Encouraging your employee's physical fitness offers quite a few benefits to both your employees and your business. Often physical fitness programs fit into a larger Employee Wellness Program, but smaller actions can be taken if you aren't ready to embrace an entire program.
One of the easier ways to encourage physical fitness is to offer employee fitness benefits such as paid gym memberships (at a local or nearby gym), paying for virtual gym memberships (which have become more popular since Covid), or comping home gym equipment. Or, perhaps even a general fitness allowance each employee can allocate as they wish.
Why consider this action? More physically fit employees:
- Are overall healthier, happier, and less stressed at work.
- Miss less work time, resulting in higher overall productivity and less medical costs.
As an extra benefit, you may also be able to deduct some of these costs. Make sure to check with your tax accountant.
See below for additional resources.
*It's important to make sure your Small Actions connect to your business to make them effective. Learn more about what it means to be effective in our related blog post.
Interested in Learning More?
Articles about employee fitness and physical activity:
- Fitness-Oriented Employee Benefit Options in a Post-Pandemic World (Griffinbenefits.com)
- The Benefits of Investing in Physical Activity in the Workplace (vitalityworks.health)
- Study of 20,000 Workers Shows Different Factors Drive Abesenteeism and Job Performance (www.businesswire.com/)
Ideas for getting started:
- Employee Gym Membership Discounts: Going Beyond the Rate! (Corporatewellnessmagazine.com)
- Employee Benefits – Fitness is More than a Gym Membership! (honeybeebenefits.com)
Published studies:
- Medical Care Savings From Workplace Wellness Programs (January 2013)
- The Benefits of a More Physically Active Workforce in the Corporate World (Spring 2021)
- Self-Rated Job Performance and Absenteeism According to Employee Engagement, Health Behaviors, and Physical Health (January 2013)
Information about potential tax benefits:
