The Effects of Fitness Centers in Office Buildings

Because of rising employee health care costs, an increasing number of companies have invested in corporate wellness programs and office fitness centers. "One-third of employers said they had such programs in a 2008 MetLife survey," according to USA Today. With the worldwide recession still going strong as of 2010, some companies are now re-evaluating their wellness programs.

Advantages

• Advantages to having access to a fitness center at work include lower medical costs for the company, higher-producing employees and higher employee moral. Employees will call in sick less often because working out makes them healthier. "Statistics show that healthy workers are more productive, require fewer doctor visits and call in sick less often," reports the American Council of Exercise.

  In addition, because the employees feel the company cares about them by providing a fitness center, they are more likely to come to work and work harder while there. Employees pressed for time do not have to drive to and from an outside gym, but can spend that time working out instead, and can save money on health club dues.

  The employer, himself, can take a productive break by using the fitness center. "Rather than worrying about employees who are wasting countless hours on the Internet or chatting in the office coffee room, they can take a legitimate and useful break in the gym," states the website Family.com.

Disadvantages

• Adding a fitness center is costly and chances are the employees will not use it. "Jill Dorris, Worksite Health Promotion Consultant, who has created wellness programs for Resmed since 2000, said she has seen mixed results, with some employees making a true lifestyle change, others falling back to old habits and many opting out of the programs entirely," according to the American Council of Exercise. Extra money such as monetary incentives and resources such as hiring fitness instructors may be needed to motivate employees to actually use the fitness center.

  In times of economic hardship, employees are often more concerned with just working than eating right and exercising. Unless the addition of a fitness center is properly managed, it may ultimately result in financial loss for the company instead of gain.

Considerations

• Because it is difficult to gauge the success of fitness centers, it is hard for human resource departments to justify the expense to the company CFO. "It can take years to analyze the impact of these programs, and even then, the return on investment isn't always clear," reported USA Today.