Linking employee waist lines to employer bottom lines - My take on Corporate Fitness

An amazing study just came out of Duke University. The study looked at workers' compensation data for 11,728 Duke University employees who received health-risk appraisals over a seven-year period.

What were the results for obese employees (compared to those who are not obese) as published in the Journal of Internal Medicine?

• Obese employees filed twice the number of workers' compensation claims

• Obese employees' medical costs from those claims were seven times higher

• Obese employees stayed out of work 13 times longer after a work-related injury or illness

• Obese employees medical claims cost per 100 employees per year was 51,019 USD compared to $7,503 USD for non-obese workers

• Obese employees lost 183 days of work per 100 employees as compared to 14 days for non-obese workers (thats 13 times more!)

Yeah but those guys were OBESE. Well it doesn't look good for the overweight/mildly obese either...

• Overweight employees took four times the number of days off after being injured or getting sick at work.

• Mildly obese employees took five times as many days off after being injured or getting sick at work.

And what are employers doing? The study reveals that...

"As many as 40 percent of employers are giving workers products, cash or health insurance discounts to lose weight," said Laura Linnan, the study's principal investigator and a professor at the University of North Carolina's School of Public Health.

Employers are getting scared off as well. Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, assistant professor of medicine and health economist at Stanford University co-authored a 2005 study that showed employers compensate for anticipated higher medical costs of obese workers by paying them less than slimmer employees and passing them over for promotions.

What are we gathering from this?

Being fat is bad for employees (that's most of us) because it costs us in terms of career advancement and money, and its bad for employers because its affecting their profit margins when they pay for all these health costs.

Simple problem yes, simple to fix, not quite. We need to approach this troubling issue with a corporate fitness solution from both ends. The employer as well as the employee.

3 things that employers must do:

1. Adopt a fitness culture starting from the CEO knowing that it is best for the company

   "We all know obesity is bad for the individual, but it isn't solely a personal medical problem -- it spills over into the workplace and has concrete economic costs,"
   Dr. Truls Ostbye -author and professor of community and family medicine

   Well, if its not a personal or private medical problem then it becomes a community problem. That means the problem is larger, but the solution is also more permanent. Community solutions just work better. They work for gang violence and for addiction to vices. From my experiences as a fitness professional, community solutions work for health goals as well. Kickboxing, pilates, yoga, aerobics and other fitness classes or group activities have a higher penetration rate (about 12-15% in most health clubs) than personal training (2-3%). I believe that people stay on longer in group classes as well.

   A community solution to corporate fitness has to be built into the company culture. Usually this is dictated by a CEO or a board of directors. If they are reading this article they are probably aware of the health challenges facing companies in this day and age. They are also probably aware that companies which have an adaptive culture that is able to handle changing circumstances tend to do really really well. 2-3 times as well profit-wise according to some studies. In addition, setting a fitness culture shows concern for employees (and allows them to be more productive) and in the long run costs less than paying for medical bills. As a minor side note, your employees will look healthy too and that in itself has its own host of benefits.

   Once the CEO has decided that a fitness culture is needed and is in fact the course that the company needs to take, he can implement it in the same way he makes most culture changes

   • Align your company culture with your strategic goals (being fit saves money, makes your employees more productive and more attractive to customers, and increases profit)

   • Develop a specific action plan that can leverage the good things in your current culture and correct the unaligned areas. (free employee breakfasts on Fridays may be good, but making it doughnuts and pancakes is BAD)

   • Brainstorm improvements in your formal policies and daily practices. (allocate some work time to fitness and health education and activities, ensure managers lead by example, bringing healthy food into the cafeteria, allow 15 min breaks during work for healthy snacks)

   • Develop models of the desired actions and behaviors. (how many hours a week minimum that an employee must exercise, social support and encouragement to make healthy eating not just acceptable but preferable, all management staff must enthusiastically take part)

   • Communicate the new corporate fitness culture to all employees (tell everybody about it)

   • Over-communicate the new corporate fitness culture and its actions to everyone. (tell everybody about it again and again, with checks to ensure that the new culture is followed)

   Remember, often people don't do what you EXPECT. They do what you INSPECT.

