By Mika Leah, CEO and Founder of Goomi Group
TL;DR: Is your employee benefit plan a ghost town? This article compares passive video libraries against interactive corporate fitness solutions to explain why engagement fails. Discover how switching to live, community-driven classes creates accountability and significantly boosts wellness program participation compared to static on-demand apps.
You know that sinking feeling? You just bought a shiny new wellness program for your employees. Everyone rolled out with good intentions. And then… crickets.
The video library sits there. The app collects digital dust. Your participation rates look more like a ghost town than a thriving community. You’re left wondering: did we just throw money at a problem that doesn’t actually solve itself?
Here’s the thing—you’re not alone, and it’s not actually about your employees being lazy or ungrateful. The issue is almost always about the program itself
The Difference Between Ghost Towns and Group Classes
There are basically two types of virtual fitness programs out there, and they create wildly different outcomes.
Low-engagement programs typically rely on a single engagement strategy: on-demand content. You buy a library of videos, add an app, send a company-wide email, and the engagement strategy ends there. These work fine as a supplementary tool—and Goomi actually offers a robust on-demand library for employees who need flexibility. But on-demand alone? There’s no built-in accountability, no community, no real-time feedback. So people try a few videos, don’t feel connected to anything or anyone, and quietly stop logging in. The traditional corporate fitness approach often defaults to this model, and the participation data reflects it.
High-engagement programs flip the script entirely. These are live, interactive, and built around community. Real instructors teaching real classes where cameras are on (or at least encouraged to be on). People see each other. There’s accountability—not the guilt-trip kind, but the “I’m showing up because my coworkers are counting on me” kind. There’s real-time feedback from instructors. There’s a culture of showing up that actually means something. The difference in participation rates and long-term retention is night and day.
According to research from SHRM, employee engagement strategies that incorporate social interaction and live community elements see significantly higher sustained participation compared to passive, on-demand alternatives.
Harvard Business Review’s research on habit formation shows that social accountability—the presence of others—is one of the strongest predictors of whether people maintain new behaviors long-term. That’s not a coincidence. It’s psychology. Humans are wired for connection. When you create the conditions for actual connection—live interaction, real people, and shared experience—people will actually show up.
Why Live, Interactive Fitness Actually Works
Let me break down the mechanics of why this matters.
Accountability is the first piece. When you know someone else is waiting for you in a virtual room, you’re way more likely to sign up and actually log on. It’s not about judgment. It’s about being part of something. That shifts participation from “optional” to “I’m a person who does this.”
Community building is the second. Seeing the same faces week after week, learning someone’s name, maybe even joking around with people from accounting—that’s what keeps people coming back. They’re not just doing fitness. They’re doing it with people they work with. You can extend this through team channels, group messages on social media, or private community boards where people share wins and cheer each other on. That connection is what transforms a wellness program from a health initiative into a healthy habit that sticks.
Real-time feedback matters too. An instructor can see you. They can adjust form, offer modifications, and celebrate your team’s effort. That’s completely different from recording yourself doing squats in your home office with zero feedback loop. It creates engagement in the moment, not the “watch a video when you feel like it” version.
One of our clients, a mid-sized tech company with about 400 employees, came to us with participation rates that hovered around 8% with their old video library model. They were frustrated—they’d invested in the program, but it wasn’t landing. Within six months of switching to live, interactive virtual team building fitness classes with camera-on culture, they hit 35% active participation. Why? Because people actually knew each other in the class. They had accountability partners, which made them feel like they were part of something real, not just consuming content in a vacuum.
Here’s the Part HR Actually Needs: The Data
All of this matters because you need to report back to leadership. And leadership needs to see: participation data, engagement metrics, and ROI proof.
High-engagement programs give you that. You should be tracking participation rates (which classes are people actually joining), attendance consistency (who’s showing up week after week), and engagement quality (are they actively participating or just showing up on mute). You’re also tracking outcomes beyond just attendance—whether people report feeling more energized, if there’s interest in fitness challenges that support weight loss goals, and how health metrics shift over time.
HR reporting tools matter here. You need a platform that gives you real-time dashboards showing: who’s attending, which classes have the highest retention, what the average class size is, and trends over time. This data answers the question your CFO will ask: “Are people actually using this?”
