Later came the stresses involved with scaling a tiny company into a worldwide operation, adding dozens of new employees a week and outgrowing offices every few months. In the beginning, I was responsible for everything from marketing and HR to sales, product development and finance, often working 16-hour days for weeks at a stretch. It’s been a fun ride but not exactly the smoothest one. Over the past six years, we’ve grown from seven employees to a global operation with offices around the world. Incorporating just 2.5 hours of exercise per week into the workday led to a noticeable reduction in absences.Īs a personal aside, I don’t think I could have steered my company to where it is now without regular exercise. Perhaps most importantly, fit and healthy workers are less prone to exactly the kinds of preventable, debilitating illnesses that take such a heavy toll on families and on society. A 2011 study published in the Journal of Occupational & Environmental Medicine showed that incorporating just 2.5 hours of exercise per week into the workday led to a noticeable reduction in absences. Healthy, active employees take fewer sick days and bring more energy to the workplace. Then there are the longer-term benefits to keep in mind. Workers in the study were less likely to suffer from post-lunch energy dips after exercising and also reported improvements in mood. Sixty percent of employees said their time management skills, mental performance and ability to meet deadlines improved on the days they exercised. A study presented to the American College of Sports Medicine, for instance, found that workers who spent 30–60 minutes at lunch exercising reported an average performance boost of 15 percent. Time lost on exercise is made back and more in terms of improved productivity. I see employees return from workouts refreshed and better focused on their jobs. But even on a ruthlessly practical level, allowing and encouraging employees to exercise at work makes good sense. The manager’s job, after all, is to get results out of employees, not keep them fit. I’m picturing old-school managers out there rolling their eyes. And we made it clear that anyone could block off an hour for exercise during the day, provided it didn’t conflict with meetings and they made up the time (by having lunch at their desks, for instance).Įmployees return from workouts refreshed and better focused on their jobs. We encouraged employees to bike to work, even though that meant cramming our office entryway full of bikes because it was too sketchy to park outside. But we did hang a fingerboard on the wall for pull-ups. Back in the day, in our cramped startup offices on the industrial side of town, we couldn’t afford a gym (in fact, we couldn’t even afford phones). Having the right workplace culture is far more important. We have a hockey team and a road biking team and even a Quidditch team that does battle on broomsticks in the park.īut, when it comes to promoting fitness on the job, dedicated facilities and organized teams like these are hardly necessities. Groups set out from our office for lunchtime runs and evening hikes. In the gym, volunteers from our company lead sweaty bootcamps and cross-training classes. Yoga classes are packed before work, at lunch and after work. Facilities are modest compared to those at some companies, but they’re well used. When we moved into a new headquarters several years ago, we installed a small gym and yoga room, as well as showers and changing rooms. ![]() ![]() In my office - we’re a tech company with around 700 employees focused on social media - exercise before, during and after working hours is encouraged. My observations are anecdotal - pulled from experiences in my own company - but I think the lessons learned can apply more broadly. Given how critical fitness is to overall health, I think it’s worth taking a look at exercise in the one place where nearly all of us will spend a good chunk of our lives: the workplace. ![]() Nonetheless, nearly 80 percent of American adults don’t get the recommended amount of exercise each week (2.5 hours of moderate aerobic activity or 1 hour and 15 minutes of vigorous activity). It’s no secret that regular exercise and a good diet can dramatically reduce rates of heart disease. Far too many of these deaths were preventable.
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