Do most employees feel awkward about working out in the gym next to their boss? Probably, admits Nemo Acimovic, the general manager of the Millennium Corniche hotel in Abu Dhabi. He once invited his department heads to join him on his daily workouts in his hotel’s gym. “There’s only been one that was game – once,” he admits.
Nonetheless, Mr Acimovic, from Serbia, is now hoping to enthuse his staff with his own passion for cycling.
“I’ve sent an open invitation to my team to join me down the Yas Marina Circuit track,” he says. “We’ll make a day out of it and hopefully expand it to the rest of the staff too.” Mr Acimovic plans to use the hotel’s bus to get his staff there from the hotel on Khalifa Street, and to rent out bicycles for everybody once there.
“I said to my human resources management, let’s at least fill our bus with staff, so that’s 26 seats. Hopefully we can do this a couple of times a month and have the majority of them experience the track.”
Mr Acimovic cycles at least three times a week in the evenings. But he starts his day at a more leisurely pace, walking his black German shepherd, Maya, around his neighbourhood before hitting the gym for an hour, and then starting work at 8am. His working day finishes at 8pm.
The 46-year-old admits the long working hours can be gruelling, but come with the field he is in.
“Most of the stress comes from timelines and in maintaining or achieving set targets,” says Mr Acimovic. “I could be working on one particular subject and I’m then pushed to deliver something else within a day.”
Not meeting budget expectations also causes Mr Acimovic some worry.
“This could be through things you can’t specifically manage yourself, like the recent effect of low oil prices. The budget is put together a year in advance and if we all had a crystal ball to know what’s going to happen each month, it would be a perfect world. It’s a challenge to fight through it and do your best.”
These types of worries motivate the manager to stay healthy.
“We have very busy schedules, and there’s no better way of relieving the stress than through some serious endorphin challenges,” he says. “The fitter you are, the easier you battle those challenges and you present yourself with more energy. Because of my cycling, I’m definitely more focused, stronger and have more mental clarity.”
But if the hotel manager wants to motivate his staff to get fit, he must always “walk the talk” and take part with them, says Emma White, the founder of Bactive.me, a fitness company which also offers corporate talks and seminars.
“For the message to get through, you need key leaders to be passionate, positive and committed,” she adds. “It takes a certain personality to remind people to look after themselves. Managers that can introduce fun, a competition element and rewards for achieving goals, will have more success as the programme becomes a welcome addition to the work day.”
Mr Acimovic is certainly passionate about cycling, although he didn’t get into “serious cycling” until he was 42, when he was general manager of Le Meridien Abu Dhabi.
The kick-starter was signing up to Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ 2012 charity initiative, The Road to Awareness, which that year entailed a four-day 570 kilometre ride from Chamonix to Monte Carlo.
“I cycled 7,200km that year in the six-month run-up to the challenge,” he says. “Every day I cycled from Le Meridien to Al Shahama and back – a 100km ride.”
Mr Acimovic took up the Starwood charity challenge again in 2014 – this time riding 240km in one day from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea in Jordan. There he encountered three hours of torrential rain.
Cycling on the roads in the Emirates is not without its dangers either. In January 2015, he was cycling from Saadiyat to Yas Island at 4.30am when he fell, hitting the ground at 35km per hour.
“I spent about 10 days in hospital,” he says. “I don’t do any late night or early morning rides any more because it’s not safe in the dark. A little stone on the road is enough to throw you off-balance.”
Cycling is a hobby the whole Acimovic family enjoys too; Mr Acimovic’s wife Vivienne, a personal trainer, joins him on his Friday morning rides and the couple’s sons, ages 12 and nine, cycle around the Yas Track.
But if he is to persuade his staff to get on board, Ms White says any leader introducing a wellness programme should be flexible with working hours and commitments.
“This ensures employees have the time and space for wellness, be that time for exercise, space in their diary to de-stress or a proper lunch break to enjoy a nutritious meal.”
And if Mr Acimovic can’t persuade his employees to join him, he hasn’t ruled out organising trips to the Yas cycling track for his hotel guests. “Perhaps that’s an angle we can work towards,” he says. “I think it’s a good idea to promote fitness to the guests.”
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