Physical Activity Programs in the Workplace: Why Bother?
Joanne Gesell, MA, Education Coordinator, Alberta Centre for Active Living.

Bottom-Line Benefits
Over 15 million Canadians spend approximately half of their waking hours at work (Health Canada, 2001a). As people are arguably an organization’s most valuable resource, concern for employees’ health is fundamental in achieving business success.

According to the Tri-Annual Buffet Taylor National Wellness Survey (Health Canada, 2001b), workplace wellness programs have become increasingly important. Canadian organizations are spending more money on wellness programs because healthy employees are valuable company assets. For example, Canada Life reported a return on investment of $6.85 on each corporate dollar invested on reduced turnover, productivity gains, and decreased medical claims (Health Canada, 2001c).

The Statistics Canada 1997 Labour Force Survey showed that each full-time employee missed an average of 7.4 days in that year (Health Canada, 2001c). Depending on the size of the company and the health of its employees, absenteeism can be an expensive liability. However, after the first six months of the Metro Fit program in Toronto, active municipal employees missed 3.5 fewer days than employees not in the program (Health Canada, 2001b).

Toronto Life found that employee turnover decreased for those in the company fitness program—1.5% versus 15% for non-participants (Health Canada, 2001c). Similarly, BC Hydro employees in a work-sponsored fitness program had a turnover rate of 3.5%, compared with the company average of 10.3% (Health Canada, 2001c).

Why Bring Physical Activity into the Workplace?
Organizations are beginning to be responsible for ensuring that their employees’ environment fosters health, not disease. If we believe that all injuries and most illnesses are preventable, then employee health becomes an integral part of each business. Health, like other facets of business, can be both managed and self-managed. In addition, all employees at every level share responsibility for establishing a healthy work environment and promoting healthy lifestyles. Wellness initiatives not only enhance the physical and mental health of employees, they also benefit the productivity, efficiency, and operational performance of the organization (University of Alberta Senate Task Force on Wellness, 2003).

Physical activity programs in the workplace also give employees access to health and wellness information and the education needed to manage their own health. Eighty-three per cent of the organizations surveyed in the Tri-Annual Buffet Taylor National Wellness Survey (Health Canada, 2001b) cited stress as the major health risk in their organizations. Individual employees who take responsibility for their own health can also learn to manage stress.

In addition, active living programs for employees (and their families and communities) contribute to employee satisfaction and productivity. There is a relationship between physical activity and a short-term economic impact on productivity. A review of the costs and benefits of active employees estimated a 4 to 25% increase in productivity for each physically active employee (CFLRI, n.d.).

What Programs Work?
To be effective and sustainable, active living must be integrated into the company’s planning and become part of the organization’s employee benefits.

A successful program will

• involve a senior management that supports individual health management;

• meet the needs of employees both in terms of their physical health and general well-being;

• be well-planned, officially introduced, and include a health-education component;

• encourage employees to incorporate active living into their daily lives;

• support active living at work.

All businesses can benefit from workplace physical activity programs. For example, access to bike racks, showers, and change areas are modest investments that have helped some businesses make it easier for their employees to be active.

Company recreational events (e.g., lunchtime walking programs, activity days, ski days, golf days, and team sports) are another way to promote physical activity and the health of employees.

Additionally, organizations might provide flex-time to allow employees to participate in physical activity. Company newsletters could include physical activity and community resource information. Another alternative is to share or subsidize programs in cooperation with community or private fitness centres.

Measuring Your Success
Establish a baseline measure of employee health before the initiative begins, so that you can demonstrate the benefits of an active living program in your workplace. The most prevalent types of workplace illness and injuries in North America are also preventable, or at least modifiable, through physical activity and lifestyle changes (Health Canada, 2001c).

Conditions such as stress, cardiovascular and musculoskeletal disorders, respiratory conditions, and cancer represent 70% of an organization’s benefit costs (Health Canada, 2001c). For example, working adults with heart disease cost approximately $4.5 billion in lost productivity each year in Ontario (in motion, n.d.). Organizations will be concerned with financial measurements, including cost/benefit analysis and return on investment calculations.

Other typical outcome measures might include the

• frequency of employee illness or injury;

• time taken for a disability;

• cost savings in short- and long-term disability, Workers’ Compensation, and drug use.

It’s best to carry out follow-up research after the program has been running for at least a year to measure the short-term results of the intervention.

Sustaining Your Program
Organizations with a corporate philosophy that both values physical activity and employee health and sustains communications, education, and encouragement are more likely to influence motivation and maintain participation (Wilson, 1990). Other determinants that affect participation rates include the following:

• employees’ attitudes towards the program;

• employees’ confidence about becoming active;

• social support (Lechner, de Vries, Adriaansen, Drabbels, 1997).

The following can encourage employees to participate in programs:

• convenient times and locations;

• flex-time to allow employees to participate;

• on-site facilities;

• management support and promotion of the program (Crump, Earp, Kozma, and Hertz-Picciotto, 1996).

Ultimately, the organization can only educate and provide the opportunity—it’s up to the employee to adopt the more active lifestyle.

For more information
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