Are Office Gyms Worth it?

Today I'd like to talk about Office Gyms. 

The Office Gym has been a subject of heated conversation between business owners of late and Clinical Health Appraisals would like to weight in.  First of all, many employers think that office gyms are too much of an expense to make available to their employees.  They think it would be much easier and cheaper to offer gym memberships or on-site testing clinics to their employees.  While these options are good, the current Wellness Employee Trends Study of 2012-a survey provided to employees through Healthiest Employers LLC-found that employees much prefer on-site exercise facilities to on-site clinics or nurses.  The survey also found that most employees are greatly interested in improving their exercise and nutrition habits over such programs as smoking cessation.  Exercise and overall-heath also ranked in the top two slots as the  most important health-related topics employees were concerned with.  Overall, the survey shows that employees are concerned with fitness and overall bodily health and not as concerned with targeted programs as smoking cessation and diabetes management.  So what do we do with this information?  Many employees that participated in the study expressed a desire for on-site exercise facilities and for good reason.  One, if an on-site facility is provided, they don't have to compete with the public for their favorite machines and often feel more comfortable exercising in a small facility than in a mega-gym with hundreds of other people-some of whom like to stare awkwardly at you until you get off "their" machine.  Two, if they can fit in exercise during their lunch hour or right before or after work, they don't have to spend the time and gas to go out of their way to another facility-something that is incredibly important to the increasingly busier employee.  Three, an on-site facility has added tax benefits to the employers.  Until the Workforce Health Improvement Program Act gets passed in Congress-it has died every year since 2007 when it was introduced-an employer cannot deduct the cost of off-site gym memberships like it can the cost of setting up on on-site facility.  If an employer only offers off-site gym memberships, they may have to pay employment taxes as the membership is considered a fringe benefit and they must add it to the employees' W-2 as income.  If the Act gets passed, employers will be able to deduct both on and off-site gym memberships without including them as income.  Until that happens however, the best way to go is with an on-site facility.  Especially if the company already has an unused space that can be converted into a small gym, cost of facility instillation can quickly be overshadowed by the benefit of having healthier, happier employees. 

Thanks you reading and have a healthy, happy week!

Links to the 2012 Wellness Employee Trends Study-you will have to log in:
https://www.research.net/s/HealthiestEmployersProfile?utm_source=Promo-Profile-0313&utm_campaign=Update+Profile+Email&utm_medium=email
Link to the Lynchburg Business Magazine's article-Office Gyms: The Benefits, the Legalities
http://www.lynchburgbusinessmag.com/mag/office-gyms-the-benefits-the-legalities/