It is becoming clearer to people in Corporate America, that a healthy and happy person makes for a better employee. While some countries began to give generous vacation time, and extensive health benefits, in America we often push employees to devote more time to the office at the expensive of their overall general wellbeing. Fortunately, that is changing, so that employers have begun to see how their employees’ overall health leads to greater productivity.
People working in a corporate office spend the great majority of their time sitting at a desk. It is no wonder that so many people are overweight, when we spend upwards of fifty hours a week not moving. Plus, with people working longer hours at the office, the possibility of regular exercise becomes more and more difficult to achieve. In the rush home at the end of the day, it is hard enough to get a healthy dinner on the table and have a little time to relax, much less make time to exercise without falling asleep and repeating the same routine daily. There may not be time for that extra trip to the gym on any regular basis.
Some companies have recognized this need of their employees. By their request or by the company’s own initiative, some have seized on the opportunity to create an added benefit by adding a gym at the office. This has multiple benefits. For one, employees who did take the time to get to their local gym on a regular basis, now are able to save some driving time. The greatest benefits are for the likely majority of employees who, for a variety of reason, don’t currently get much or any exercise and have no real fitness routine. In these cases, they may be more likely to feel that they have time, and to be motivated to get to the gym when it is right inside their office building with no added expense to them.
But what are the benefits of this extra expense to the company itself and to the employer? An employee who makes exercise a part of their daily schedule generally has more energy, is physically healthier, and has an overall better sense of well being. When someone takes the time to workout in the morning, they arrive at their desk ready to work and be productive. With a gym on site, they are also more likely to arrive on time. And physical health and wellness shouldn’t be overlooked, since the company can save money on employee health insurance and on employees who miss work because of sickness. Plus the extra oxygen entering the brain daily will give the employees more energy and creative, stronger problem solving skills.
The other great part of having a gym right at the office is that the employer can take a productive break. Rather than worrying about employees who are wasting countless hours on the internet or chatting in the office coffee room, they can take a legitimate and useful break in the gym. They will return to their desks with greater focus on the task at hand and ready to be productive. As many studies are finding, a happy and healthy employee is a better employee bringing more profits to the office.