Impact of a facility-based corporate fitness program on the number of absences from work due to illness
Article Abstract:
An association has been found between employee participation in company exercise programs and attendance at work. This association may be partially due to self-selection, that is, the employee choosing to participate in the program may also be less likely to miss work. A comparison was made of employee absenteeism due to illness before and after participation in a corporate fitness program. The study also compared employees who did and did not participate in the program concerning change in their absenteeism. The findings indicated a reliable association between participation in the program and work attendance. Although nonparticipants experienced no significant change in the number of days absent, participants in the program reduced their absenteeism by 0.42 day for men and 1 day for women per year. When the absences were controlled for age, sex, and illness absences in the preprogram year, participants could be expected to be absent 1.2 fewer days than nonparticipants in the year after the program was instituted. The greatest benefits of the program in terms of reduced absences were realized by those who participated in the program most frequently. Also, workers who had higher absentee rates preprogram could expect to have the greatest reduction in absences from program participation. It is possible that some of the results obtained were due to the fact that those who elected to participate in the program already had lower absentee rates than those who did not. In conclusion, frequent participation combined with a large number of absences prior to participation provided the greatest potential for reducing absenteeism. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Journal of Occupational Medicine
Subject: Health care industry
ISSN: 0096-1736
Year: 1990
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Work-site health promotion: an economic model
Article Abstract:
Health promotion programs are common at work sites in the United States. The cost of health care is constantly increasing, and the health promotion programs are expected to have a beneficial effect on the morale of the employee, to provide some offset to reductions in benefits, and to provide a way to improve productivity. This study presents an economic model that approaches health promotion programs from the vantage of the chief fiscal officer, as an investment that has great potential. The outcome of this study can aid the corporate decision-making process in terms of health promotion activities, and can further focus on targets that can enhance the benefits of health promotion activities. A statistical model that describes the employee population by age groups and years of exposure to HPP, a total of 24 combinations, is outlined. In addition, various scenarios concerning interactions between employee age, costs, and program effectiveness are put forth. The various interactive combinations are analyzed and summarized. The study concludes that firms with a stable, highly productive, older employee population will most likely find health promotion activities to be sound financial investments. Individual, optimal programs should be developed for each company, as no one program meets all situations. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)
Publication Name: Journal of Occupational Medicine
Subject: Health care industry
ISSN: 0096-1736
Year: 1991
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: The effect of quality information on consumer health plan switching: evidence from the Buyers Health Care Action Group
- Abstracts: The value of mentors and facilitators in the pursuit of excellence. Individual and community models for promoting wellness
- Abstracts: Locations of fatal work injuries in the United States: 1980 to 1985. A general mortality study of production workers in the paint and coatings manufacturing industry
- Abstracts: Evaluation of recruitment strategies for prospective studies of spontaneous abortion. Predictive identification of hypersusceptible individuals
- Abstracts: Acute psychoses associated with the use of ciprofloxacin and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole. Eosinophilic meningitis associated with ciprofloxacin