How Fitness Activity Boosts your Employee Productivity

For years, physical activity has been considered one of the most effective ways to boost employee productivity. Even though we usually focus on its physical health benefits, you need to keep in mind that exercise plays a fundamental role in boosting your employees’ alertness, creativity, tolerance and, above all, satisfaction. Namely, numerous studies have pointed out that employees who work out regularly are more likely to rate their job performance higher.

Here is how providing your employees with fitness activity programs may boost your employees’ motivation and productivity.

Enhanced Alertness and Energy

Always have in mind that your employees spend a great deal of time sitting at their desks. As the workload is constantly piling up, they usually don’t have enough time to prepare healthy snacks or stretch their legs. Consequently, such unhealthy lifestyle will take its toll on their overall productivity, resulting in the feeling of fatigue, indecisiveness, learning problems and forgetfulness.

By encouraging your employees to exercise regularly, you’re doing them a great favor. Namely, there is a part of our brains, so-called hippocampus, which responds strongly to any form of physical activity. In other words, while your employees are working out, their brains are getting some serious workout, as well.  As hippocampus is responsible for our learning and memory processes, stimulating it with regular exercising might significantly sharpen your workers’ alertness, memory and concentration. This way, they will be able to make important decisions quickly and tackle big and stressful projects more successfully.

Better Mental Health

Today, nearly 1 in 5 U.S. adults suffers from a diagnosable mental health issue. Even though many businesses believe that an employee’s mental health is none of their business, that’s not true. One’s reduced productivity, absenteeism and constantly rising healthcare costs might greatly affect your company’s budget. According to some recent stats, mental diseases and substance abuse issues cost business owners between $79 and $105 billion on an annual basis.

One of the most effective ways to address this problem is to promote a healthy lifestyle. Namely, by improving the creation of serotonin, dopamine and endorphins, exercise enhances feelings of well-being and happiness. In other words, it will contribute to the overall employee satisfaction and help individuals beat anxiety and depression. To support this statement, reports show that that the workers who work out regularly are less likely to lose control of their actions.

Illness Prevention

Healthy employees reduce healthcare costs. Namely, those workers who lead a healthy lifestyle are less likely to call in sick. Such activities increase people’s stamina, boost their immune system, manage chronic conditions and reduce the risk of many health issues, including type 2 diabetes, obesity, hypertension and heart diseases. As a business owner, you can even find a way to measure the impact of their health on their overall workplace performance, absence, presence and other vital factors.

Effective Team Building

Teamwork is the foundation of every successful business. So, in order to focus on your business’ growth, you first need to invest a lot of effort in effective team building strategies, as well as inspire mutual tolerance and trust.

Precisely because of this, you could make various physical activities part of your team building. For instance, organize fun activities such as dancing, marathons, softball and basketball games. You could even raise these events to a higher level by purchasing Nike, Adidas or Ivy Park sportswear for the whole staff, such as t-shirts and baseball caps. Apart from reducing stress and anxiety levels, these activities will greatly contribute to creating well-played teams and nurturing trusting relationships between your employees.

Conclusions

Finally, the implementation of physical activity into the workplace is significant for both business owners and their workforce. For your employees, such practices mean that they will be able to reach company goals and at the same time, maintain both their physical and mental health. On the other hand, companies will improve the workplace atmosphere, save money on health care costs and, most importantly, boost the overall productivity. Hopefully, by incorporating various physical fitness programs, you will keep your well-oiled machine running in top form for years.

Tell us, what fitness activity programs do your offer to your employees?