We’ve all done it. The eye-roll and the, “oh no, here they come…”

You’re either at a rest stop on your way to somewhere that requires hours in the car, or you’re already at your destination, such as a public area or landmark in Washington D.C. Sure enough, here comes the hoard of matching colors. It’s a group of people, in many cases children, that are loud, animated, and full of excitement.

While we outsiders may roll our eyes at these types of groups, these individuals do not care. In fact, they don’t even see us. They’re wearing invisible lenses that filter away any outside judgment and display their wide, excited eyes. They’ve been looking forward to this event for months and can remember viewing the early stages of the t-shirt designs through a computer screen. They are now thrilled to finally have the opportunity to represent what they’re a part of, and they’ll make their presence known because today is their day.

Our day was September 20, 2016. We held our first quarterly “Viventium Under the Stars” event in Central Park. “Under the Stars” events are our way of getting our employees to get up, get out, get together, and get active. While we were definitely that sea of purple walking around the park at dusk, we did not care. We were proud and excited to be out representing our brand.

We were guided through a series of pre-designed work-out stations by Certified Personal Trainer, Meghan Trainor (no, not the singer, and yes, it is pretty cool how her last name really does accurately reflect her profession). It was an awesome night, and it was fun spending time with everybody and challenging ourselves with yoga poses, lunges, push-ups, jumping jacks, and other body weight exercises Meghan came up with. It felt almost like a celebration, and I guess in a way it was. We were celebrating all the hard work everybody put in to make this brand possible- celebrating the pride we have to be part of this growing HCM company with the best software in the industry. It was fitting that during this celebration we were also doing hard work by exercising because it reflects the mentality of this company.

So, there we were, a sea of matching purple shirts and smiling faces completing our hour and a half work out. As we finished our night at the Tavern on the Green, I started thinking about how I’ve seen those groups of matching shirts before, and how I have once again become part of one(since my eighth grade Washington D.C. field trip). Maybe your company will host a similar wellness initiative and you’ll end up getting all philosophical about it as I did. Or, instead, maybe you’ll just enjoy it and look forward to adding a new t-shirt to your collection.

This information is for educational purposes only, and not to provide specific legal advice. This may not reflect the most recent developments in the law and may not be applicable to a particular situation or jurisdiction.