One of the reasons people always use to justify their weight gain is that they don’t have time to work out since they are tied up with their work. But deep down they know that’s not true because if they want to do something, they will always find the reason to do it.
But since they say their work is the one that’s getting them out of shape, wouldn’t it better if they could bring their workout to their work? There are more and more companies who are associating work with fitness by turning their training room into fitness center. Fitness has never been just a temporary obsession. It should be a lifetime concept.
So here are the reasons why companies should never think that such program is nothing more than just a trend and start such initiation within the organization:
1. Employees have more energy. Imagine instead of smoking or eating junk food during lunch or break time, employees get to lift dumbbells or use fitness band. Subsequently, this activity lifts their spirits and mood as well, making them more productive instead of drowsy after their break.
2. This program promotes camaraderie and motivation among fellow employees. Employees can buddy-up or team up with their fellow colleagues and tally up the total amount of pounds lost at the end of the month to see who wins. Management or team leaders can set up a reward for the team who’s lost the biggest weight. Employees are also more inclined to stick to their weight loss goal when they know many people are counting on them to lose weight, so this builds trust and cooperation as well.
3. Employee satisfaction. Employees feel a sense of gratitude towards the management because they feel more taken care of; thus, lower employee turnover rate, higher productivity, tighter community, and greater creativity happen in the workplace.
4. Companies save more by investing more for their employees. Fitter employees means reduced health care cost and lower rate of employee absenteeism. There are financial risks that are worth taking and this is one of them.
5. This program puts employees to healthy state of mind. If you are physically trying to achieve a healthy body, it will be hard to contradict that with a shabby outlook in life. This means that employees’ dietary habits as well as other internal values will change as well to support what their bodies are doing. This translates to them choosing more organic, home-cooked meals over fast food. The effect will propel them to pass it down to the other members of the family and so on.
Of course not all companies can afford such luxury, so what these companies do in turn is just give out incentives or discounts to fitness center. The result won’t be as effective but either way, it is a win-win situation where both the company and the employee benefit from the program.
So until the company starts investing in gym equipment, perhaps it would be wiser for the employees to take advantage of their company’s wellness incentive program. Or they could proactively bring dumbbells to their cubicle to encourage them to lift it when they are feeling stressed.
