Recreation helps build healthy minds. In fact, while doing some research recently, I learned that studies have shown employees who engaged in some type of regular exercise were more committed to their organizations, and their outlook improved with regards to working with their supervisor and co-workers.
Exercise really puts a positive into employees’ lives.
The studies also showed that employees who engaged in regular exercise had reduced absenteeism. Employees who are healthy go to the doctor less often, which saves insurance companies money.
A big mistake employers make, however, is they don’t understand the importance of recreation.
They don’t realize the impact it can have on the overall health and well-being of their employees. They don’t understand how it contributes to productivity.
If they did understand this, they would see a major benefit in offering employees some kind of fitness or wellness program, and maybe also in providing an incentive for participating.
There are three steps employers can take if they want to effectively utilize the importance of recreation in their company:
- Educate yourself on the value of recreation for your business and your employees. There is a lot of information out there—books, online—that explains the benefits of recreation to the employer.
- Ensure you give your employees time to participate in your company’s fitness/wellness program. Allow them to slip away a few minutes early in the afternoon, or take a longer lunch, so they can get to the gym.
Employees who exercise at lunch time tend to come back to work feeling more mentally alert and more energized, which makes them more productive.
- Decide what you want to do—Do you want to offer an on-site fitness facility? Do you want to reimburse your employees for their gym memberships? Do you want to create a healthy living awareness program? Do you want to encourage employees to get away from their desks for at least 15 minutes a day and walk around the building/campus?
There are many different options available. You need to look at the costs of the initial investment and weigh that against other factors to determine the benefits of each option.
An Example
When I was working in HR for a manufacturing company, we had supervisors who would start the morning out with their employees by stretching together. They had a little fitness routine they all used to do together before everyone went to their stations and started working for the day.
There was a lot of value in this because most of what they did all day was repetitive motion, so the morning fitness routine would give employees the opportunity to warm up their muscles and get ready for the work day.
In fact, the director of the entire manufacturing operation was really into fitness; he competed in triathlons. So he put together a TV show for the employees called “The Adventure Race.”
It was a lot of fun working with him on this. What we would do was research different activities that people could participate in. Some of them were physically challenging; some were a combination of physical and mental challenges. The TV show definitely had a positive result.
This company is a great example of how to utilize the importance of recreation. I think more companies need to have fun options like this for employees.