Benefits of Exercise in the Workplace: Ryan Henderson 32 Innovation and Empowerment: SNU-Tulsa Research Journal, Volume 1, Issue 1 BENEFITS OF EXERCISE IN THE WORKPLACE ABSTRACT The general idea of this study is about the benefits that exercise has in the workplace, primarily a manual labor workplace such as construction. Heavy research has been done on this topic along with experimentation. The study shows why it is important for an organization or company to keep their employees or members physically healthy to complete their tasks in an appropriate amount of time which would result in greater profits for said organization or company. The experimentation process was very fun and informative. Two groups, one that exercised and one that did not exercise, competed in a fair and neutral atmosphere where their times were noted. The results of the study were very interesting and it showed data on many independent variables involved. This study would not work with all workplaces but could definitely not hurt any organizations or companies. The project would greatly benefit other organizations or companies where they had manual labor employees. Depending on how much money or time was invested to their employees would probably determine the level of health a company could get out of their employees. Each company is different and would have to find what works for them best. However this study specifically shows why it is important to exercise and be healthy. In the end it is for the greater good of not only the organization or company but the employee that works for such organization.
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Benefits of Exercise in the Workplace: Ryan Henderson 32
Innovation and Empowerment: SNU-Tulsa Research Journal, Volume 1, Issue 1
BENEFITS OF EXERCISE IN THE WORKPLACE
ABSTRACT
The general idea of this study is about the benefits that exercise has in the workplace,
primarily a manual labor workplace such as construction. Heavy research has been done on this
topic along with experimentation. The study shows why it is important for an organization or
company to keep their employees or members physically healthy to complete their tasks in an
appropriate amount of time which would result in greater profits for said organization or
company.
The experimentation process was very fun and informative. Two groups, one that
exercised and one that did not exercise, competed in a fair and neutral atmosphere where their
times were noted. The results of the study were very interesting and it showed data on many
independent variables involved.
This study would not work with all workplaces but could definitely not hurt any
organizations or companies. The project would greatly benefit other organizations or companies
where they had manual labor employees. Depending on how much money or time was invested
to their employees would probably determine the level of health a company could get out of their
employees. Each company is different and would have to find what works for them best.
However this study specifically shows why it is important to exercise and be healthy. In the end
it is for the greater good of not only the organization or company but the employee that works for
such organization.
Benefits of Exercise in the Workplace: Ryan Henderson 33
Innovation and Empowerment: SNU-Tulsa Research Journal, Volume 1, Issue 1
INTRODUCTION AND STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The benefits of exercise for the workplace have been immense. There have been many
studies that have shown benefits from exercise from everyday life to primarily benefits for the
workplace. The setting of the primary study was done at the job sites of RHC, LLC. RHC is a
construction company with more than twelve employees. The benefits of exercise were shown
through vigorous work hours from employees who exercised to those who did not.
Statement of Purpose
The purpose of the project was to show how exercise benefited the employees, employer,
and customers that are associated with RHC LLC, a construction company based in the greater
Tulsa, OK, area during the work year of 2008. Exercise has been found to allow greater
flexibility for the company as a whole, by controlling absenteeism and improving production
levels. All employees were monitored during the process to show how and why the benefits were
helpful.
Organizational Context
Setting of the Problem
The organization looked at was a construction company in the greater Tulsa area called
RHC, LLC. RHC an interior trim and remodeling company that started in 2003. RHC did
research on all twelve of their employees. Of their twelve employees, RHC has had some
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workers that exercise and some that do not exercise. RHC dissected the benefits from the
employees who exercised and compared them to those who did not. The results that were
obtained guided RHC on where to put certain employees so they could better help the company.
History and Background of Organization
Exercise has been proven a key contributor to good health. The problem at hand with
RHC is not everyone exercised. Therefore there were employees who could not keep up with the
workload that other employees were keeping up with, especially from the employees who
exercised. Being active in one’s job has shown to be an advantage to overall health. But if one’s
job is an active job then they had to go a step further to keep up. Competing with the younger
employees has been something a lot of the older generation workers at RHC have had a problem
with, which has gone on to show problems with production which slows down jobs and affects
the budget and profits of the company.
The employees at RHC ranged from the ages of 22 to 58. Employees ranged from skinny
and moderately strong to overweight and fat. All employees studied were men. All levels within
the company were studied from the entry level trim carpenter, lead carpenters, job foremen, to
the owner himself.