When you’re comparing programs, ask the vendors: What’s your average participation rate? What’s your active user retention rate after 30 days? 60 days? What data can you pull for my executive team? The answers tell you everything.
Generic video libraries often can’t even answer these questions. Live, interactive programs track it because it’s built into the culture. You’re not trying to guess if people are engaged—you can literally see who’s in the room.
What Separates Quality Programs from the Rest
Here’s where I get a little opinionated: not all virtual fitness is created equal.
A platform that simply streams pre-recorded workouts and calls it “live” is missing the point entirely. True quality comes from:
- Certified, experienced instructors who teach live (not recordings of past classes). They should have real fitness credentials and actual experience with corporate audiences.
- Variety in class format so people can find what actually works for them—strength training, flexibility work like range of motion training, cardio, and mindfulness. Different employees need different things.
- Engagement design built into the class itself, not bolted on as an afterthought. This means interactive elements, real-time adjustments, and a culture that makes people want to keep coming back. Gamification in wellness works when it’s built naturally—leaderboards, streak tracking, achievement badges—but only if it feels motivating, not punishing.
- Community features outside the class itself—accountability partners, wellness challenges, fitness challenges that extend the experience beyond the 30 or 45-minute class time.
- Accessibility in design, which means modified options are built in, not treated like exceptions. Someone’s recovering from injury? Pregnant? New to fitness? The program should meet them where they are.
The companies that are actually solving this problem aren’t buying generic video libraries. They’re partnering with programs built specifically for corporate environments—programs that understand that remote team connection through fitness is a different thing than what an individual does in their spare time.
The Bottom Line
When you’re evaluating whether to upgrade your wellness program or you’re wondering why your current one isn’t working, the answer almost always comes down to engagement design.
Low engagement = passive consumption. High engagement = active participation with real community and accountability.
Your team doesn’t need more fitness content. They need a reason to actually show up. That reason is connection, consistency, and the knowledge that someone else is counting on them to be there.
At Goomi Group, we’ve built our approach around solving exactly this problem. We offer both live, interactive wellness courses designed specifically for corporate environments, and a supplementary on-demand library for employees who need flexibility. The difference is in how we combine them—live fitness is the anchor that builds community and accountability, and on-demand is the backup option when people can’t make the live class. Together, they drive the kind of sustained engagement that actually changes participation rates.
If you’re curious about how this translates to measurable business outcomes and what it looks like in practice, our HR and benefits page walks through what’s offered, the engagement metrics and how companies are using this approach to transform their wellness programs.
That’s the difference between a ghost town and a thriving group class.
Frequently Asked Questions: Increasing Engagement in Virtual Fitness Programs
- How much participation can we realistically expect from a live, interactive fitness program?
Most organizations see active participation rates between 25-40% with well-designed live fitness programs. This is significantly higher than the 5-15% typical of passive video library models. The key is consistent scheduling and building community from day one.
- What data should we track to measure success?
Track four main metrics: active participation rate (percent of employees joining classes regularly), attendance consistency (how often participants return), class variety usage (which fitness challenges and strength training formats are popular), and employee motivation/satisfaction (survey feedback). This gives you both quantitative proof and qualitative insight.
- How does live fitness compare to gym membership subsidies?
 Live, interactive virtual fitness has lower barriers to entry (no commute, no self-consciousness), creates natural accountability through group participation, and builds remote team connection. Gym subsidies often go unused. Many companies are finding live fitness classes work better for employee engagement and cost significantly less. (Read more about corporate fitness alternatives to membership subsidies.)
- Can we make wellness challenges work without a video library behind it?
Yes. In fact, live fitness challenges and wellness challenges built around interactive classes create better participation and healthier long-term habits than static content. The accountability partner element of group classes naturally extends into accountability for the challenge itself.
- How do we get the camera-on culture to actually work?
Start by making it optional but normalized. Leadership should participate visibly. Instructors can explain that seeing faces helps them teach better and helps people feel connected (which is true). Most people feel more connected when cameras are on, which drives healthier habits and stronger community. It usually takes 3-4 weeks to become cultural norm
About the Author: Mika Leah is the Founder and CEO of Goomi Group, where she combines her passion for wellness with a talent for making healthy living accessible and fun. When she’s not helping companies transform their wellness programs, you might find her practicing what she preaches – usually with a green smoothie in one hand and a spreadsheet of ROI calculations in the other.