Fitness program participation: its effect on worker performance.
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
TL;DR
The effects of an employee fitness program upon absenteeism and productivity were investigated in a controlled trial involving two large offices, with small and relatively similar gains of productivity, with reduction of absenteeism at both test and control companies.
Abstract
The effects of an employee fitness program upon absenteeism and productivity were investigated in a controlled trial involving two large offices. During the six-month experimental program, the test company developed substantial gains of fitness. However self-reports and supervisor evaluations showed small and relatively similar gains of productivity, with reduction of absenteeism at both test and control companies. Further studies on a large scale are warranted. The presently observed changes probably reflect (1) sample attenuation, (2) seasonal trends, and (3) a "Hawthorne" effect. If the last factor is substantiated, employee fitness programs may be of economic interest, despite the nonspecific nature of the resultant gains in productivity.