Scope of the Problem
Some of the employees at RHC were not able to endure a strong work pace for an entire
day. All the research was gathered from the day’s workload at particular jobsites. Heavy lifting,
moving, and carrying were all involved. There were no limits to the studies reported in the
project. Each employee was studied on a particular day chosen by the owner of the company.
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The days were randomly chosen and not one employee knew they were being studied. The
project has shown the benefits that the employees, employer, customers, and the company in
general gain from exercise.
Significance of the Project
Exercise has benefited many that are associated with RHC. Those who exercise have
shown better production rates, less absenteeism, and better attitudes than the other employees
who do not have an exercise plan. The benefits to the employer are employees who have a good
morale which strengthens the core of the company. The employees with their better production
rates also showed an improvement in overall profits and time getting the job completed. The
customers benefit by getting a quality product at a more affordable price, in significantly less
time than they would have received it before. Finally the company benefits from exercise
because it maintains a hardworking employee base that can grow not only the profits but its
customer base. The goals of RHC are to provide the customer with impeccable customer service
while still turning substantial profits. Exercise contributed and helped RHC realize all its goals in
the year 2008.
Definition of Terms
Interior trim: All woodwork done on the inside of structures.
Job foremen: persons within the company who have reached the ranking of supervisor of a
particular project.
Lead carpenters: trim carpenters who are leaders on a worksite who can help the supervisor relay
instructions
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Remodels: Renovating a structure that has already existed.
Trim carpenters: workers who primarily work with wood from setting doors, building cabinets,
and doing all woodwork related to the interior of residential homes to commercial buildings.
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Introduction
Being healthy and in shape has been vital to a lot of manual labor and physically
challenging jobs today. Many manual labor jobs are fast paced so one should be in the best
health possible in order to keep up with today’s demands. The two best ways for a person to be
healthy is by eating right and exercise (Jensen, 2007). This report has shown the benefits
exercise has in the workplace, and just being healthy in general. Also, the report went into detail
on how one could reach the best possible health by exercise and using various supplements in
aiding one to get their body healthy.
Decreased Levels of Absenteeism
Research has shown that with healthy employees the absentee rate at work decreases of
unhealthy employees. Employees that have been healthy are more resistant to illnesses that go
around from person to person (Doyle, 2007).
Many companies have found that having a fitness center on site or offering in a benefit
package a membership to a gym has gotten their employees exercising more. Work-site fitness
programs have gained in popularity because of the potential to lower absenteeism, job turnover,
and increase job productivity and morale (Wattles & Harris, 2003). This removed the excuse that
one cannot afford to go to the gym or often that the gym is too far away.
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Increased Energy Levels
One key in manual labor jobs has been to get the most out of the employees. Typically
most manual labor jobs have had to generate high production levels. In a study shown by
Mathew Wattles and Chad Harris (2003), more than ninety percent of the individuals tested
agreed that exercising helped their productivity at work. The report meant that with a higher
productivity level there were higher energy levels that came from the exercise.
Manual labor employees who exhibited higher energy levels typically set higher
standards for themselves at work, which benefits the employer and the company, because of
higher production levels. Employees have shown a stronger satisfaction of what they are doing.
Satisfaction and higher standards resulted from higher energy levels that can be produced from a
regular daily exercise plan.
Additional Benefits from Exercise
High energy levels and day to day health were not all the benefits that came from
exercise. Weight loss is an incredible result that has occurred from exercise for some people.
Increasing physical activity has been shown to burn more calories, which helps in breaking a
weight loss plateau (Scott, 2008). Physical activity has not only shown to lower stubborn body
fat, but also to reduce levels of blood pressure, cholesterol, and lessens the risks of cancer and
diabetes (Hellmich, 2008). This allows a person to live longer and healthier just with a little
exercise. Helping weight loss Hellmich (2007) notes that exercising can also be an appetite
suppressant. Exercising has shown to leave a person feeling less hungry. Some overweight
people have been seen to have troubles with heart problems later on in life. Regular exercise has
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shown to protect against diseases associated with chronic low-grade systemic inflammation
(Peterson & Pederson, 2005).
Being overweight doesn’t necessarily mean one might not be in shape. Many people have
shown to carry extra weight; it is just in their body’s nature. One study depicted the benefit of
exercise was enjoyed regardless of body mass, and that being fitter does not always mean being
thinner (Australian, 2007). One could look at a manual labor job of many athletes from football
to boxing and see overweight people that are in tremendous shape. Some types of exercise have
shown not to help rid away body fat.
