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Healthy employees

Research confirms the benefits of healthier, fitter employees. They have fewer and lower long-term medical claims, they are absent less, their disability costs are lower, and their perceived personal productivity and job/life satisfaction levels are higher.

Fewer errors
  • Swedish researchers found fit workers make 60% fewer errors on jobs involving concentration and short-term memory.
More productive
  • A report in the New England Journal of Medicine in 1987 reported that vigorous exercise in the middle of the day improved mental alertness and productivity for four to five hours afterwards.
Reduced absenteeism
  • The Canadian Life Assurance Company found that job turnover among fitness program participants was 32.4% lower over a seven-year period, compared with non-participants. Canadian Journal of Health, Peter Leatt, et al, January/February 1988.
  • Peter Soderberg, President of Johnson & Johnson HMI, says that healthier, fitter employees have fewer and lower long-term medical claims, are absent less, have lower disability costs, and have higher levels of perceived personal productivity and job/life satisfaction.
  • In a year-long study of 884 employees who took part in a workplace fitness program, those who exercised as infrequently as once a week as part of the program cut their average number of sick days in half-from more than 10 days in the previous year to less than five sick days, researchers reported in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (1997; 39:827-831).
Better return on investment
  • Motorola returned $3.15 per dollar from its employee fitness program.
  • PepsiCo found its corporate fitness program had a 300% return on investment: $3 for every $1 invested. (The Economic Impact of Employee Health and Fitness, Fitness Systems, 1990.)
  • Over a six-year period, Du Pont had a return of $2.05 for every $1 invested in its employee fitness program. (Health Behaviours, D.W. Edington, PhD., March 1992.)
  • Prudential Life Insurance found, in a five year study, it returned $1.91 per dollar invested in its employee fitness program. (The Cost Effectiveness of Corporate Wellness Programs, American Institute of Preventative Medicine, 1991.)
Reduced health care costs
  • The US Surgeon-General determined that 70% of all illnesses are due to lifestyle-related causes. One half of all medical costs are attributed to illnesses that could be prevented. Businesses need to help their employees establish a healthy lifestyle. Investing in employees' health will result in a winning situation for you and your staff.
    Read Physical Activity and Health - A Report of the US Surgeon-General.

Updated | 22 Oct 2006.

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