Corporate Fitness Benefits
When we started Fitcorp in 1979, we were focused on helping busy professionals in greater Boston maintain a fit and healthy lifestyle despite the rigors of a busy schedule.
Today, that focus is more relevant than ever. Employees face a workplace that requires long hours, slow commutes, and often 24/7 connectivity. Tight timelines, higher expectations, increased competition – the pressure can be enormous on employer and employee alike.
Regular exercise and proper nutrition can help an individual feel better, look better and perform at peak capacity. You can help your employees to experience this. The result for you? Happier, more productive employees, stronger corporate morale, and lower health care costs. Support your employees and they will support you.
For a fraction of your overall heathcare budget, you can show your employees your commitment to their health and wellbeing.
A Fitcorp corporate membership means:
- Healthy, motivated, energetic employees
- Fewer sick days
- Lower healthcare costs
- A stronger employer/employee relationship
Imagine 35% of your current sedentary and overweight employees with ongoing health and weight problems successfully engaging in a fitness program. Imagine the positive impact on productivity and lower health care costs from this type of healthy success. When you partner with Fitcorp’s Corporate Fitness Program, this is the level of success you can expect.
At Fitcorp, we recognize that your employees are all at various levels of health and fitness, and some may be more willing than others to adopt a healthier lifestyle by incorporating exercise. Fitcorp’s professional and caring staff coupled with our personalized programs help you communicate the benefits of developing a health and fitness program to all segments of your workforce. This guarantees employee satisfaction, maximum participation and program impact, which translates into healthier, more productive and fitter employees in your organization.
Success
We monitor employee participation from our client companies and find that 30-35% of our new members are sedentary prior to joining Fitcorp. These findings demonstrate our ability to reach your employees who need health and fitness improvement the most. Call Vince Micucci today at 617-375-5600 x130 to learn how your company can become healthier and more productive and ultimately reduce your corporate health care costs.
Improving Employee Fitness
U.S. Surgeon General’s Report
The U.S. Surgeon General issued a historic report, Physical Activity and Health; the report indicated that exercise is the strongest common denominator for overall health and risk reduction. Research indicates that by developing reasonable levels of physical fitness, you can reduce your likelihood of developing premature cardiovascular disease and many forms of cancer by as much as 50%. The problem is that only 25% of Americans regularly pursue a fitness program.
Corporate Fitness Results and ROI
It is well documented why companies and institutions financially support and encourage employees to participate in fitness programs. Healthier employees have a positive impact on a company’s success. Employees who improve their fitness have lower health care costs, better productivity, fewer medical claims and reduced absenteeism. The result is a win-win situation for both your employee’s personal health and your company’s financial health. Research demonstrates the positive return on investment (ROI) for a well-designed employee fitness program.
Corporate Fitness and Health Care Costs
Approximately 85% of U.S. companies provide their employees’ health and fitness programs. Corporate fitness programs help alleviate the negative impacts of unhealthy employee behavior, such as obesity and smoking, on health care costs. Improving employee fitness is simply good for business.
Obesity
• Seventy percent of all illnesses are due to lifestyle-related causes such as obesity and physical inactivity.
Source: CDC & U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
• Obese individuals spend more on both health care services and medication than daily smokers and heavy drinkers. They spend 77% more on medications. Only aging has a greater effect–and only on expenditures for medications.
Source: RAND Corporation, 2005.
• Obesity increases costs in the workplace. The annual per capita increase in medical expenditures and absenteeism associated with obesity ranges from $450 to $2,500 per obese employee. The estimated cost of obesity at a firm with 1,000 employees is about $285,000 per year.
Source: IDEA Fitness Journal, January 2006.
Smoking
• Each smoker costs an employer an additional $3,856 a year in health care costs and lost productivity.
Source: Billings Gazette, December 10, 2005.
• Nationwide smoking attributable productivity losses from 1997-2001 cost $92 billion.
Source: Centers for Disease Control, June 2005.
Corporate Fitness Results and ROI
• For every dollar spent on employee fitness and prevention, the ROI yielded an average of $3.48 in direct health care savings.
Source: Benefits and Compensation Digest, December 2004.
• Employees who increased their activity levels from 0-1 times per week to more than 3 times per week reduced their medical claims by an average of $2,202 per year.
Source: Managed Care, 2004.
• U.S. health care costs doubled from 1990 to 2001 and are projected to double by 2012.
Source: Creating Healthy States: Building Healthy Worksites, February 2006.
• In 2006, employer health insurance premiums increased by 7.7%- two times the rate of inflation. The annual premium for an employer health plan covering a family of four averaged nearly $11,500. The annual premium for single coverage averaged more than $4,200.
Source: National Coalition on Health Care, 2007.
• Employers who invest in worksite health promotion programs can see a return of $3-$6 for every dollar invested over a 2-5 year period. Documented savings are observed in medical costs, absenteeism, worker’s comp claims, short-term disability and presenteeism (lower on-the-job efficiency due to employee health problems.)
Source: American Journal of Preventive Medicine, December 2005.
• The lifetime medical costs related to diabetes, heart disease, high cholesterol, hypertension, and stroke among the obese are $10,000 higher than among the non-obese. Among the overweight, lifetime medical costs can be reduced by $2,200 to $5,300 following a 10% reduction in body weight.
Source: The Economics of Obesity, 2001.
• There are over 600 articles that analyze the research and anecdotal evidence of the cost-effectiveness of worksite wellness programs. In a review of 42 of these articles, there has been shown to be a 28% reduction in sick leave absenteeism, 26% reduction in use of the health care benefit, 30% reduced worker’s comp claims and disability management and reduced presenteeism losses.
Source: The American Journal of Health Promotion, 2003.
Corporate Fitness Case Studies
Companies everywhere are experiencing the benefits of using corporate fitness programs by seeing lower health care costs and improved employee attitudes around the office.
Case Studies
• Medical claim costs were 55% lower among corporate fitness program participants than non-participants over a six year period- an average of $478.61 for participants, versus $869.98 for non-participants at Steelcase Corporation.
Source: The American Journal of Health Promotion, September/October 1991.
• On average, health care claim costs for IBM employees who exercise 1-2 times a week are $350 a year less than those who don’t exercise at all.
Source: BenefitNews.com, March 2006.
• Over five years, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Indiana realized a 250% return on its corporate fitness program investment—$2.51 for every $1 invested. Between 1990 and 2004, the number of obese adults in Massachusetts rose 80%. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts found that with every 1% increase in body mass index, an individual’s annual health care costs goes up $120.
Source: Boston Globe, March 22, 2006.
To learn more please contact Vince Micucci at vmicucci@fitcorp.com or 617.375.5600 x130