    

2. Hire a Fitness Professional

   This one may seem a like a bit of a sales pitch, me being a fitness professional and all... but bear with me. A respected fitness professional is a real asset to a corporation. Think about it. Companies get accounting firms to do their accounts and taxes, they get law firms to do their legal documents, and they get business consultants to check their business processes. So is it a big stretch to think that they should get a fitness professional to take care of company health and fitness?

   Not at all. The best fitness pros will know how to approach corporate fitness. They will be able to advise on the set up of health facilities, run fitness classes, be good public speakers on more general topics like nutrition, and be able to give individual training programs for more difficult cases of extreme obesity or employees with past injuries and medical conditions.

    

3. Only accept success

   No CEO would accept sub-standard work by an employee, neither would they accept failure on important projects, they wouldn't accept a lack of integrity with regard to finance either. Shouldn't this be the case with the company fitness program?

   Like I mentioned in point 1, this new program has to be enforced. It's a kind of "tough love" that needs to happen. Hey Mr. CEO...take attendance at fitness classes, walk around the cafeteria at lunch to see what people are eating, do your managers speak as positively and motivationally about the fitness program as they do about meeting project deadlines?

3 Things that an employee must do:

1. Accept culture change without taking it personally

   This is not about discrimination. This is about a true win-win situation. Companies show concern for an employee and treat him or her as a person. A person who is an integrated being, emotionally, socially and physically as opposed to a brain connected to a computer, churning out stuff that profits the company but stuck on a useless body.

   This new corporate fitness culture is great news. Yes, no more cheesecakes and ice cream for lunch (oh... gasp... my boss is infringing on my freedom of choice...) but you shouldn't be eating those anyway! Your choices stink, that's why you are 40 pounds overweight. That has to stop.

   So where's the great news? You are being put in a position to succeed. To gain back your health, to improve your quality of life, and to improve the quality of your future. All on the company's budget. Your "no cheesecake" boss is building a culture where people are supportive of each other's health and fitness goals. No judgmental or condescending remarks, no embarrassing behind the back talk about each other's waistlines. The perfect environment for YOU.

   They are even hiring a top class fitness professional to get you in shape...for free! Those guys aren't cheap you know! As the Duke study also indicated, the most common injuries experienced by obese workers affected the lower extremities, wrists or hands, and backs. Most injuries were caused by falls and lifting. Have you ever had a back injury? Those make you walk and feel like you are an unhealthy 90 year old. Take the opportunity positively not personally. It's a blessing.

    

2. Be willing to change lifestyle habits that used to be "private"

   You could always break the rules. Sneak in a chocolate bar or a packet of potato chips and eat them in the toilet. There is a rebel in all of us right?...I'll admit, It can be a tough pill to swallow to change something as personal as food choices, or spending time on exercise instead of some other form of recreation. But remember you still have choices. Lots of them. All that has been taken away are the choices that were bad in the first place. When you realize how absolutely great healthy food can taste, you will realize that you aren't missing anything. And check out that wonderful new figure you have.

   "There is nothing that tastes as good as a fit attractive body looks"

   If that fitness professional is doing his or her job and you are following his or her advice, it will only take about 8-12 weeks to realize that the saying is true.

    

3. Enjoy the fitness community

   When I run group classes, the participants go through some pretty tough training. But they form awesome bonds and all of them become great friends. I have seen this happen with every body from kids to adults, from overweight clients to national level athletes. Suffering together tends to form strong friendships. Even in my personal experience from my time in the military, I know there are guys who I can trust with my life because we had some pretty tough missions and spent some pretty cold nights out in the field together.

   Same thing in the corporate fitness situation. If your fitness professional knows about fat loss, those fat loss workouts are going to be challenging (he/she should structure training so that each person is challenged) no matter if you are the fittest person in the company or one who hasn't done any exercise for the past 5 years. Some of those workouts can be downright brutal. Soak it in. Relish it. Make friends over it. Maybe you will find work even more pleasant with all those comrades you know from yesterday's 10 sets of burpees and chin ups.

There are only good things that can come out of a corporation that has a fitness focus. Corporate fitness has come a long way. I do know of companies that have gyms and health facilities for their staff. But as usual we need to look for the person before we provide the place and the program. In this case there are 2 people. The fearless CEO with a vision and the fitness professional who can deliver the results.

Written For www.CoachJon.com Singapore Personal Trainer & Fitness Expert

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