Peloton is partnering with businesses to bring smart bikes to offices

Peloton is opening up a new corporate wellness program in the hopes of bringing its lineup of smart exercise equipment to offices, the company announced today. The program will be open to businesses in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Germany, and will be available in Australia at some point later this year.

Peloton’s press release about the new program focuses on the company’s goal to make the smart bike experience “more accessible.” Much like the many corporate partnerships available through traditional gyms, Peloton’s program will offer subsidized access to fitness equipment and membership perks. The company is also promising special features for teams like group exercises and team tagging to “help teammates bond while also forging great fitness habits.”

The actual efficacy of a Peloton-branded corporate wellness program has yet to be proven; only a few companies (including Samsung and Wayfair) have signed up thus far. Peloton had better hope the program is attractive enough to boost sales, after the company’s most recent scandals.

Total access, if you want it — The exact financial terms of the corporate wellness program have not yet been disclosed by Peloton. In return for corporate funds, businesses will be able to choose which Peloton products they’d like to offer to employees.

As a fitness company with both software and hardware offerings, Peloton is uniquely poised as an exercise solution for post-pandemic working situations. Companies can offer Peloton bike access to those in the office and app access to those working from home. That hybrid model will likely be a big pull for companies to get on board with the program.

Time to get creative — Peloton has had a rough few months, to put it lightly. Back in April, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission warned that Peloton’s Tread+ was not at all safe for use around young children or pets. As if the video of a child literally being sucked beneath a running treadmill wasn’t horrifying enough, Peloton’s response was somehow worse: the company decided not to recall it.

Well, until the backlash hit a little too hard, and then Peloton did recall the death trap. And then, the very same day, news broke that virtually anyone could, until recently, access Peloton users’ private data. And all this on top of the fact that Peloton could barely deliver enough of its bikes and treadmills to everyone who’d ordered them during lockdown.

So it’s no surprise Peloton is in the market for some new customers and working to distract from its missteps. Corporate partnerships that lend themselves to hybrid work models could do precisely that.