The 11:00 a.m. spinning class is just starting up as instructor Sandy Colvin prepares the group for their 45 minute workout. She dims the lights in the room and the sound of music fills the air.
"As always the first song is the warm up song we’re just going to be warming up no tension on the bike at all this is your opportunity to make sure you’ve got everything adjusted the way you want it but no tension on the bike at all. First song is the warm up song."
The fitness room has mirrors on all four walls and is similar to a workout room that you would find at health club. Except this health club is in the basement of National Life in Montpelier.
The spinning class is one of many exercise options at National Life. During the course of the week there’s Zumba, Core Training, Stretch and Flex, and Yoga. Outside there are walking and running trails, and volleyball and basketball courts. There are locker rooms with showers and there’s even a personal trainer in the weight room.
Mark Bates is the Director of Market Conduct and Compliance and he also teaches two spinning classes a week. He says 40 percent of National Life’s 700 employees participate in one of the wellness activities largely because the company strongly supports this program.
"The great thing is that National Life really encourages the managers to allow their employees to take this time to do this," said Bates. "So we do see really good participation. I mean we have probably more classes than some small health clubs."
And Bates says it’s clear that these programs have many benefits.
"People do tell me I’m so much more productive the second half of the day when I do this. Clears my head," said Bates. "I know personally when I’m out exercising I’ll think of solutions to things that I’ve been trying to work on that may have been bugging me for the last couple of days. It gets that different part of your brain working while you get to shut down the analytical part."
Because National Life self insures its health care coverage, Bates says there’s also an economic incentive to the company.
"It’s for our own benefit as well. Our people that are exercising are healthier- will probably be using medical services less."
Just down the hall from the fitness class is a workout room filled with treadmills, cross trainers and stair climbers.
Darcie Roberts is the director of Records, Print and Mail at National Life. It’s a division that has roughly 60 employees.
"Managers, me being one of them I want employees to do this. I want somebody to be healthy because then they come back from their 45 minutes and they’re more upbeat. You know stress is reduced."
Roberts is also the chair of the LIFE committee. It stands for "lifestyle improvement for employees." She’s working on ways to encourage more people to join the program:
"One of my goals every year is just to get the people that maybe you know they’re just more of a couch potato and want to try things so that’s why we do different incentives and different contests just to get people going," said Roberts. "I’ve been here 26 years so I’ve seen the progression you can really see it catches on and it seems like more and more people are getting out and walking and being healthy."
Roberts says there’s also a benefit to have entry level employees working out right next to the company’s top managers:
"It makes everybody realize that no matter what level you are you’re still real. It just like the whole star thing sometimes you think of your CEO of somebody up here that is a little bit different than you because he’s the CEO and you realize no he’s not we’re all the same."
Many wellness participants use the stairs to go back to work and National Life pipes music into the stairwells to make this experience more enjoyable.
Company officials say there is no question that this wellness program has been a huge success and they hope to expand it in the future.