As employees and employers face higher health care costs, worksite wellness centers becoming increasingly more important to help control the costs of health care and encourage healthy lifestyle behaviors among the workforce, a Mayo Clinic study says. Research published this month in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine shows that members of Mayo Clinic’s employee wellness center, the Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center (DAHLC), who regularly participated in wellness activities, experienced significant weight loss and health care costs savings.

“A well-planned comprehensive wellness center can engage and retain members, which can ultimately lead to important savings in health care costs and reductions in BMI,” says lead researcher Bijan Borah, Ph.D.

For the study, the researchers used data from 3,199 members who were continuously enrolled in the DAHLC for three years and their attendance was categorized by number of visits to the fitness center.

Important results from the study include:

Compared to members who visited the DAHLC 1–60 times in the three-year period, members with 181–360 visits were 46 percent more likely to have weight loss, while the individuals with the most visits (more than 360) were 72 percent more likely to have weight loss.

Compared with the mean annual health care cost of $13,267 for 1–60 visits, the mean for subjects with 61–180 visits, 181–360 visits, and more than 360 visits had significantly lower costs at $9,538, $9,332 and $8,293, respectively. “The significant association between health care costs and the frequency of wellness center visits, implying an average cost difference of $4,974 between the top and bottom quartiles of the DAHLC users, is too strong to ignore,” says Dr. Borah. “While the use of DAHLC is unlikely the only mediator of either weight control or health care costs, workplaces that are able to offer comprehensive wellness facilities may be capable of achieving similar gains irrespective of individuals’ activity pursuits at the facility.”

HealthEase offers this takeaway: More companies should offer onsite fitness centers to improve employee wellness and lower health care costs. Employees who have access to an onsite fitness center should use it regularly – several times a week – to get the most health and fitness benefits!

Armand Tecco

As president and founder of HealthEase, Armand is dedicated to his corporate clients and helping them achieve their goals for employee wellness. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Fitness Management from West Chester University and a Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology from Temple University. Armand is also certified through the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Strength & Conditioning Association.

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What is the definition of a great place to work? Tony Schwartz says it begins with a work environment that enables and encourages all employees to regularly refuel and renew themselves, both on and off the job – that is what makes them capable of bringing the best of themselves to work.

Tony Schwartz is the CEO and founder of The Energy Project and bestselling author of The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working. A frequent keynote speaker, Tony has also trained and coached CEOs and senior leaders at organizations including Apple, Google, the LAPD, and the Cleveland Clinic. Here are more of Tony’s thoughts…

Energy is our most precious resource. In physics, it’s defined starkly as “the capacity to do work.” Higher demand in the absence of sufficient rest and renewal means less energy. Less energy means less capacity.

The simplest measure of a great place to work is how it makes employees feel to work there day in and day out. That requires meeting the four core needs of their employees: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.

Physical energy, the foundation of all other dimensions of energy, is comprised of sleep, fitness, nutrition, and intermittent daytime rest and renewal. Along this line, Tony advises companies to:

1. Create places for employees to rest and renew during the course of the working day and encourage them to take intermittent breaks. Ideally, bosses should permit afternoon naps, which fuel higher productivity in the hours that follow.

2. Offer a well-equipped fitness center that encourages employees to move physically and stay fit. There should be incentives for employees to use the facilities, including during the workday as a source of renewal.

3. Provide healthy, high quality food, at the lowest possible prices, including in vending machines.

Is there any question that if people feel healthier, happier, more focused and more purposeful at work, they will perform better?

Armand Tecco

As president and founder of HealthEase, Armand is dedicated to his corporate clients and helping them achieve their goals for employee wellness. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Fitness Management from West Chester University and a Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology from Temple University. Armand is also certified through the American College of Sports Medicine and the National Strength & Conditioning Association.

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