Today, we begin the first of a four-part series on why your organization should lead with wellness and fitness, followed by subsequent blogs with tips and tricks to get you there!
I was fortunate to be in the Army in my early adult life. One of the perks of the Army is that you are paid to work out every day and keep fitness top of mind. Likewise, the Army has weight standards that each soldier needs to meet. It was part of your role description and responsibility. An unfit soldier will put himself and his unit at risk. I, therefore, had the pleasure and pain to exercise regularly. Sometimes, it was exhilarating, like singing cadence at the top of your lungs while on a battalion run. Other times brutal, such as the yearly Obstacle Course administered by the Department with a Heart at West Point. Exercise and maintaining your weight standard were good, necessary, and part of your job description! While the Army has other wellness areas that continue to improve, they had the fitness component down.
My life changed when I left the military and joined the corporate well in the early 90’s. Early morning calls replaced morning PT. Long hours on planes and in front of a computer slinging code affected my health. At the time, it seemed that fitness and taking care of myself was no longer part of my job description or even opposed to it.
Companies and I at that time did not yet see the impact of wellness on work. The drive for more billable hours and seemingly higher productivity dominated. This corporate culture (or my take on it) resulted in weight gain, loss of my health, and a decline in productivity over time.
Luckily, the corporate culture and my thought processes changed around 2010. Corporate wellness programs, such as those at Google, Microsoft, GE, Salesforce, and Accenture, to name some of the top ones, are now focused on fitness and the human aspects of work. I greatly advocate for these programs and credit the wellness programs of my prior company as instrumental in turning my life around. It is why my wife and I started our company, Wellness Leadership, LLC. To read about the five corporate programs that helped restore my health, click the link in the show notes titled Five Corporate Wellness Programs that Saved My Life.
Before jumping into my three top reasons for investing in the wellness of your employees, let me give you a few statistics. I got this from a compilation of several sources on the Gapin Institute website.
- Companies with highly effective health and wellness programs report 11% higher revenue per employee, 1.8 fewer days absent per employee per year, and 28% greater shareholder returns.
In companies that provide health and wellness support:
- 91 percent of their employees say they feel motivated to do their best (vs. 38 percent of those without)
- 89 percent of their employees are more likely to recommend their company as a good place to work ( vs. 17 percent)
- 91 percent of their employees have a positive relationship with supervisors (vs. 54 percent)
Expanding upon these facts, let me give you my take on why I think a focus on the wellness of the members of an organization improves an organization’s outcomes.
Here are my top three reasons why:
- Improves Decision Making. The enemy of all good decisions is stress. Exercise and fitness help relieve stress and keep away fatigue. A simple 20-minute walk will provide a few minutes to clear your mind, allowing you to focus on the problem. Better yet, get up and walk around the office during a phone meeting when things get heated. The simple step of standing up will shake off the cobwebs that tend to collect during back-to-back calls.
- Builds Comradery. The best thing about the Army was the camaraderie. One way it was built was through morning PT. While I am not advocating that each company go on a company run each morning, I recommend a common fitness program to build spirit de corps. Such a common fitness program helped me to know my colleagues better through fitness events (MS 150, Annual Veterans Walk, etc.) and programs (active rewards programs, Fitbit competition). One simple example was a random competition I and some colleagues engaged in one Saturday. One of my friends started a Fitbit weekend competition, and although we were all in different states, we kept apprised of the others’ progress. We all engaged in friendly and sometimes hilarious banter through the Fitbit app as we each surpassed 10 miles.
- Reduces Sick Days. Staying fit helps to keep you out of the doctor’s office and in yours during working hours. Research conducted at Brigham Young University, the Center for Health Research at Healthways, and the Health Enhancement Research Organization suggests unhealthy eating is linked with a 66% increased risk of loss of productivity. In comparison, lack of exercise is associated with a 50% increased risk of low productivity. My experience bears this out. Before returning to fitness, I was habitually hit with bronchitis and, at least twice a year, pneumonia. Both resulted in sick days and loss of productivity when I worked through it. Since returning to my target weight and improved fitness, I have had neither bronchitis nor pneumonia. I’m not sure how many days have been saved, but approximately a week a year. There was an increase in productivity on those days when I should have been recovering, and I drove through and worked despite my illness.
These are the top three reasons an organization should focus on member wellness. Increased productivity, esprit de corps and better decisions are just three reasons wellness is imperative in the work world. In blogs over the next few weeks, I will further discuss 15 guidelines for the Well Led organization. Until then, lead through wellness!
