Executive Summary

The Business Case for Active Living at Work is a comprehensive online resource aimed at helping Canadians achieve the many benefits of being more physically active to, from and in the workplace.

Developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada in partnership with the Canadian Council for Health and Active Living at Work.

• details the advantages of being active in the workplace;
• summarizes the research that has been done;
• provides information about what works;
• suggests ways to get started;
• provides a template that can be used to develop a business case for active living in your own organization; and
• stresses the need for a supportive workplace environment.

Executive Summary Highlights:

• Active Living: The key to longer life, better health and quality of life as we age
• Physical activity can help prevent serious illnesses and reduce benefit costs
• But why physical activity at work?
• Active living policies make good business sense
• Results from the Third Tri-Annual Buffet Taylor National Wellness Survey
• Businesses who support active living get a real return on investment.
• Key elements to introducing a successful active living at work program
• Showcasing success through case studies of businesses who 'walk the talk'

Active Living: The key to longer life, better health and quality of life as we age

Researchers in the health and wellness fields have been providing information on the need for physical activity in the lives of people for more than 30 years.  However, the majority of Canadians still are not active enough to gain health benefits.

Increasing physical activity levels in Canada will not only improve the health and well-being of Canadians, but also has the potential to produce significant savings to businesses and Canada's health-care system alike.

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Physical activity can help prevent serious illnesses and reduce benefit costs

Canada's Physical Activity Guide to Healthy Active Living lists the health risks of inactivity as premature death, heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, adult-onset diabetes, osteoporosis, stroke, depression, colon cancer and premature death.

As well, health-care professionals point out that physical activity helps to maintain quality of life and greater independence as people age.  The best 'anti-aging prescription' is regular physical activity.

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But why physical activity at work?

There are many compelling reasons.  For example, 16 million Canadians spend one half of their waking hours at work.  A majority cite time as their major impediment to increasing their physical activity.  It is vital, therefore, to find ways of increasing physical activity to, from and at the workplace.

Employees who aren't physically active can have a negative impact on businesses, such as:

• increased employee benefit costs;
• reduced productivity;
• decreased employee satisfaction;
• increased absenteeism;
• increased short- and long-term disability payments; as well as
• increased levels of worker's compensation.

Fatigue, inattention, and accidents are also more common among inactive employees.  In fact, research suggests that physical inactivity is as dangerous to your health as smoking.

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Active living policies make good business sense, as research shows us that healthier employees result in:

• lower health-care costs;
• lower turnover rates;
• reduced absenteeism;
• fewer medical claims;
• higher productivity; and
• improved employee morale.

Forty percent of workers say that one of the best ways their employers can help them improve their health is to provide recreational or exercise facilities at or near the workplace.

Providing a workplace supportive of physical activity can help recruit and retain employees, since workers report that physical activity is a way to reduce stress.  Employees' stress-related disorders cost Canadian businesses an estimated $12 billion per year (Vanier Institute of the Family).

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Results from the Third Tri-Annual Buffet Taylor National Wellness Survey prove that workplace wellness programs need to specifically include physical activity and that workplace wellness is becoming increasingly important to the Canadian business community.

Workplace wellness programs need to include physical activity

The Third Tri-Annual Buffet Taylor National Wellness Survey shows that workplace wellness is becoming increasingly important to the Canadian business community. A total of 429 businesses representing 687,275 employees representation of the Canadian marketplace.

The results showed that 19.6%of companies are offering comprehensive worksite wellness programs and 83% are offering some wellness initiatives. The top four reasons why these companies offer worksite wellness programs are:

• 31.4% consider healthy employees a valuable asset;
• 20.9% want to promote a healthy lifestyle;
• 14.1% want to reduce absenteeism; and
• 9.8% want to contain the costs of benefit programs.

While 34.3% of the companies surveyed offer a fitness subsidy, 34% are offering stress management assistance along with other wellness programs like Employee Assistance Programs, CPR/First Aid, smoking cessation, ergonomic evaluation, wellness tips, flu shots, health and safety clinics, as well as back-care programs.

More than 35% of the organizations surveyed feel that incentives are needed to encourage employees to participate fully in wellness programs.

The three most important incentives were cited as:

• recognition programs;
• draws for prizes; and
• paid work time to attend wellness workshops.

While more than two-thirds (68.6%) of companies continuously evaluate their wellness programs, many companies under-estimate the time it takes to show reasonable improvements in employee health (the Canada Life 10-year analysis provides one of the best indicators of the improvements that can be made).

Over 66% of the organizations cited poor stress management as the major health risk in their organization.  Factors demonstrating the success of an organization's wellness program included:

• Positive feedback from participants - 86.1%;
• Good participation - 63.9%;
• Improved employee morale - 61.1%;
• Positive behavioural changes - 47.2%; and
• Reduced absenteeism - 45.8%.

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Canadian evidence suggests that businesses who support active living get a real return on investment.

Examples of return on investment for Canadian businesses

Canada Life in Toronto showed a return on investment of $6.85 on each corporate dollar invested on reduced turnover, productivity gains and decreased medical claims.  Dr. Roy Shephard for the Canadian government found corporate wellness programs returned $1.95-$3.75 per employee per dollar spent.

Municipal employees in Toronto missed 3.35 fewer days in the first six months of their 'Metro Fit' fitness programs than employees not enrolled in the program. British Columbia Hydro employees enrolled in a work-sponsored fitness program had a turnover rate of just 3.5% compared with a company average of 10.3%.

The Canadian Life Assurance Company found that the turnover rate for fitness program participants was 32.4% lower than the average over a seven-year period.  Toronto Life Assurance found that employee turnover for those enrolled in the company's fitness program was 1.5% versus 15% for non-participants.

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