The confinement of the modern workplace can be a limiting factor for employee fitness and health. Typical working days can trap employees behind a desk for around eight hours, thus leaving little time for daily exercise. Despite this challenge, it is a worthwhile goal for employers to keep their employees fit because of the potential benefits it provides. Japanese working culture has long embraced the value of keeping a fit and healthy workforce, even going as far as introducing compulsory ‘flab checks’ for employees over 40, and fining companies that fail to keep employees in good shape. This is not to say that all companies should enforce similar harsh rules, but the reasons behind them are clear: to help prevent obesity and cardiovascular diseases, in addition to keeping a healthy, fit and productive workforce.
Creating a healthy working environment can boost morale and performance, as well as keep employees happy and motivated through the endorphins produced by frequent exercising. More obvious benefits include employees taking less sick days, and reducing costs for accidents and work-related ill health. Companies may also earn a positive reputation and public image by enforcing a work culture that aims to promote employee fitness and wellbeing.
A number of companies, including Google, have already taken steps to combat unfitness in the workplace by setting up fitness centres in their facilities, or by offering subsidised gym memberships to employees. These solutions can go a long way to help employees who cannot find the time to exercise during work weeks, or those who are discouraged by costly gym memberships. However, despite being an ideal solution to encourage fitness, building exercise facilities may not be a realistic solution for most companies, especially small businesses who cannot afford it. As an alternative, some businesses may instead opt to hire a personal trainer as a more cost-efficient solution, who can then lead group exercises in the workplace; this can be anything from intensive cardio exercises to dance classes.
Most companies can make use of smaller steps to build up an employee fitness programme, such as positioning printers or water coolers farther away from the desks, or setting up multiple workspaces around an office. These steps may appear insignificant, but they can go a long way to create an environment where employees are encouraged to walk around more within their office space. Companies may also promote healthy diets by keeping fresh fruit in the office and setting up fridges to allow employees to bring in their own homemade meals. While these small solutions may not exactly count for their weekly exercise, they may have the potential to encourage them to take their own steps in pursuing a healthy lifestyle outside of their work lives. Some companies could also go beyond these steps by assembling a company sports team or pushing employees to participate in charity sports events in the local community.
Overall, there are numerous approaches that companies can take to boost employee fitness, but their suitability varies from business to business. Not every business can be expected to pay for a dedicated exercise facility, but every company can engage in steps to encourage employees to keep themselves fit. Despite the costs, it may be worth it to help keep their workforce happy.
Edward Mah
Sources:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200401/keeping-workers-and-companies-fit
http://fitforwork.org/employer/benefits-of-a-healthy-workforce/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/mar/19/japan
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-its-time-we-paid-employees-to-exercise-at-work-2015-3?IR=T