IRVINE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As part of Mental Health Awareness Month in May, Hyperice, a global high-performance wellness brand, today announced the next step in the brand’s commitment to mental wellness to help individuals be at their best holistically at home and in the office through a new, innovative pilot study aimed at identifying, developing, and leading new pathways towards building mentally healthy workplaces.
In response to the ongoing mental health crisis fueled by the events of the last two years and beyond, Hyperice has developed a new hands-on approach to addressing mental health care through the use of Core, Hyperice’s data-driven product for meditation, breathwork, and mental skills training. Through a collaboration with organizations spanning multiple industries, Hyperice is unveiling a mission-driven and uniquely designed mental wellness program to be utilized amongst colleagues at the workplace, a location that is oftentimes the catalyst of generating stress and presenting challenges to balancing one’s overall mental health. The announcement comes at a time when 80-percent of the workforce in America claims to experience stress in the workplace, with nearly half saying that they needed to learn how to manage stress1.
ONE MILLION STRONG BY 2024
The announcement reinforces Hyperice’s commitment to mental wellness as a critical pillar to overall health, performance, recovery and self-care. Hyperice believes that an employee’s holistic wellbeing as a human first and foremost should be a priority of any organization, and showcases the program’s goal to measurably improve an individual’s resilience to stress, reduction in anxiety, and improvement in mental strength. As the program continues to grow, Hyperice’s goal is to measurably impact one million employee participants by 2024.
“When we added Core to the Hyperice family in 2021, it was a message to the world that we believed in a holistic approach to wellness through one’s body and mind,” said Hyperice CEO Jim Huether. “We wanted to be able to deliver a tangible tool - something that the user can literally feel a physical connection to - to help achieve an improved state of mental wellness and mindfulness. Hyperice has a world-class reputation for helping athletes be at their best. Now, through the utilization of Core, and this unique program, we can help individuals not only achieve that holistic approach to their own wellbeing, but offer a platform centered around their most important muscle - their mind.”
Watch - Core: A Modern Approach to Meditation
“The events of the past two years have been universally challenging to everyone's mental health. Not only has this left a lasting impact on employees in the workplace, but return-to-office timelines are adding an additional level of anxiety,” said Hyperice Head of Mind Technologies, Sarah McDevitt. “Employees are looking to prioritize their mental well-being and are asking their employers to help. Leaders across all sectors are looking beyond their benefits checklist to support their teams in a deeper, more engaged way. For an organization, it's a better investment to develop a proactive approach to employee stress than to reactively manage employee burnout. As we inch closer to being on the other side of the pandemic, it was important to Hyperice to lead the way as many employees transition back into some type of traditional in-office work setting.”
COMMITMENT TO EMPLOYEE MENTAL HEALTH
Between 2019 and 2021, surges in employees leaving their jobs due to mental health reasons occurred, with an 18-percent increase among Millennials (68-percent in 2021) and a six-percent increase among Gen-Z (81-percent in 2021)2.
The program asks employers to build time into their employee’s work schedules for meditation training and practices. Studies have shown that just five minutes a day of breathing, reflection and tension release can lead to decreased stress levels and increased productivity3. The communal component of the program is an intentional and critical element to help combat the feeling of isolation for employees, a major contributor to the current mental health crisis. Each participating organization’s program was customized individually to meet the needs of their employees through consultations by Hyperice.
Over the next 12 months, the biometric data collected through the use of Core by Hyperice during the meditation sessions, in addition to participant feedback, will help Hyperice and these forward-thinking companies identify what measurably improves mental wellness in the workplace, and what can be done to continually improve the employee workplace experience.
A key quantitative metric to the study will be measuring participants’ heart rate variability (HRV). HRV is a key metric to one’s nervous system balance, and workplace settings often leave employees in an elevated stress state4. Through regular meditation sessions during the workday, Core by Hyperice will be able to track an individual’s HRV over time to show the effectiveness of implementing these mindfulness practices into the workday, and in a setting that can heighten angst.
