Implementing a Fitness Program Benefit for Employees

Description of the New Benefit

A fitness program can be described as a group of exercises designed to improve and maintain physical fitness. The purpose of a fitness program is to improve the overall health and well-being of employees. The outcomes of the new benefit include that healthier employees with a lower risk for diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease can help an organization save money on healthcare costs in the long run (Grimani et al., 2019). Additionally, happier and healthier employees will be more productive at work, resulting in less employee turnover and absenteeism.

The benefit offering is timely because it reflects the evolving nature of today’s workplace. The benefit offering is important because it serves as an incentive for employees to stay active and healthy. Today, more and more employers realize that their employees’ health is directly related to their productivity at work. The current economy is facing an increasing risk of unemployment; this benefit can help an employer retain its most valuable asset – its employees (Hamm et al., 2019). In addition, being active helps improve employees’ quality of life, but being too active may result in unwanted consequences such as injury or lost productivity. By offering incentives through this new benefit, employers can help those employees who are not necessarily motivated by financial rewards.

The Origin Story of This Benefit

The original story of the fitness program has changed over time. While the original goal is to improve the physical fitness of employees, over the years, it has been adapted to reflect a more comprehensive health enhancement program. It is because of the increasing awareness of the importance of overall health and well-being, not just fitness. A training program should also be considered mandatory to develop safe use and operation skills.

A survey was conducted among the Accounting department employees at Accenture PLC. Of all the employees who were given questionnaires, none showed any disapproval of implementing a fitness program. All of them agreed to start a fitness program in their office.

Examples of organizations offering fitness program benefits include:

1. American Express.
2. Costco.
3. Hartford.
4. Honeywell, Inc.
5. Capital One
6. Dell
7. Proctor Gamble.

Many corporate companies and organizations have implemented fitness programs as part of their employee benefits packages to attract and retain high-quality employees.

The fitness program has impacted organizations by:

1. The benefits of improved health
2. Lowering work-related injury
3. Reduced costs of employee health care through the reduction in health care costs for employees since they are healthy.
4. Cost savings are based on reduced medical insurance expenses resulting from fewer claims by healthy employees, which results in less expense for insurance companies and cost savings for employers.

The Business Needs for the Benefit

A fitness program can help an organization meet their organizational goals by improving its employees’ overall health, reducing healthcare costs, and improving employee morale.

The organization currently offers an onsite gym for employee use. The gym is available during work hours, and all employees can access the facility during their lunch break. Employees may buy the cold pass and use it during their lunch break.

The onsite gym has a limited number of cardio machines and complete resistance training equipment. All facilities must be booked in advance because they can get pretty busy and often have waiting lists.

The current program is sub-optimal because most employees cannot avail of the onsite gym during their work hours because they are working during this time. Some employees do not go to the gym and prefer to work out at home.

The Advantages and Disadvantages Associated with Offering this Benefit

According to Grimani et al. (2019), advantages associated with offering fitness program benefit within an organization include:

• to bring about a change and improve the health of employees;
• to prepare employees for emergencies, life and work skills;
• to increase organizational productivity;
• to attract potential and current employees through having a healthy and active workforce;

Disadvantages associated with offering fitness program benefits within an organization:

• can be costly and may need government assistance to provide this program;
• may take an employee away from their job since it is considered an additional benefit that the employee is not required to do in their position;
• may not be well supported since some consider it a waste of time;
• may take away from the time needed for other things within the organization.

The Return on Investment of this Benefit

The total cost will be approximately $2.2 million to offer this benefit to employees.

The venders needed to provide fitness program include:

1. Sport, fitness and recreation center.
2. Health professional.
3. Mass media.

Offering fitness program benefits to employees will cost the company $1,250,000 for equipment, $300,000 for employee and staff compensation, $200,000 for facility expansion and maintenance, and $300,000 for insurance.

The vendors that will be needed to provide fitness programs are:

1. Sport, fitness, and recreation center.
2. health professional (doctor, sports trainer).
3. Mass media (television, press, internet).
4. Government agencies (federal, state, and local governments).
5. Private sector businesses run sports facilities like gyms and health clubs throughout the country for people to join to stay fit or lose weight.

