Hot under the collar

It’s a warm day on the streets of London: 25 degrees. Men who shouldn’t be wearing shorts, are wearing shorts. Posters telling us to carry bottles of water have been hastily posted around the Tube. And over in LinkedIn’s New Oxford Street offices, things are about to get a darn sight hotter still.

Five times a week, LinkedIn staffers are invited to a session run by Hotpod Yoga. This is no ordinary yoga session. Perhaps predictably, the big difference is that it’s extremely hot: the session instructor inflates a large ‘pod’ inside of which the yoga takes place at a whopping 37 degrees. An average yogi can burn over 700 calories in a 45 minute session.

The Managing Director of Hotpod Yoga, Max Henderson, who I meet in a café in LinkedIn, is a man in demand. In recent months his business – globally unique and patented, he says – has picked up business from seemingly countless wellbeing-conscious companies across the capital and beyond.

He’s had over 250 applications from potential franchisees, and the next chapter for the company will be global expansion. They’re already planning excursions into Australia, South Africa, China and Japan.

‘Many organisations have changed their approach to health and wellbeing in recent years,’ says Henderson. ‘They used to think it was good enough to offer subsidized membership of a gym round the corner, and allow their employees to look after themselves.’ The fact that Hotpod brings the session to the office, rather than vice versa, would seem to be a big reason for their success.

‘Increased engagement’

‘What we offer is good ROI,’ he continues. ‘Not just in terms of flexibility and weight loss, but in terms of mental wellbeing too.’ Henderson says that HotPod surveys have revealed instances where users ‘have had their opinion of their employer turned around’ and acknowledged increased engagement and productivity in their roles.

Are there robust metrics in place? ‘We’re working on those. But generally, employers don’t need a full set of figures to see the benefit.’ Henderson cites the example of a law firm, where the senior partner recognized that avoiding the absence of one partner on a single month’s stress leave would more than pay for a whole year’s yoga programme.

Different organisations – HotPod includes Coca-Cola, Harrods, JPMorgan and Christies among its clients – pass on the service in different ways. Some pay for all of it, whilst others ask employees to pay a subsidized rate to attend.

HotPod says it needs at least three sessions per week per location to make it worthwhile. ‘We keep everything on site,’ says Henderson. ‘Otherwise we’d be rattling round London like a mini UPS.’ A pod, whilst potentially as large as 9m by 7m when inflated, compresses down to the size of a sleeping bag, so keeping it on a client’s premises is rarely problematic.

Tanned and trim

A lunchtime session is beginning at LinkedIn, and I go to look. LinkedIn is one of those organisations where health is taken seriously – they have an onsite gym and exercise studio, and one is rarely more than a shell’s throw from a jar of nuts – and seems to employ more than its fair share of young and beautiful people.

A dozen or so people have assembled for a class run by Charlie, the instructor allocated to the LinkedIn HotPod account. (‘We match instructors to company culture,’ says Henderson.) There’s a refreshing mix of boys and girls limbering up. All look tanned and trim, and I suspect none has ever been for a fag break in their lives.

Richard has sometimes taken advantage of the early morning, 7.30am yoga session. ‘It’s good to get in before the working day starts, and feel like you’re beginning with an accomplishment,’ he says coolly.

Ngaire agrees that the sessions are also effective social glue. ‘You get to connect with people from other departments,’ she says, ‘and and have a natter in the changing rooms afterwards’. (Office showers, whilst not essential, are very useful when it comes to hosting one of these perspiration-inducing sessions.)

As a director, does Ngaire ever feel self-conscious about practicing yoga with colleagues? ‘No, not at all. It’s so dark in there, and there are no mirrors. You just focus on yourself, escape into a calm place and concentrate on getting your legs into funny positions.’

Afterwards, they claim, they will return to work full of vitality, rather than half-asleep. ‘It’s not soporific at all,’ insists Henderson. ‘The sweat makes it energising.’

About the author

Andrew Baird

Andrew is the CEO of HRville. He is also Employer Brand Director of Blackbridge Communications, Editorial Director of Professionals in Law and an associate of The Smarty Train. Previously, he was the MD of TCS Advertising.