I don’t always quote tweet Matt Charney, but this was a good one:
Indeed. Companies do buffoon-ish PR stuff all the time, typically around diversity but also often around wellness, and they spend money on gym membership discounts and Suunto watches and whatever else, but like … at the end of the day, most people want a job and a source of income. That’s important in a first-world capitalism. It helps you deal with a lot of other stuff. I’ve had pockets and periods where I’ve been laid off or don’t have a lot of work coming in, and honestly those are awful times, and you generally make stupid, self-destructive decisions roughly 6.2 times out of 10. Men, especially, need work and income as a source of purpose. That’s why automation is ultimately so scary.
So like, spend away on discounting my gym membership, but motivation towards the gym is an individual-level thing, and might not be that drastically adjusted by nudges and incentives. The ability to retain in a role, though? Some semblance of job security and not fearing the axe/pipe will come simply because I looked at Janet in Operations a bit wrong for her liking? Now that would help a lot with both physical and mental health.
Got a friend with two kids and she just got a job making about 120K, up about 45K from her last job. She was super excited not for the job or the work or the mission statement or the core values, but because it meant her husband and her could worry less about stuff for a pocket of time. But because it’s a USA-based job, I’d virtually guarantee you it’s at-will, meaning that axe could fall on her head in six months. And even with a fancy fitness track, health will decline in that moment.
So maybe focus more on job security and “retaining top talent” as opposed to, $9 first month gym memberships?
