Are you wondering how to improve the health and happiness of your workers? Did you know that obesity in the U.S. alone is 42.4%?

Are you looking for ways to get your workers to have more fun and maintain their health by doing fitness at work? In this article, explore why it's vital to encourage fitness for your employees. Read on to discover how you can ensure that your workers are exercising regularly, and why it's so vital to the productivity and health of your workers.

1. Reduce Call-Ins

Whether you're noticing a lack of productivity at work or an increase in call-ins and workers not showing up, fitness can improve this. Every day millions of employees are lost due to lower back problems.

Whether you're considering building workplace gyms or starting fitness programs, a program with weight loss and muscle building can help. When you strengthen the core muscles you're helping to improve your back muscles. When your workers are healthy and not calling in as much, that can mean a reduction in disability and other conditions.

2. Motivated Employees

Employees will feel more motivated when they notice that their company cares about their health and well-being. This is also due to workers having more energy when they stay active throughout the day instead of just sitting at a desk without moving.

3. Decreased Healthcare Costs

Proper exercise and nutrition equate to more productive days and fewer visits to the doctor. Even if it's just 20 minutes a day it can help reduce the chances of developing heart disease and diabetes.

4. Decreased Stress

Stressed-out employees who don't have time for exercise can have stress build up fast. They might wind up with more visits to the doctor, skip meals, or feeling down overall.

Exercise helps improve mental health to deal with stress better. This is due to exercise reducing the cortisol levels in the body. Cortisol is a stress hormone.

The reduction in cortisol means you'll release endorphins that help you relax. Get your team members moving and you might notice a more productive day.

5. Employee Retention

Companies that offer fitness programs are more likely to retain their employees. This is due to many employees seeing the value in different wellness programs and appreciating it. For example, employees enjoy fitness programs that have exercise classes they can enroll in.

6. Forming Bonds

Having fitness programs at work such as a gym encourages workers to connect outside of work as well. A private gym will help foster these bonds and can lead to working together on a professional level.

Fitness Can Be Fun

Whether you offer discounts at gyms or have a facility right at your office, there are plenty of ways to encourage fitness. When you're looking into a Business Insurance Broker for healthcare services, if you decide you don't have enough leftover for fitness at work, consider a walking club at lunchtime.

Or, you can start a sport's activity either during work or right after. For example, it can be soccer or baseball. This is a great way to increase bonds in the workplace as well as employee health.

In addition to fitness, you can consider adding an option to quit smoking and offering incentives for weight loss. If you offer restaurant gift cards, make sure that it's to a location with plenty of healthy options.

Stretches at the Desk

Encourage your employees to do stretches right at their desk when they're busy working. For example, they can do wrist rolls to keep them functioning properly.

Wrist Rolls

To do this, roll your wrist about every hour. Do 10 times clockwise and 10 times anticlockwise. It'll help with preventing carpal tunnel syndrome.

Lower Back Stretch

First, you'll want to sit forward in your chair and have one knee move toward your chest. Grab the back of your thigh and pull it toward you.

While doing this, keep your back straight and don't lean forward. Hold this position for 30 seconds. Once you're done on one side, relax, and then repeat on the opposite side.

Reach

To do a reach ensure that you sit up straight and have your arms stretch up with your fingers together. Have your palms face the ceiling as your chin lifts up, and tilt your head back.

While doing this, inhale, exhale, and then relax. You'll want to extend the left hand higher and then the right.

Make Your Office Fun

Instead of having desks, why not consider standing desks so that your workers aren't sitting all day? At desks, consider ergonomic keyboards and desks with exercise balls. You can even have step counters to encourage your workers to walk more.

Go Digital

To get your workers in on staying healthy, you can go healthy with both exercise and health measures. Whether you use step challenges with prizes, or workout sessions is up to you. For example, you can hold different events where workers try to see who can do the most pushups, situps, or walk the furthest each day.

Educate

Another way to get your workers on board with exercise is to educate them on the benefits of health and nutrition. When people are aware of the numerous health benefits of a healthy diet and exercise, they're more likely to stick to it.

The Importance of Encouraging Fitness at Work

Now that you've explored the importance of encouraging fitness at work and how to do so, you should have a better idea of why it's so vital. Would you like to read more health content? For everything from health to fitness, check out our other articles today.