to get moving. In July, Aniela Williams, a 43-year-old executive assistant, began organizing weekly Insanity Workout sessions at her midtown office.

“A lot of my coworkers noticed that I was running out during lunchtime to work out,” says the Yonkers resident. “But they couldn’t. So they asked me if I could put a small group together after work.”

Though her fitness group isn’t sponsored by BCG, Williams books the company’s conference room after hours with blessings from her bosses, and participants agree to a waiver via e-mail. “Aniela may not be the instructor, but she is definitely the one person who cheers everybody on,” says Melanie Jarzyniecki, a 32-year-old multimedia producer at BCG. “She will motivate people and answer questions and yell and stuff. It gets the rest of us into the workout,” says the Hell’s Kitchen resident.

Word of mouth got around, and so far, 20 people have participated in the sessions. “Because it’s a smaller group of people, we didn’t feel intimidated,” Williams says. “We know each other . . . almost like a family.”

Krueger also shares this feeling when she laces up her sneakers to hit the treadmill. Now, on her way to workouts, “people stop and wave at me because I met them from the gym,” she says. “You encourage each other. You identify with one another. They all know I’m the Zumba girl.”

Inventiveness is also key for many New York City businesses that don’t have the luxury of space. For instance, Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., boasts several fitness centers and exercise studios (including spinning and dance studios), a full outdoor sporting complex — and they’re about to build a pool there, too. But the tech giant has to be more creative with how it uses space in its New York City offices. They built a small fitness area with workout equipment, but emphasize classes in a group exercise studio. There, they host 19 classes a week, all free, including Pilates, yoga, kickboxing, barre and Zumba.

“It really aligns with our philosophy with trying to lower any barriers to getting physically active,” points out Newton Cheng, a fitness programs manager who oversees a number of Google’s North American offices.

Constructing a gym and paying for full-time staff and maintenance can also prove budget-busting. That’s why some companies are keeping on-site fitness costs down the best way they know how: through outsourcing. Jo Sgmmatto, director of the Yoga at Work program at Manhattan’s nonprofit Integral Yoga Institute, works with companies that want to maximize productivity while minimizing costs. One class with Integral Yoga sets a company back anywhere between just $150 and $250, depending on how many classes it schedules.

Her instructors have been dispatched to conference rooms of such high-powered companies as the New York Stock Exchange and law firm Stroock & Stroock & Lavan. “We try to teach a very simple form of yoga that everyone can do,” Sgmmatto says. “We’ll have a huge range of body types and ages and levels of fitness.”

“The biggest challenge is people have difficulty being quiet,” she says. “There are people that have trouble keeping their eyes closed. They fidget.”

Disciplining her corporate pupils can be tricky. “I don’t know if the person taking the yoga is the one who can cut the program,” Sgmatto says. “We are sensitive to that.”

Even though worksite workouts are getting more creative, Krueger thinks the end game should be simple: “I’ve been a Weight Watchers member for a long time, and that alone could not do it for me,” says Krueger, who also consults with a workplace nutritionist and personal trainer.

“People say they don’t have time,” she adds. “But you know what I say to them? ‘Maybe you should think about how you can make it work and prioritize: Don’t you want to be healthy?”