Hey there, It's Calgary Corporate Fitness Trainer, Sarah! absenteeism
It really boggles my mind when I hear how many people view regular exercise as an inconvenience, or something they "just don't have time for"! I do understand that life can get extremely busy when trying to juggle work, family, friends and other social obligations, but what I don't understand is why a daily workout doesn't fit on the "things to do list".
One of my favorite sayings is, "how you do anything is how you do everything". If you don't take care of yourself through regular exercise, a healthy diet and proper rest ….how can you possibly take care of others around you? How can you be effective at work if you feel lethargic, achy and overweight?
Unfortunately as we get older, our health becomes less of a priority until it's too late, and then we panic when something goes wrong, and desperately seek a quick "band-aid" cure to take away the pain! Well, I know through personal experience and working with my clients that "band-aid" cures do not work long term. Our health must be a priority and exercise must be a part of our daily routine…and this does not need to be complicated.
A great way to ensure a healthy lifestyle with regular exercise, is to incorporate a workplace fitness program! It would make things so much easier for many people who spend the majority of their time at work right?
It's no longer a matter of speculation. Consistent with the newly emerging work site wellness literature, there are tangible benefits associated with work site wellness programs. Awareness of physical, mental and emotional energy levels (how you feel); and health-enhancing food choices as a new, positive paradigm for success. Its philosophy is very clear, effective, and is sustainable long-term. Contrary to the prevailing diet industry, there are no gimmicks, pre-packaged meals, or quick-fix, cure-all pills.
Unlike traditional diet programs, Calgary Corporate Fitness's approach to health & fitness does not advocate the outdated paradigms of calorie counting, the use of scales, and dieting. Instead, we promote a program that facilitates tracking of body composition and other indicators of health (including blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar).
It is becoming more evident that the band-approach to health care is ineffective and extremely costly for companies long term and immediately.
Let's use absenteeism for example.
When an employee calls in sick, how much productivity is your company losing?
Or even worse, when an unhealthy employee comes to work and they are unproductive, lethargic and mentally drained…how productive are they?
As an employer you must consider the money lost in productivity in addition to the lost money in wadges!
So, how many unhealthy employees are you paying for?
Let's take a look at this assumption:
The cost of a Workplace Fitness program vs. the cost ofAbsenteeism(We based our assumptions on companies with approximately 150 employees)
- A recent survey showed that the average rate of absenteeism on any given day is approximately 2.5% (i.e. approximately 4 employees absent out of 150 total employees)
- The cost of a sick day is calculated as (salary + 30% employer costs) divided by 240 working days
Let's assume the average wage in our example is $40,000 per year.
The employer's average cost of a sick day is calculated as: ($40,000 + $12,000) =$217 per day divided by 240.
Let's also assume there are 4 absences a day(per the aforementioned survey):
$217 X 4 =$868 per dayX 240(working days) = approximately $208,000 per year or $1,387 per employee per year, based on 150 employees.
The average cost of absenteeism is $1,387 per employee per year.
Our Calgary Corporate Fitness, workplace wellness programs are designed to improve employee health by encouraging regular fitness programs and a variety of wellness practices to help facilitate a healthy lifestyle. Based on other company's previous experience with our program the anticipated reduction in absenteeism would be approximately 17.5%, amounting to savings of $243 per employee, per year.
As employers you can't force your employees to maintain a healthy active lifestyle. Nor can you ensure that they maintain a healthy work-life balance, but you can give them the tools to help guide them on a healthy lifestyle!
Let us help you!
In Health,
~ Sarah
