Rocky Mountain Mutual Case: Memo What can reduce company healthcare costs and absenteeism -- and also enhance the positive feelings of employees for the company? The answer is simple: exercise. As Americans are growing increasingly heavy and inactive, the healthcare costs to treat chronic illnesses like diabetes and heart disease are spiraling out of control. At our own company, there is a clear correlation between lower healthcare costs and more frequent use of the fitness facility. Fitter employees tend to be more productive, given the positive feel-good chemicals released by exercise, and because of the enhanced self-esteem of looking better and feeling in control of one's eating habits.

Offering an on-site fitness facility promotes healthy behaviors. One of the most commonly-cited reasons that people do not exercise is time, and being able to workout right before or after work, or during their lunch hour enables employees to exercise even if they have a busy schedule....

While it is true that it has been difficult to encourage employees to make use of the facility, over the long-term it will provide meaningful cost savings to the company, more so than the short-term savings generated by closing the fitness center.
Instead, more intensive promotions to encourage workers to make use of the center, such as staging a 'Body Fat Challenge' with prizes for the worker who lowers his or her BMI by the end of the month, or offering an award to the worker who runs the most miles, would give workers additional motivations to take part in activities and see exercise as exciting and beneficial. These types of activities also build a friendly sense of competition and teamwork that will better enable the organization to realize its goals. It is critical that Rocky Mountain does not ignore the current anti-obesity trend and close the…