“A key component of this program is having companies agree to integrating this into the work day,” added McDevitt. “Rather than asking employees to deal with work-related stress on their own time, we’re asking companies and leaders to shift the approach to ‘how can we help deal with work-related stress through work’. The biometric data generated through the program is going to help companies concretely create a new roadmap to improve their workforce. We are uniquely positioned to help change the daily workplace experience for millions of workers through our technology.”
McDevitt continued: “It’s easy for organizations to provide access to an app, which was a great first step several years ago but garners limited engagement and thus limited impact. By blending it into the workday and incorporating a tangible tool with meaningful health data, we are able to help companies build camaraderie, shift organizational culture positively, and impact individuals directly, reducing stress levels and making it easier to focus. Imagine if everyone you work with meditated today? It's a positive cycle that builds on itself over time – easier productivity at work, reduced stress brought into personal lives, improved sleep – Hyperice is committed to being at the forefront of an enhanced approach to mental wellness through products, services and programs that deliver real results.”
STRENGTH IN DIVERSITY
The cross sections of industries taking part in the program include public sector and healthcare agencies such as the Seattle Office of Civil Rights and Select Medical, consumer product brands such as Gatorade and Madhappy, professional sports organizations such as Spurs Sports & Entertainment, which owns and operates the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs, the UFC and the PGA TOUR, technology brands such as WHOOP, and fitness companies such as Equinox. A full list of companies in the first round of pilots can be found here.
“Mental health is more important than ever. At Gatorade, ensuring our team feels supported and valued is integral to our business environment,” said Brett O’Brien, SVP and General Manager of Gatorade. “We are proud to partner with Hyperice to bring their Core technology to our employee base.”
“Our mission at Equinox is to help our teams and members maximize the potential within themselves,” said Julia Klim, VP of Strategic Partnerships at Equinox. “Prioritizing mental wellness is essential in high-performance living, throughout the workday and beyond. We look forward to partnering with Hyperice on this program to reinforce our shared commitment in supporting our community.”
“A holistic and proactive approach to employee wellness in the workplace is imperative,” said Brandon Gayle, Chief Operating Officer for Spurs Sports & Entertainment. “We’re proud to be a part of this corporate wellness initiative and create an environment that gives our employees access to the tools, training and dedicated time during the workday to care for their mental well-being.”
“We care for more than 97,000 patients daily across our national post-acute care continuum. Our mission is one of healing and that extends to maintaining the mental wellness of our 50,000 employees who dedicate their lives to serving others,” said David S. Chernow, President and Chief Executive Officer of Select Medical. “We are thrilled to join the Hyperice Corporate Alliance and take part in the groundbreaking Core study that will further shape how companies can foster a mentally healthy workplace.”
To learn more about integrating proactive mindfulness practices into your organization, please reach out at core@hyperice.com. Core by Hyperice is available at Hyperice.com, Best Buy, Bloomingdale's, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Target.
About Hyperice
Hyperice is a technology-driven company with a giant mission, to help everyone on Earth move and live better. For more than a decade, Hyperice has led a global movement at the confluence of recovery and wellness, specializing in percussion (Hypervolt line), dynamic air compression (Normatec line), vibration (Vyper and Hypersphere lines), thermal technology (Venom line), mind technology (Core by Hyperice) and contrast therapy (Hyperice X). Now, as a holistic high-performance wellness brand, Hyperice is designed for all - from the most elite athletes, leagues and teams to consumers everywhere looking to unlock the best version of themselves to help them do what they love, more. Recognized as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, Hyperice has applied its technology and know-how to industries including fitness, hospitality, healthcare, massage, physical therapy, sports performance and workplace wellness on a global scale. Hyperice’s transformative acquisitions of Normatec, RecoverX and Core have helped to accelerate its innovation agenda as it enters its next stage of global growth. For more information, visit the newly redesigned hyperice.com.
1 American Institute of Stress
2 Mindshare Partners’ 2021 Mental Health at Work Report
3 Arizona State University Thunderbird School of Global Management
4 American Psychological Association
