Why We Charge Employees $5 For A Gym Membership

When Erik and Kevin first decided to add gym membership as an employee benefit they realized there were a couple of ways of handling it. One way was they could let their employees choose the gym they wanted to join and submit for reimbursement every month. Another way was employees could use the company's credit card number to sign up at the gym of their choosing. They figured out it would be too much administrative work and they wanted something simpler. In the end they decided to choose one gym - the OneLife gym near the office. It's the gym that Erik was a member of. He worked something out with the sales manager to let him know that employees could sign up at that gym and Array Digital would pay for it. They decided they would pay the signing fee for each employee who wanted to join and the monthly membership fee for each employee, which is about $30 a month. While the company pays for two-thirds of the monthly membership Erik still has the employee contribute $5 per paycheck towards their membership. The reason for this is that he wants them to have some skin in the game. He finds that employees value their membership more if they contribute part of their paycheck to the monthly dues and they are more likely to use it. It's also more likely that they will cancel the membership themselves if they’re not using it, cutting down on unnecessary spending for the company. Erik recommends handling most employee benefits this way. When an employee is contributing part of their pay toward their benefits, especially something like a gym membership, they are more likely to value it and use it. We value employees’ health and fitness at Array Digital; that's why a gym membership is one of the benefits we provide. — Erik J. Olson is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. The Founder & CEO of Array Digital, he is also the host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups. — Kevin Daisey is an award-winning digital marketer & entrepreneur. He started his first company when he was just 23, and is the Founder & CMO of Array Digital. Kevin is also the co-host of the Journey to $100 Million Flash Briefing and daily podcast, and the co-organizer of the Marketers Anonymous monthly meetups. — For more information on the show, and to check out past episodes, go to journeyto100million.com!