Exercise has even been linked to reduce stress levels. Exercise has been shown to fire up
various brain chemicals, which may leave a person feeling happier and more relaxed than before
he or she worked out (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2007). High levels of stress could damage a person
mentally and physically. Stress has caused ulcers and heart problems. Stress has shown to affect
one’s job. High stress levels reduced productivity and cause many errors that should not have
been made. There have been other findings of benefits from exercise for the brain.
Cardiovascular exercise has been associated with improved cognitive functioning in aging
humans. These effects have been shown to be the greatest in higher order cognitive processes,
such as working memory, switching between tasks, and inhibiting irrelevant
information, all of
which are thought to be subserved, in part, by the frontal lobes of the brain (Colcombe, 2006).
Levels of Exercise
There have been different levels of being healthy. One could be strong and have more
energy in small concentrated bursts, or one can be toned and sustain a higher level of energy for
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a longer course. Thirty minutes of activity equated to burning between 600-1200 calories
(Myers, 2003). The Surgeon General recommended at least thirty minutes of activity almost
everyday of the week. The activity could be walking, jogging, or anything that keeps the body in
movement. Movement signified burnt calories, which is exercise.
Exercise as little as just walking an hour a day has been shown to burn an extra 1500 to
2000 calories a week, which is around a full day’s average recommended serving of calories. A
faster jog or a run could burn even more depending on the energy used and the time spent.
Jogging or running has shown to give a person more endurance at work while other employees
are starting to slow down. If the total energy expenditure of exercise was held constant, exercise
performed at a vigorous intensity appears to convey greater cardioprotective benefits than
exercise of a moderate intensity (Swain & Franklin, 2006). Therefore the more a person has put
into their exercise routine, the more benefits a person will get out of it.
One other level of exercise is weight lifting. Healthy persons of all ages, as well as many
with chronic diseases, should engage in single-set resistance exercise programs of
up to 15
repetitions at least 2 days per week. Each work-out session should consist of 8 to 10 different
exercises that train the major muscle groups (Ashe & Khan, 2004). Weight lifting has been
shown as the primary way to grow muscles in the body. Exercising by doing weights or
resistance training has been shown to be tougher on the body but the rewards are worth it.
Depending on the field a person worked in, stronger muscles has been an advantage if there is a
lot of lifting involved in the particular job.
Supplements that Aid in Exercise
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Being healthy has not been just about exercise anymore to Americans. Many Americans
have wanted to see results faster and that means there has to be aids in a person’s daily exercise.
There have been many supplements that can be taken for this from creatine to just a plain multi-
vitamin. A multi-vitamin has been a pill that has about all the daily nutrients one needs in a day,
and gives the body added nutrients that might not get ingested from food during that day
(Robertson, 2006). The multi-vitamin has been a very good supplement to take even if one does
not exercise. Multi-vitamins have shown to have a high vitamin-C level, which boosts the
immune system that keeps a person from being sick often.
Creatine has been a relatively new supplement. Creatine became popular towards the mid
1990’s. Studies have shown that creatine shows better muscular results than if not used at all
(Walana, 2007). Creatine, a nitrogenous amino acid that when synthesized involves three other
amino acids: glycine, arginine, and methionine. Creatine has shown to add more mass to the
body, add more strength and more endurance to one’s particular workouts.
Glutamine is another supplement that has gained in popularity. Glutamine, an amino acid
that has promoted recovery. Glutamine’s primary function has been to heal muscle fibers
allowing the person exercising to use them in full force sooner. Glutamine has been shown to
reduce the break down of muscles (Pirisi, 2003).
Lastly, one of the supplements that have been in the market legally and illegally is
various forms of testosterone. There are supplements that mimic testosterone or just raise it.
Many supplements like steroids and pro-hormones have been banned from the United States but
there are some people still finding ways to get them in the country. Some legal ways of boosting
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testosterone levels have been supplements like Tribulus and DHEA. These obviously have been
toned down and won’t give a person the same results that steroids or pro-hormones deliver
however do boost testosterone levels slightly. Higher testosterone levels have raised exercise
levels for endurance and strength training.
Conclusion
There was substantial evidence that considerable medical advantage was derived from
even regular moderate exercise and fitness, such as improvement in aerobic power and maximum
oxygen uptake, blood lipid levels and glucose tolerance, as well as
enhanced self-assurance, a
sense of psychological and physical well-being, and improved overall quality of life (Maron,
2004). Being healthy has had great advantages for people that everyone should take advantage
of. Just making one’s job easier was worth exercising in itself. However exercising has also
promoted a state of well being. Weight loss and looks were not the only benefits of exercise.
