Benefits of Physical Activity @ Work > Bottom-Line Benefits of Physical Activity @ Work

It’s Good for Employees. It’s Good for Business.

Because adult Canadians spend so much time at work, it’s a good place to promote physical activity. Many adults have little time for leisure activity during the work week. If they can’t find ways to be active during their workday, they may not be active at all.

Work is not only a good place to promote healthy habits but the workplace itself has an impact on people’s health. Employers who find ways to help employees be active during their workday contribute to both health and job satisfaction.

Being active also improves employees’ energy level and morale. People who enjoy their work and feel their employer cares are more productive.

Making it easier to be active during the workday can improve these factors (the lists below are adapted from the Public Health Agency of Canada):

• morale
• job satisfaction
• ability to cope with stress
• health and well-being
• productivity and effectiveness at work

Active employees can also reduce levels of:

• absenteeism
• injuries
• turnover
• disability compensation
• health-care costs
• life insurance costs

Why Is Workplace Physical Activity a Sound Investment?

Two trends drive home the importance of increasing physical activity at work.
Canada’s workforce is aging. As people age, they tend to be less active. Inactivity increases the risk of chronic disease and death. People over 45 use more health care than younger people, so benefit costs and absenteeism are expected to rise.

Workers report increasing stress. Physical activity has valuable preventive and therapeutic effects. A key report from the Department of Health in the United Kingdom shows that physical activity can keep people mentally healthy and help prevent and treat anxiety and depression.

Want more proof of the benefits of workplace physical activity? The evidence outlined below is adapted from the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Business Case for Active Living at Work.

Job Satisfaction

Participants in physical activity programs report the following:

• improved mental concentration, stamina, reaction time and memory
• greater alertness
• better relations with co-workers
• more enjoyment of work than non-participants

Stress

• Increased worker stress is causing increases in workplace illness and sick days. In 2005, the Conference Board of Canada reported that health expenditures are 50 per cent more for workers who report high levels of stress and that stress-related absences cost Canadian employers $3.5 billion each year.

• Physical activity can help people cope with stress. In addition, an employer who invests in a physical activity program sends a positive message to employees.

Health and Well-Being

• A 2004 report by the Conference Board of Canada stated that the cost of physical inactivity to Canada's health-care system was $2.1 billion in 1999. This cost will keep increasing as the population ages. Reducing inactivity by 10 per cent would save $150 million in health-care costs a year.

• Physical activity can reduce the risk of developing coronary heart disease, colon cancer and Type 2 diabetes by as much as 50 per cent.

• Forty per cent of workers say that employers can help them improve their health by offering recreational or exercise facilities at or near the workplace.

Productivity and Effectiveness at Work

• Health Canada states that employees’ work performance can be improved by four to 15 per cent through participation in regular physical activity.

Absenteeism

• Physically active employees take 27 per cent fewer days of sick leave.

• Employees in Toronto’s Metro Fit missed 3.35 fewer days in the first six months of the fitness program than employees who were not enrolled.

• BC Hydro estimated that physical activity initiatives reduced sick leave costs by $1.2 million a year.

Injuries

• Physical activity programs can reduce the number of injuries in the workplace by 25 per cent.

• Physically fit workers have fewer injuries, and those injuries tend to heal faster and cost less.

Turnover

• The Canadian Life Assurance Company found that the turnover rate for fitness program participants was 32.4 per cent lower than average over seven years.

• BC Hydro employees enrolled in a work-sponsored fitness program had a turnover rate of 3.5 per cent, a fraction of the company average of 10.3 per cent.

• Toronto Life Assurance found that employee turnover for those enrolled in the company's fitness program was 1.5 per cent, versus 15 per cent for non-participants.

• For each corporate dollar invested in physical activity, Canada Life in Toronto showed a return of $3.40 in reduced turnover, productivity gains and decreased medical claims.

• A workplace that supports employee physical activity can also attract and maintain quality employees, improving its social environment as well as its corporate image.

Disability/Compensation Costs

• Workplace benefit costs are increasing because the workforce is aging.

• Physically active employees report 14 to 25 per cent fewer disability days.

• Per capita worker compensation costs can be reduced by 45 per cent if employees are regularly active.

Find out More

• Benefits of Physical Activity: Information from the Public Health Agency of Canada about the benefits of bringing physical activity into the workplace.

• Business Case for Active Living at Work: This Public Health Agency of Canada website includes statistics, trends, returns on investment and case studies.

• Conference Board of Canada: Offers several reports related to workplace health as well as proceedings from the 2005 conference, Workplace Health and Well-Being: Measurement in Action.