OVERVIEW
This toolkit provides you with some basic information to help you start a worksite physical activity and fitness program. Physical activity complements other important lifestyle behaviors such as eliminating tobacco use, good nutrition, and preventive screenings. A comprehensive employee health promotion program can help employees in all these areas. We suggest you utilize the information in this toolkit to complement a more comprehensive health promotion/wellness program.
Your worksite is an ideal location to reach a captive group of individuals. With your existing infrastructure, you can offer programs and services at a lower cost and with less time commitment by the employee than many programs. According to 2000 census data, 65% of the U.S. population aged sixteen years and older is employed,1 which means companies such as yours have the chance to help improve and maintain the health of the majority of adult Americans and play an integral role in reducing the increasing burden to our healthcare system.
You already know that increasing health care costs are reducing your bottom line. Some firms try shifting a greater burden of these costs to employees, but that does not lessen the considerable financial impact employers face in absenteeism and reduced employee productivity among employees who do not take care of their health. It is important to recognize the total economic impact of employee health on your organization’s success through direct costs, indirect costs such as absenteeism and presenteeism (an employee is at work, but is not productive due to illness, an emotional problem, or life circumstance), employee satisfaction, and retention as well as reputation.
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