Companies Should Mandate Exercise
America's got a growing problem. Approximately 69% of US adults are either obese or overweight[1]. This is a huge and growing problem that causes a lot of physical and emotional suffering as well as deadweight loss to the economy. There are lots of smart people studying the causes of our obesity epidemic as well as figuring out solutions to it. Unfortunately the problem just continues to get worse, and we as a nation continue to get fatter.
I am going to propose one solution that can help reverse this trend: mandatory exercise at work[2].
That's right. I think every company in America should require their employees to spend 1 hour of the work day exercising.
The way I envision it, companies would set aside an hour a day, probably sometime in the afternoon, where all employees have to exercise. There are countless ways of implementing it, but here are two that I think could work.
One option is for trainers to come into the office and get everyone to do basic calisthenics and sprints. Another option is that employees are simply required to go to a nearby gym and use the free weights or treadmills. Perhaps there could even be some tracking via devices like a fitbit in this unsupervised scenario. Finally, regardless of how the exercise is administered, employers would have to allocate time for changing into workout clothes and showering afterwards - so a total of 1.5 hours per workday.
I can already sense that there will be objections to this. Workers will claim it's unfair and dictatorial to them. Companies will claim it's bad for business to waste all that time that employees could be working by making them exercise. I think that the benefits far outweigh the cost, and that if implemented the only thing that will be lost is excess weight.
Mandatory Exercise Benefits Workers
1. It Works With Your Schedule
Currently, the three options of finding time to workout are: get up early, skip lunch, or go after work. These are all problematic for their own reasons. Getting up early usually means getting less sleep, and is very difficult for a lot of people to justify. Working out during lunch is also hard. Some companies don't allow it or don't allocate enough time for a proper workout. At other companies the day can get busy and all of a sudden you find yourself swamped with work and unable to workout that day. Going after work has similar 'getting too busy at work' issues as going during lunch. Furthermore, it's even harder because you are exhausted after a full day of work and are also very hungry since your last meal was 7 or so hours ago. You've also used a huge chunk of your much needed after work downtime to exercise - which is less than desirable.
All of these workout times also occur around the same time people generally eat their meals. Although there are different schools of thought about working out before or after eating, a lot of people don't like to work out while too hungry or too full. The meal timing issue can be resolved by working out in the late morning or early afternoon during the workday.
2. It's Good Enough To Force Our Kids To Do
We make our kids do a lot of things that they may not like but we deem are in their best interest. We have compulsory education, we make them do homework at night, we make them eat their vegetables at dinner, and so on. We also make them go to physical education class every day while at school. This is presumably because we as a society believe it is necessary and good for children to exercise.
Why are we forcing our kids to be healthy, but not doing so ourselves? The CDC says we should be getting 5 hours of aerobic exercise in addition to 2 strength training exercise sessions a week[3]! Shouldn't we be setting the example by taking a dose of our own medicine?
3. It Increases Our Will Power Reserve
Making healthy choices is hard. We are inundated with stimulating gluttony all day, every day. Should I get the Prime Rib Sandwich, or the Sad Desk Salad? Should I go to the gym, or go to happy hour with my friends? You only have so much will power, and each time you make a healthy decision as opposed to a delicious or fun one, it depletes your reservoir of will power. Mandating exercise at work obviates the choice of whether or not to exercise. This helps keep your will power reserve full for other things, like eating right.
4. You Will Actually Exercise
I have a pretty great job, but I know that I need to show up on time if I expect to be paid to do it. By making exercise part of getting paid there is a huge financial incentive to actually do it. Furthermore, there will be no excuses such as scheduling mishaps or being too tired (either in the morning or after work). This will undoubtedly lead to a HUGE increase in the percentage of adults who are physically active.
Mandatory Exercise Benefits Companies
1. Reduced Health Related Costs
Unfortunately we have an employer-based health care system, and are stuck with it for the foreseeable future. While it's bad for society, companies, and individuals, it does mean that companies have the most to gain from reducing health care costs. Although exercise is only one aspect of staying healthy, mandating exercise among employees will improve the overall level health, and thus decrease the cost of health care premiums that companies pay. Healthier employees will also need fewer sick days, are less likely to go on disability, and have lower workers' compensation costs.[4]
2. More Productive Employees
While there is no data on how my particular proposal would effect productivity, I suspect it would increase it. The CDC has linked employee health to productivity[4], and employees who were made to exercise every day would certainly become more healthy. I know that when I am in a routine where I am exercising I have more energy and have an easier time focusing on work. There is not really a link between marginal time spent at work and how productive you are, at least for a large swath of knowledge workers. Ryan Carson has found that he can get his employees to do just as much work in a 4 day workweek, therefore enjoying 50% more weekend as a bonus!
3. Differentiator In Attracting Talent
Finding and retaining talented people to be part of your company is the most important endeavor management undertakes. Setting a strong company culture, partially through making exercise easy and convenient during the work day, could help in this effort. Presumably this proposal won't go mainstream right away, so for the time being companies could really stand out from the crowd by adopting mandatory exercise as an employee perk.
4. It's Patriotic
Corporate America has developed a pretty awful reputation. From outsourcing, to tax loopholes, to shameless regulatory capture, they haven't exactly been model corporate citizens.
By contrast, look 100 years into the past. In 1914, Henry Ford shocked the world by providing an unheard of $5/day wage - over double the going rate. A few years later he took steps to reduce the workweek to 5 days a week, down from 6.
These decisions on their face seemed like bad business choices. He would effectively pay double the salary for 5/6ths the work! Contrary to expectations at the time, these pro-worker moves "proved extremely profitable; instead of constant turnover of employees, the best mechanics in Detroit flocked to Ford, bringing their human capital and expertise, raising productivity, and lowering training costs". Paying his employees more also allowed them to afford the very cars they were making, and helped build the American middle class.[5]
What Henry Ford did was both good for business and good for America. If companies stepped up and made their employees exercise, it would help solve our obesity epidemic. This in turn would lower health care costs and make us richer, allowing us to buy more of the products that American companies make.
Companies madating exercise is a virtuous cycle if there ever was one.
1. CDC - Obesity and Overweight Data↩
2. Of course there are a lot exceptions. The obvious ones would be for people with disabilities, part-time, hourly, and remote workers. People whose jobs already involve lots of physical activity also wouldn't benefit from more exercise. There are probably other exceptions too.↩
3. CDC - How much physical activity do adults need? ↩
4. CDC - Benefits of Health Promotion Programs ↩
5. All the Henry Ford history taken directly from his Wikipedia page ↩