subject: Corporate Fitness: Just a Buzzword or does it have Benefits? [print this page] Corporate Fitness: Just a Buzzword or does it have Benefits?
With more and more businesses offering employee and workplace wellness programs as part of their benefits package, one can't help but question if corporate fitness is nothing but a buzzword, a trend in passing which will soon be replaced by another fancier HR perk?
Not really, if a survey conducted by the American Council on Exercise (ACE), the country's leading authority on fitness, it to be believed.
According to the ACE survey, corporate wellness figures on the list of this year's top 10 fitness trends in the country and corporate wellness solutions are set to emerge as a nationwide phenomenon to encourage healthy lifestyles among the workforce.
It's evident, then, that corporate fitness is not merely a buzzword, but has actual and tangible benefits for both the employees and the businesses that sponsor these wellness programs to assume this kind of importance.
Given this context, it's hardly surprising that so many businesses are jumping on board the corporate wellness bandwagon.
Whether it's offering discount membership of local health clubs to their employees or setting up a top class corporate fitness facility within their precincts, businesses are doing everything and more to create a staff that's mentally and physically fit.
Corporate Fitness Solutions The Many Benefits
To understand why corporate fitness has become a business necessity for companies of all scales, it's important to first analyze the various benefits of an employee and workplace wellness program.
All companies offer healthcare benefits to their employees as part of their compensation package. For many companies, healthcare claims by their employees eat in to a big part of their profits.
By instituting a corporate wellness program for their employees, businesses encourage a healthy lifestyle and reduce the risk of disease for their workforce. All this translates into lower healthcare costs for them, which ultimately impacts their bottom line.
The second most important benefit of corporate fitness is reduced absenteeism. Companies lose millions of dollars in revenue each year due to employees taking sick days for reasons that can be easily controlled. However, many companies that run an employee wellness programs have reported reduced employee absenteeism as a result of their initiative.
Another area where corporate fitness can impact a business's bottom line is increased productivity. This is a no-brainer actually. A workforce that is physically agile, mentally alert, and energetic in general is likely to be that much more focused and produce results that are in line with their employer's expectations.
Additionally, exercising releases the "feel good" hormone endorphin in to the body, which elevates a person's capacity to work better and for an extended period of time thereby increasing his/her productivity.
It's also likely that companies, which invest in well thought out employee wellness programs will face reduced turnover. When workers feel taken care of, they form a bond or connect with their employees and are more likely to stay loyal to them.
But it's not just the tangible benefits of corporate wellness programs that make them so popular amongst businesses. Corporate fitness is reported to impact some other areas of business that may not be as easy to measure.
For example, employees who make use of corporate wellness solutions are likely to have a higher morale than those who don't. Working out together also creates a sense of camaraderie between colleagues and can be an effective team-building "exercise" (no pun intended)!
