Fit Employees Fatten The Bottom Line

Company-Sponsored health programs improve morale and productivity.

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Like many people concerned about employee absenteeism, a high rate of turnover, and declining productivity, Jack Mathis thought the solution might be a healthier work force. Mathis, president of the R. L. Mathis Certified Dairy, in Decatur, Ga., Decided to offer employees and their spouses comprehensive medical evaluations and a follow-up fitness program. "The results were dramatic," Mathis says.

Of the employees and spouses who participated in the evaluations, 42% were diagnosed as overweight, 33% had hearing problems, 24% had vision problems, and 14% -- including one 19-year-old worker -- had high blood pressure. These results spurred many to get follow-up testing and treatment and convinced Mathis to start a summer fitness program, encouraging employees to exercise two or three times a week at a nearby community college.

Jane Franklin, a 39-year-old secretary at the dairy, was shocked into physical activity by the medical screening, which was administered by volunteers from several local health organizations. At 190 pounds, her obesity was not only cramping her style, it was shortening her life. "I didn't like me much," Franklin recalls. Since last March, Franklin has quit smoking, started to exercise regularly, and shed 45 pounds. "Now I like me a lot better," she says, adding that she wouldn't have been able to do it without the program.

Stories like Jane Franklin's, from employers and workers, have triggered a new kind of activism at companies large and small. Underlying this zeal, at least in part, are indications that employee fitness programs really do decrease absenteeism and turnover, and that they may also increase productivity. The most solid evidence to date of what employee fitness and lifestyle programs can achieve is a comparative study of the home office staffs of two insurance companies in Toronto -- the Canada Life Assurance Co. and the North American Life Assurance Co. Directing the project was Dr. Roy J. Shephard, professor of preventive medicine and director of the University of Toronto School of Physical and Health Education.

For six months, the Canada Life people met three times a week for 30-minute sessions in an area set up in the building's basement. They exercised either during lunch hours or after work. Activities included rhythmic calisthenics, jogging, and games intended to increase endurance and cardiovascular fitness.

Among the employees who worked out at least twice a week for six months, turnover was cut from 15% to 1.5% and absenteeism was reduced by 22% during the 10 months in 1977 and 1978 that the study was conducted. The physical effects among the majority of those who exercised regularly were "substantial gains in conventional measures of fitness, such as body fat, aerobic power, and flexibility," says Shephard.

A company thinking of starting a fitness program on a very modest budget should provide an area where there's room to move around and a place to change clothes and shower, Shephard says. While it's nice to have some exercise equipment, it isn't essential. What is essential is a qualified instructor who can put together an effective program and knows how to motivate people to join and stick with it.

"The best place to put your money is in good people, not fancy equipment," says Dr. Steven R. Levisohn, who helped develop a fitness program for employees of the National Fire Protection Assn. (NFPA), a nonprofit corporation in Quincy, Mass. Levisohn, an internist and a member of the Harvard Medical School faculty, helped start the Boston Fitness Group Inc. three years ago to work up fitness programs for companies and institutions.

At NFPA, the majority of employees were 30 to 45 years old and held white-collar, scientific, or managerial positions. Each participant was evaluated by a trained physical educator and given an individual "fitness prescription." Charles Tuck, 48, a senior editor of technical publications for NFPA, used the facilities three times a week for an hour. "After the plainful introduction," says Tuck, "I began to feel more energetic, I lost about 10 pounds, and -- it may sound a little silly -- I actually had more of a sense of well-being."

The floor space allocated for the NFPA program contains about 1,000 square feet with 600 square feet for exercising and the balance for showers and lockers. Equipment includes rowing machines, stationary bicycles, and treadmills to increase cardiovascular fitness and endurance; there are also Universal Gym Equipment for boosting strength and muscle tone, floor mats for stretching, and plain old jump ropes, which Levisohn calls "the simplest of fitness machines."

The company's cost is about $200 a year for each participant, says Levisohn. The most noticeable early effect of the program was weight loss.

One of the most important things Levisohn has learned from the NFPA experience, and from working with a small Massachusetts town's police force of 20 men, is that "it is possible to put together a fine facility that will accomplish most health and fitness goals at a price that makes it practical even for smaller businesses and organizations."

"I wish the message could get across that there is a cost-effective approach to developing exercise programs that's been used in every developed country in the world except the United States," says Dr. Robert C. Buxhaum, an internist at the Harvard Community Health Plan who for five years headed the Massachusetts Governor's Committee on Physical Fitness and Sports.

In Sweden, for example, it has been official policy for nearly 30 years to move the sedentary worker into a more active way of life. Studies there suggest that industrial exercise programs are associated with fewer sick days and fewer hospital admissions for those who participate.

For American companies located in an industrial park, Buxbaum suggests getting together with other firms and organizing a cooperative exercise facility. The park's owners might be approached to chip in for the facility as a lure to new tenants, and perhaps even to build a jogging or fitness trail around the area.

A major but often overlooked immediate benefit of a proprly designed workplce fitness program, Buxbaum adds, is "a decrease in back pain. This is one of the most important causes of employee absenteeism,and the main reason people have trouble with their backs is that they sit all the time."

If you want to get your employees off and moving toward fitness, you can obtain information on how to get started and where to find qualified instructors by contacting the American Association of Fitness Directors in Business and Industry. Its president, Dr. Dennis L. Colacino, welcomes inquiries at 700 Anderson Hill Rd., Purchase, NY 10577; (914) 253-2691.