Landing a corporate account can have a huge positive impact on your club’s bottom line. Here’s what you should know to seal the deal.
Take a look around your workplace and at your employees. What do you see? Do you notice that while everyone is talking about fitness nowadays, the health of your coworkers is deteriorating? In fact, it has been statistically discovered that employees working in desk jobs are unhealthier than the rest of the population. Indeed, factors such as sore eyes, back pain, incessant noise, bad eating habits and negative moral vibes at the office cause a large amount of stress especially when combined. Obesity, lack of physical exercise and smoking along with stress are the biggest contributors to high healthcare costs and low productivity.
Many health and wellness programs have been implemented by companies in the hopes of increasing productivity and morale, and reducing absenteeism and business costs associated with chronic diseases and disorders. Many have reported that these kinds of programs have had positive effects on employee health and job performance, and have resulted in cost savings for the companies that provide them.
So why haven’t you invested in these beneficial programs? A myth we need to put to rest is that these projects are expensive to implement. In fact, according to some research gathered by WELCOA (Wellness Councils of America), wellness programs are directly associated with reduction of health care costs and expenditures, absenteeism, turnover and sick leave usage, giving them a positive return on investment.
Here are some of the statistics from these findings:
• Coca Cola reports saving $500 every year per employee after implementing a fitness program, with only 60% of their employees participating.
• Pacific Bell reported overall absenteeism decreased after implementing a program.
• Coors Brewing Co. reported that for each dollar spent on their corporate fitness program, they saw a $5.50 return, and the employees who participated reduced their absentee rate by 18%.
• Prudential Insurance Company reported that the benefits costs for employees participating in their program were $312, as opposed to $574 for non-participants.
So where should you begin? There are two things we need to consider in order to answer this question: the things we need to reduce and the things we need to implement. Considering a reduction usually implies a lifestyle change, I will leave that part up to wellness program consultants and focus on implementation. You have surely noticed an increase in companies integrating exercise facilities within their corporate offices. Consider adding one of these facilities filled with strength and cardiovascular equipment to your workplace. After all, what better way to reduce obesity and other related health problems than strength training and cardio? It dramatically reduces stress, develops good habits (thus minimizes occurrences of smoking and unhealthy eating), provides more energy and favors a sociable environment. So reward your employees and your company at the same time.
Alec Baltadjian is the Marketing Director of Atlantis Strength Equipment. He can be contacted at 877/454-2285 extension 250 or by email at abaltadjian@atlantis-fit.com .
