I was having lunch with some friends last week and one friend was asking about any research or studies that show that an exercise program for a company can have any benefit to its employees. I remembered a few articles that I had read several years ago that demonstrated that there were some studies from companies with fitness programs and the results of their efforts. It seems that a company with as few as four employees to a large corporation can show benefits in several ways.
Some of this information may be a little out of date as the articles were almost 10 years ago. But I imagine the results will be the same today as it was 10 years ago. A few of the examples of studies on companies showed that exercise or fitness programs not only helped the employees fitness it also made some financial gains for the company. Northern Gas offered employees a fitness program and found that the employee that took advantage of the program had 80% fewer sick days. General Electric’s aircraft division found that when they offered a fitness program medical claims for enrolled fitness employees dropped 27%. In contrast those employees that did not take advantage of the fitness program had an increase in medical claims of 17%. Coca-Cola found that employees in their fitness program saved the company about $500 per employee on health care claims. That is a substantial financial gain for a company.
When a company figures an 80% fewer missed days of work, a 27% decrease in medical claims, and saving $500 less in health care programs for members of fitness programs all mean substantial savings. All in all the “boss” is making money on offering fitness programs. While the initial cost of adding fitness equipment and maybe time off for a run at lunch time the investment paid dividends.
