The MAX Burgers organisation operates in four different countries, with 200 restaurants and four offices. MAX Burgers is continuously growing, thanks to their corporate culture and what they call the ‘MAX spirit’, two essential components in maintaining a workforce focused on health and sustainability.
Writer: Sirin Ariason.
Read: 5 min.
Sirin Ariason is Head of Internal Communications, MAX.
Sustainability itself is a cornerstone for MAX as an organisation. This includes the company’s focus on the environment in general as well as the individual staff members being able to sustain themselves in the long run with better health. Healthy workers with healthy lifestyles are a key component for a sustainable business, according to Sirin Ariason, Head of Internal Communications at MAX. She tells us:
“Like a lot of other companies, we were left feeling a bit tender after the pandemic. So, we wanted to bring back a feeling of togetherness between our employees and of course, we wanted to help them improve their health. So, we came up with MAX Motivation, a team activity using We+.”
Maximum effort behind the app
Sirin had come into contact with We+ before via a previous employer and she saw for herself what an uplifting and positive effect it had, not just on individuals but across the workplace.
“On top of the benefits it brought, working with the We+ team was just so smooth and easy. You can really feel their passion for people’s health and well-being, and it’s very contagious! When I started working at MAX, I really wanted to start working with We+ again”, Sirin says.
Worked out at least 2/week
81% of the participants worked out at least twice a week. 38% were working out once a week or less before MAX Motivation began.
Increased level of exercise
On average, they worked out 4.1 times a week and the participants worked out on average 70% more than they had done before taking part.
Physical activity
Average minutes of physical activity per week for the group that started as physically inactive: 224 min.
Simple planning with no problems
This previous experience gave Sirin a good understanding of what was needed before and during the team activity. We+ does most of the setting up and rolling out, and Sirin’s most important task was explaining how simple the tool was to her colleagues and then getting them excited about joining in.
“A lot of the planning and preparation work was actually already done thanks to the communications templates and tools that We+ provides. We also had the app individually adapted to our own MAX design. Then it was just a matter of adapting and adjusting the content to suit our tonality. Then it was all systems go!” Sirin adds.
“We managed to get a lot of people involved who either hardly ever got any exercise or who got no exercise at all”
/Sirin Ariason
Participation started slow and then exploded
According to Sirin, involvement was fairly slow to begin with, but once they started sharing the results on Teams and at ‘Town hall meetings’, everybody became very competitive. Everyone encouraged each other and participation went up very quickly.
During the team activity, which they named MAX Motivation, the staff encouraged each other with more than 42,000 likes, comments, photos and videos. On average, they worked out 4.1 times a week and the participants worked out on average 70% more than they had done before taking part.
81% of the participants worked out at least twice a week. 38% were working out once a week or less before MAX Motivation began but there was only 8% left in this group while the activity was going on.
“We managed to get a lot of people involved who either hardly ever got any exercise or who got no exercise at all. The participants exercised on average for 264 minutes a week, which is much more than even the WHO’s strict recommendation of 150 minutes for a healthy lifestyle. We really felt like we were helping our staff to become more robust, but above all we saw the dedication and positivity, which are so important to health and performance at work”, Sirin adds.
Ready for the next challenge
Once MAX Motivation had reached its target, a lot of people were asking when the next round was going to be. The group directors at MAX are very interested in seeing future formats, where the workers’ activity will be directly connected to charity – dedicated staff contributing to a sustainable world. Sirin concludes:
“We’re happy to confirm that we witnessed maximum involvement and the activity was a massive success, which we’ll definitely be bringing back. I really want to send a huge ’thank you’ to the whole team at We+ for their dedication, encouragement, and tireless efforts towards making everyone healthier.”