Precept Employee Benefits Blog

It has become fairly obvious that we are living in a time where the concept of employee wellness is undergoing a paradigm shift which is ultimately putting more emphasis on personal responsibility.  Employers are implementing programs designed to maintain and improve the health of the workforce (not to mention lessening the cumbersome spiral of benefit costs) with what seems to be an exponentially increasing frequency.  Some of these programs have been rolled out with great fanfare, such as the increasing popular Consumer Driven Health Plans (CDHPs).  Other plans have been trotted out amidst a swirl of controversy, like Clarian Health’s financial penalties-for-unhealthy-lifestyles system.  Then there are plans that border on the absurd, such as the one pioneered by the NEAT (Non-exercise Activity Thermogenesis lab) at Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic, in which the traditional cubicles have been replaced by workstations attached to treadmills.

The pricey concept (each desk and treadmill component in this so-called “Office of the Future” costs $2,700) was inspired by a decade-long study whose findings concluded that employees burn more calories by increasing everyday movements as opposed to a hike in daily exercise.  The result is an office where each employee is in a state of constant motion, whether they are typing reports, taking phone calls, or even brainstorming.  Even meetings are not exempt from this practice, as they occur on a walking track surrounded by magnetic white boards.  In fact, there are no other pieces of office furniture located on their premises.

While this approach does factor in scientific research as a tangible argument for the program, it does not change its nature as an extreme mandate that frankly, is more of an exercise in silliness than wellness.  The concept of multitasking at work really should not include maintaining equilibrium on a piece of gym equipment.  Who among us would really want to attempt to design and complete a crucial report while simultaneously participating in a low-impact workout?  Plus, imagine the worker’s comp headache that would ensue the moment someone loses their balance and racks up an injury (not to mention the interesting verbiage that may be used on the claim).

In strict matters of wellness, there is an obvious advantage to NEAT’s plan.  After all, one probably does not need a decade’s worth of science to inform them of the health benefits of utilizing a treadmill on a daily basis.  However, when practically any other business component is mixed in with NEAT’s program, it is nearly impossible to view it in a remotely serious light.