As the timer counts down you check out your fellow competitors in the start pen, take a swig of water and mentally prepare yourself for the off. As the seconds countdown, you clip into your bike and build up a head of steam for the inevitably frantic start that sees racers sprint out of the blocks and groups immediately form.
You could be doing a time trial, a criterium, a mountainous classic, or an endurance race that could go on for a couple of hours. The frantic start is an ever-present reality, as is the camaraderie that develops between competitors, especially on the various race leagues that see you up against familiar foes each week.
This is the increasingly popular world of Zwift, where cyclists from around the world plug their bikes into an indoor trainer that powers their avatar around one of many courses in the Zwift world. The platform has proved particularly popular during a pandemic in which exercising outside has not been easy, even for a pursuit as traditionally solitudinous as cycling.
Agile working
Such home-based exercising is especially important now that so many of us are working remotely. It’s been estimated that knowledge workers spend around 75% of their time sitting down, with this sedentary existence resulting in an increased risk of various health problems, including diabetes and heart disease. Indeed, prolonged sitting has also been linked to a decline in mental health.
While previous research has suggested there is no material difference between physical activity levels among remote workers and their office-based peers, a recent survey of remote workers in the UK found that half are moving less frequently than they ordinarily would in the office.
It’s a problem that technology is increasingly striving to fix. For instance, employers have increasingly been given access to wearable devices and gamified platforms as part of corporate wellbeing initiatives. Indeed, recent data from Allied Market Research put the corporate wellness market at around $49.81 billion, although this has suffered during the pandemic as companies have sought to weather the financial storm posed by Covid.
The rise in exergaming
Exergaming has been an increasingly popular part of the rehabilitation process in healthcare but has also been growing in popularity among the general public. A few years ago a team from the University of Manchester conducted an analysis of exergames to understand the benefits for both physical and mental health, with a particular focus on the cognitive improvements such games can bring.
The analysis examined 17 different randomized control trials with nearly 1,000 participants and found that exergaming had a significant impact on the cognition of the participants. What’s more, this boost remained even when the exergamers were only compared with people also undergoing a course of physical therapy.
It’s also increasingly being seen as something that can provide value to a remote workforce that may not have access to more traditional forms of exercise.
“Exergames can help remote workers to overcome many of the barriers associated with location-independent working,” says Coventry University’s Anthony Thompson in Agile Working and Wellbeing in the Digital Age. “For instance, multi-player exergames allow two or more users to move, compete or exercise together regardless of their geographical distance.”
The benefits of a healthy workforce
It’s something that Pierre-Antoine Dusoulier founder and CEO at fintech startup iBanFirst is only too familiar with. As his workforce was sent to their remote offices as a result of Covid restrictions, he and several colleagues turned to Zwift both to get some exercise but also to bond as a team.
“Ordinarily we would have used physical activities to promote team building within iBanFirst,” Pierre-Antoine Dusoulier, CEO and Founder, iBanFirst, told me. “However, due to the pandemic this hasn’t been an option, so we have used technology in a smart way to maintain high levels of employee engagement across all our teams.”
The business benefits of physical activity have long been understood. Not only does poor physical health result in higher levels of employee absences, but there is increasing awareness of the benefits exercise can provide people from a cognitive perspective too.
For instance, Thompson cites research showing a 30% return on investment for employers, while also generating a 10% boost to employee productivity and a significant reduction in employee turnover.
Helping to bond
What is perhaps only just becoming to be appreciated is the bonding potential for exergaming. Recent data from TINYpulse highlights the difficulties many organizations are facing during the pandemic when onboarding new hires as many of the physical activities new recruits go through are not an option, which makes it difficult for new hires to not only appreciate the culture of the business but understand the people they need to connect to in order to make a success of their new role.
This is illustrated by research from Yale highlighting the reduction in professional network size during the pandemic, with this a particular problem for men who rely on physical activities, whether it’s after-work drinks or playing sport to make these connections. The research found that connections among men have fallen by an incredible 30% during the pandemic, with considerable implications for success in the workplace.
“By using a combination of Zwift and Microsoft Teams, we have been able to develop strong bonds with colleagues in a fun way that is good for their wellbeing too,” Dusoulier continues. “What is great about Zwift is that it caters to the activity level that each person is comfortable with – from beginners to advanced riders. The gamification part enhances conversations between employees with topics of conversation including virtual bikes, cycling jerseys, and gaming challenges.”
With organizations struggling to successfully onboard new recruits during the pandemic and a continued desire to promote a healthy workforce, exergaming could be an increasingly viable solution to both challenges.
