Benefits of Workplace Physical Activity Programs
Name
Institution
Benefits of Workplace Physical Activity Programs
According to a recent survey, 65% of US adults are obese. This result proved that despite individuals working every day to earn a living, they had limited time to cater to their physical health. Additionally, some of the proven effects of being overweight were diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart diseases. Employees’ sedentary lifestyle also caused a significant economic burden to employers due to reduced productivity, loss of labor, and absenteeism. Employers should hence set aside time during the day for employees to exercise and improve their physical health. Some of the benefits of workplace fitness programs are a reduction in absenteeism and improved work performance.
Notably, workplace physical fitness programs reduce employee absenteeism rates. This was revealed by Grimani et al. 2019, who stated that it was possible to positively influence work-related outcomes such as absenteeism through health promotion efforts such as exercising. The meta-analysis study, which was conducted using sixty-seven previous independent studies on the same subject, showed that improved health reduced time spent in hospitals. Furthermore, since an increase in employee days out of work led to reduced productivity and motivation, enhanced personnel physical activity was detrimental to an organization’s success.
Additionally, physical health leads to improved work performance. Grimani et al., 2019, revealed that “The results of two high-quality RCTs and medium-quality studies indicate that efforts aimed at the workplace’s organizational structure and/or physical work environment can yield a positive impact on productivity, work performance and workability.” These efforts are hence the missing link between employees and increased work productivity. The article further urges employers and other stakeholders to add physical activity programs in their work routine (Grimani et al., 2019). This is because individuals spend a large portion of their days in the workplace hence making it a suitable place to implement fitness intervention programs.
In brief, research has shown that a significant portion of the United States population is obese. Consequently, employers need to set aside a part of their work routine for workplace fitness programs. Since being overweight has numerous health and productivity implications, some of the advantages of the programs are a reduction in absenteeism rates and enhanced work performance.
Reference
Grimani, A., Aboagye, E., & Kwak, L. (2019). The effectiveness of workplace nutrition and physical activity interventions in improving productivity, work performance, and workability: a systematic review. BMC public health, 19(1), 1676.