According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, about six of every 10 employers offer at least some form of wellness benefit.  Realizing that exercise and physical fitness are necessary for maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle – and, hopefully, for reducing corporate health care costs – it makes sense for companies to support and promote physical activity.

Although difficult to track the ROI of these programs, the sixth edition of Proof Positive:  An Analysis of the Cost-Effectiveness of Wellness, published in 2008, public health expert Larry Chapman analyzed 60 peer-reviewed studies of worksite health promotion programs and found they can be credited for substantial reductions in sick leave (27.8 percent, on average), health costs (28.7 percent), disability (33.5 percent) and workers comp costs (33.5 percent).  Those are numbers that are hard to ignore!

As a result, fitness benefits like in-house corporate fitness centers, personal trainers, visiting yoga instructors and nutritional counseling have become increasingly popular.  And to continue building the brand identity of those forward-thinking firms, fitness wearables with a subtle logo decoration provided to the associate when they sign up for the program will continue speaking for the company long after the employee leaves the building.  Whey wait for the participant to show up in a t-shirt, sweatshirt or running shorts emblazoned with the logo of their former college or favorite football team?  Give the women a moisture wicking shirt with a subtle logo treatment and a femine fit, or hand the men a comfy sweatshirt with a screened logo that looks as good with jeans as it does with sweatpants, and those pieces will become their new go-to weekend wear.  Not only do you build and reinforce employee loyalty, there is the added benefit of the countless other “impressions” that occur every time that item is worn.

As employee benefits go, wellness initiatives that support corporate multi-faceted fitness programs may be the most important benefit your company can offer – treadmills, step classes, performance apparel – everything counts in the resolution to get physical!

(image via Alpha Shirt)