A sample financial analysis for a fitness facility is as follows:

The above analysis shows that the profit for each person who attends the fitness program is $7.35 per month. To do this calculation, you need to calculate the total return on investment (ROI). Add the number of profits to each type of room the company would have and multiply it by the number receivable from each type of room. Multiply that amount by 100 and then divide by the total number of people associated with the fitness facility. Some activities may not be able to be measured in dollars for financial reasons, such as gas, food, or supplies.

How Implementing this Benefit Affects the Average Employee and Client

The people who benefits most when an organization offer a fitness program benefit are employees who are overweight and are suffering from various diseases. The people who benefits secondarily when an organization offer a fitness program benefit are the members of the organization that are employed by the second party entity (the employer). The people who may see this benefit offering as a disadvantage when an organization offer fitness program benefit are those who may not be interested in such a program because they think that they are not motivated enough to get into the exercise program.

Through the long-term fitness program, these employees will have an opportunity to be fit, they will be able to enjoy their good health, and at the same time, they can contribute more to the organization. Their productivity will improve furthermore they will have a good time doing the exercise. Exercise can also make them happier and get rid of boredom.

Hamm et al. (2019) asserted that implementing fitness program benefits will affect the average employee within an organization by;

1. Improving the overall workforce productivity.
2. Enhancing the satisfaction of employees.
3. Reducing costs associated with employee absence, workplace injuries, and ill health.
4. Ensuring the employee’s physical fitness following job requirements and reducing an individual’s chance of being involved in accidents and sustaining injuries. Thereby reducing liability claims, increasing productivity, and enabling business growth.
5. Increasing employment rate to sustainable levels.

Implementing fitness program benefits will affect the average client within an organization by;

• Providing health benefits to clients as a right.
• Providing an opportunity for advancement amongst clients.

To implement fitness program benefits for employees, the communication strategy that the organization should apply is emailing. The company should send emails because internet technology has become common and easy access to everyone. In addition, the company wants to know their employees’ needs and send more information about the new fitness program. Through emails, the company could reveal the concept of a fitness program to all. Thus, this fitness program could become a useful and useful suggestion for everyone by working in a better way.

What the Organization and Decision Makers Need to Implement this Benefit

To implement fitness program benefits for employees, the organization should:

• provide learning the latest information on health benefits to employees,
• sponsor the fitness program for their employees,
• make the program accessible to all employees, regardless of their financial status,
• train them in health and hygiene,
• regularly monitor the health and fitness of their employees,
• offer incentives to motivate healthy behaviors.

To implement fitness program benefits for employees, decision-makers should initiate a health screening program to be done by the employees as part of their per-employment/placement.

The health screening program should include the following:

1. Health coaching (based on medical history) and education on fitness.
2. Body composition analysis.
3. Cardio exercise stress test.
4. Muscle strengthening exercise.
5. A fitness assessment test.

Concerns Employees will have and how the Organization Soothe the Concerns

Concerns that employees will have concerning the fitness program benefit include:

1. Employees will not be able to find or fit into the time to exercise, and they will miss opportunities for fitness.
2. The company fitness program’s weight control, stress reduction, and disease prevention goals may not be attainable by many employees, who might feel discouraged trying to obtain them.

The organization will soothe those concerns by:

• Praising the employees who attain their fitness goals or achieve all of the company’s Fitness program objectives (i.e., goal attainment motivation).
• Planning incentives for employees who improve their fitness levels over time.
• Ensuring that employees can use the facility and obtain the services at any time, not just during open hours, and using flexible scheduling regularly (e.g., after-hours use).
• Offering educational information that helps achieve success with the wellness program, such as modified diet plans, group exercise, nutrition classes, and motivational interviewing training for personal development.
• Allowing employees access to various health and fitness resources, such as the YMCA, healthy lifestyles magazines, local dietitians, and other experts.

References

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), 1-12.

Hamm, N. C., Kehler, D. S., Hay, J. L., Stammers, A. N., Strachan, S. M., Bouchard, D. R., & Duhamel, T. A. (2019). A quasi-experimental study examined the impact and challenges of implementing a fitness-based health risk assessment and a physical activity counseling intervention in the workplace. Health services research and managerial epidemiology, 6.