Exercise has affected all aspects of life from mood to preventing harmful problems like cancer
and diabetes. For employers and managers, exercise has been a major key to lower absentee rates
and higher energy levels. Exercise has enabled a company to produce more products and raise
profit levels. Finally, exercise has made people happier, which has to be at the top. Happier
employees work for the greater good of themselves and their company.
METHODS
Hypothesis
The key question in this study is if exercise truly does benefit employees in the manual
labor workplace. There have been many studies showing how exercise benefits people, and there
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have been many businesses, mainly larger corporations, that keep exercise facilities on site.
RHC, the business for this particular study, wanted to know if there was a difference in
production levels between employees who exercise on a regular basis and employees who do not
exercise on a regular basis. The null hypothesis in this research study is that there was no
difference between those employees who exercise and those who do not. The expected outcome,
the alternate hypothesis, is that employees that exercise regularly were conditioned to produce
more in eight to twelve hour days than the employees who are not conditioned as well based on
an exercise program.
Design
The design of this study was created to be as fair as possible with each employee tested
having the exact duty with the same amount of time as the opposite employee. This experimental
study had dependent and independent variables. The dependent variable was the benefit from
exercise in the manual labor workplace. The independent variable in the research study was the
exercise. Nobody in the study knew about the study. This was done this way so there would not
be any outside influences to change how the testing would take place. Keeping the participants
unaware prevented any bias to the results gathered among the employees at RHC.
Participants
There were ten participants in the RHC exercise study. At the time of the study, there
were only five employees that exercised that were employed at RHC. The other five employees
chosen for the study were picked randomly out of eight employees who did not participate in an
exercise program. All the candidates chosen for the study were males because there were no
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female employees that worked in the field at the time of the study. Age can play a part in this
study because it is a physical manual labor study. The average age of the employees who did not
exercise was thirty-seven, and the average age of the employees who exercised was thirty-nine.
The employees who did not exercise actually had youth on their sides. Skill level was also not an
issue because the study was on an entry level job, and all participants studied have had more than
two years experience.
Instrumentation
Benefits, of exercise in the workplace, were the dependent variable in the study. The
primary benefit of exercise is a higher production level. The dependent variable was measured
by how many interior doors could be set and cased in a ten hour day. Since RHC primarily works
eight to twelve hour days then owner wanted to take the average of RHC’s normal work day. The
higher the number of doors set the higher the production level. One point was given for setting
the door and two points for casing the door, one point for each side cased. A total of three points
per door completed. The study had to be over a two-week period due to that there were not
enough doors in the houses worked on to allow all the participants to set doors at the same exact
time.
Procedure
The procedure starts off by setting the pre-jambed interior doors. The second step was
putting the door moldings called case around the door. The third step was to do step two on the
other side of the door. So the participants could not pick up their speed by doing an inferior job
the doors were inspected by both the owner and general manager of the company. If there were
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any errors points would be deducted from the three steps mentioned above. After the data were
collected from the study they were put into an independent t-test.
Data Analysis
Descriptive analysis. In the descriptive analysis of the study the mean and the standard
deviation were found from the production numbers. The data was then entered into the
WebSTATISTICA program (StatSoft, 1992-2009) provided by the university to calculate the
results.
Inferential analysis. There would be a difference in production levels of those employees
who exercise and those who did not exercise. That was my hypothesis in the study (Ha: µ
exercise ≤ µ no exercise). The null hypothesis was that there was no difference in production
levels among those employees who exercised and those who did not exercise (Ho: µ exercise ≥ µ
no exercise). The level of significance used in the study was .05 and the hypothesis was tested
with an independent t-test.
Limitations
There were not any limitations on the study because everybody that participated had the
exact amount of time and all had the knowledge of setting and casing interior doors. As stated
above, all the doors were pre-jambed and the sizes of the door moldings were all the same. The
judging was done by two people instead of one for stricter regulations on the project.
SUMMARY OF RESULTS
Descriptive Data Analysis
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There were ten participant cases in the project. In each case all the participants were
timed doing the same amount of work. Of the ten participants, five participants exercised
regularly and five participants did not exercise at all. The sample size was ten. The mean total
minutes of the exercise group was 416.60, and the mean total minutes of the non-exercise group
was 469.80. The standard deviation of the project (s) exercise group was 27.47, and the non-
exercise group was 24.75. Table 1 shows descriptive data and the t-test table of information.
Figure 1 is a histogram of times for exercise and no exercise, and Figure 2 is mean plot with