Comment From Jason Morgan (SPARC)

The most compelling business case for active workplaces is the return on investment. For every dollar spent on workplace health/physical activity/wellness returns were:

Blue Cross $2.51 (American J Health Promotion, 1991)
Equitable Life $5.22 (Fitness in Business, Kouran, R., 1987)
Motorola $3.51 (Economic Impact of Employee Fitness, Fitness System, 1990)
DuPont $2.05 (Health Behaviours, Edington, D.W., 1992)
Johnson & Johnson 30% ROI (Preventative Medicine, 1990)

Peer review evidence also has also reported that active workplaces:
Improve decision making time and quality of decisions
Reduce mental errors
Boost morale
Improve efficiency
Improve focus or concentration

Absenteeism rates have reduced following an active workplace intervention:
Mesa Petroleum 50% lower than national average
General Mills 19% reduction while non participants increased number of days off by 69%
Northern Gas 80% fewer sick days
DuPont 14% fewer disability days (11,726 saved days)
Dallas Police Department 29% decrease while non-participant sick days increased by 5%

Employee turnover is lower in companies that support active workplaces
Canadian Life 32.6% lower turnover during 7 yr trial period
Tenneco 13% lower turnover during 10 year evaluation period (also reported that attracted different type of staff member which gave them a significant competitive advantage over competition)
Toronto Life turnover increased by 1.5% for non-participants but reduced by 15% for those involved in fitness programme.

Case Study One: Coors Brewing Company

Pay incentives for employees to live the corporate health image. Staff continuously qualified (assessment) for a 5% co-pay increase.

Cost: $585,900 p.a
ROI: $2.3 million p.a saving of wages lost to absenteeism and $1.9 million p.a savings on rehabilitation costs and cost avoidance
ROI Range: $1.24-$8.33 average $6.15
Return from: Absenteeism, medical costs, efficiency and productivity

Note: did not provide time or additional support to become more active. Employees worked together before, after work. High initial staff turnover (those not comfortable with changing work climate/culture particularly organisational expectations flowing from the productivity of healthier employees) but, became a preferred employer, attracted healthier staff.
[Source: Councils or America, 1991]

Coors got pretty excited and built a wellness centre. They also introduced the LifeCheck programme to their other wellness policies and programmes.

LIFECHECK: a successful, low touch, low tech, in-plant, cardiovascular disease risk identification and modification program.

Henritze J, Brammell HL, McGloin J.

Coors Wellness Center, Golden, Colorado 80401.

LIFECHECK, a voluntary, in-plant cardiovascular risk identification and modification program, was developed to complement Coors Wellness Center-based programs. LIFECHECK was offered to the 1,320 employees located at the Coors Engineering Center and Can Manufacturing Complex at the Coors Brewing Company. The initial 30-minute screening included height, weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking history, weekly Kcal expenditure, self-rating of health, and health effects of stress. Participants concluded the screening session with a wellness counselor who reviewed results and referred them to the appropriate intervention activities. The eight-week intervention was provided at the worksite and was available to all shifts. The intervention included an activity competition and activity classes; nutrition, hypertension, smoking, and lipid classes; a smoke-out day; one-on-one counseling; exercise equipment at four worksites; posters; traymats; table tents; and electronic messages. A total of 692 employees, 52% of those eligible, participated in the initial screening. Of these, 91% had one or more risk factors, and 33% had three to five cardiovascular disease risk factors. A total of 499 employees, 72% of those eligible, completed the follow-up screening. Thirty-two percent of the employees who participated in LIFECHECK had not used the Wellness Center in the eight years it had been open. There were significant changes in employees who completed the eight-week program for systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, weight, physical activity, and risk of ischemic heart disease within eight years

I will try to post a few case studies from time to time. Next post will contain a few links to workwhile sites on the net.