Giving employees time off for exercise

the problem I would have is if it is exercise specific - 30 minutes isn't enough time.  if you don't have a gym or locker room on site, that 30 minutes doesn't really do anything for them.

if you feel like an hour per week you can afford the lost productivity, why don't you just let everyone quit early on fridays?  i would like that much more.

Any sort of time off for salaried employees is great.  We've had salary freezes, cut bonuses, we now pay part of our health insurance, and retirement contributions are minimal.  But when my boss comes in Friday afternoon and says, "There isn't anything we need to be here for, go on and call it week," I feel like a million bucks.  Sad but true.

If the work is getting done, give them some extra time off and don't attach any conditions to it.  I guess to put it in your terms, any time not at the office is a mental health break.  Give them rotating Friday half days, or during the week exercise breaks, or an extra day off each month, or whatever.  Just let them get out of there for a little while for whatever.  It's cathartic.  But 30 minutes around lunch time twice a week wouldn't excite me at all, unless I slept in and needed to get in a long run or something (we at least have a shower).  I figure most people don't give a rip about getting thirty minutes to exercise.  They just don't want to be at work.

My company has this with a small gym across the street from our office.  Work pays half of the monthly membership and payroll deducts the other half so I never even have to sweat a payment. I think that it is one of the absolute greatest benefits I've ever had with any company.

Ditto.

I think it's more likely to be used as a smoke break by smokers and extra lunch time for non smokers.

I appreciate the comments, I considered many of these things as we thought through it.  I'd love to hear more from folks who have something like this.

Our employees have access to a gym, we work at a University.    I originally wanted it to be exercise specific, because frankly many need it, but my colleague steered me toward letting them decide what to do.  They literally can sit in their cars and nap if they want to.  I am not asking for a report of what they do.

My view is that it's a supplement.  They are allowed to add it to their lunch break or come in late/early (i.e. go to a gym class that might make their too late for work otherwise).  I might drive to the gym (off campus) for a lunch class.  In the past it was too tight to do that, drive, and eat in 1 hour. Basically I am affording time to eat lunch.  Same with the campus workout facility.  1 extra half hour added to their existing breaks makes a workout possible without feeling like you need to eat at your desk.

I agree this would be a can of worms in a bigger department and we thought about the personalities before going forward with even considering the idea.

We aren't considering other ideas/time off, etc.  We have that already built into the culture.  If you're caught up (mostly, what salaried employee is ever "done"?) and it's Friday afternoon and you want to leave early, go for it.    What I like about this is that it's something you can plan for.    The whole point is that it's to improve health, very specifically.  It's not mandatory.

Here are the draft guidelines:

To encourage the ongoing physical and mental health of staff, we are offering a new incentive called “Health Breaks.”  Starting in March, each staff member will be allowed up to three Health Breaks per week.  The program will continue as long as it remains useful and is not disruptive.  

Health Breaks guidelines:

• Up to three per week, 30 minutes each
• Not mandatory
• Cannot carry-over to another week
• Can be a standalone period (i.e. mid-morning break) or add to lunch hour
• You may use it to leave early or come in late, if your healthy endeavor is off-campus before or after work.
• Since none of us are hourly employees, we trust in everyone’s ability to manage an appropriate work schedule.  Your supervisor should be informed of your Health Break schedule.

No we don't get anything like that. We get a subsidized YMCA membership (and no joiner fee, cancel at any time) and that's about it.

I wouldn't mind the 30 minutes, but like MEH said it wouldn't be enough time for me to do anything but a slow walk or easy yoga so I didn't get too sweaty.

I like hearing about companies who give incentives for employees to be healthy - for example I know of one that give you "points" each time you bike/run/walk commute, and "points" for using the company gym, etc. - enough times and your gym membership is free, that kind of thing. Of course they HAVE a company gym (with lap pool!), locker rooms, bike lockers - they make it easy. If there's not an infrastructure in place like that it would be difficult.

From what I read in your original post, the point was to reward your employees SOMEHOW since you can't financially reward them due to budget concerns.

To improve health/exercise habits you need to be more specific.  Create a contest or a goal.  That can be really fun.

To reward employees, you have to be more vague so that everyone feels rewarded.

Two VERY different goals.

I will tell you if I read this from my employer I would automatically think "free paid hour and a half each week!" and would have very little issues fudging whether or not I actually used it for healthy activities. Accidentally sleep in? Health break. 

Seems more than easy to abuse, especially if you can use it before or after your work hours. Now if it were something like a yoga class on-site at 1 p.m.... that would be impossible to abuse.

glad we could help!!!  haha!

I think the 30 minutes in the middle of the day are tough, but pushing it towards the beginning/end of the day is great.  When I had a gym membership it would always be a race to get there after work before it was too packed, but if I could have left 30 minutes earlier 3 times a week I would have been fully into the workout by the time the masses arrive.   The most universally accpepted "reward" at work is money/bonuses, but I think getting let out early and having race fees paid and things of that extent is a nice gesture.

At last large employer we got our YMCA membership discounted by the number of times we used the facility the prior year.  So what I did in 2012, gave me that much of a discount in 2013 type of thing.  When we were doing that, I got our family membership free, just because of my workout at the YMCA.  Since you are at a University, that probably isn't an option, but it really needs to be tied into activity, otherwise you will be getting as others said.  Late to work, I was using my 30 minutes to sleep in, or a 30 minute smoke break.  Just my $0.02

I don't see anything right now that is stopping my coworkers from coming in late, leaving early, and making up excuses about what they were doing/not doing.  At this point I just have to trust people to do the right thing, and know that some will not.   We only have 7 people (including me and co-director), so it's not like much goes unnoticed. 

I like to think my staff will see it like JonD:  Yay, an endorsement for leaving early enough to get a spot on a treadmill at the gym, guilt-free. 

Updated memo (full version this time):

• Time should be spent on improvement of physical or mental health.
• Up to three per week, 30 minutes each
• Not mandatory
• Cannot carry-over to another week
• Can be a standalone period (i.e. mid-morning break) or add to lunch hour
• You may use it to leave early or come in late, if your healthy endeavor is off-campus before or after work.
• Since none of us are hourly employees, we trust in everyone’s ability to manage an appropriate work schedule.  Your supervisor should be informed of your Health Break schedule in advance.

Things to consider:

• Think about getting away from your workspace and doing something active.
• You can take your break with a buddy or organize a group activity.
• It doesn’t have to be “sweaty”, a meditative walk is one of many options.
• Think about equipment you could share with co-workers, like free-weights or a jump rope.

I can't control the moral decisions someone might make after reading this, but is it more clear?

Our health insurance does allow for a $20 rebate on health club memberships after 12 check-ins, in addition to the free facilities. 

By the way, that's pretty darn easy to cheat too.  Checking-in does not equal working out.  There's always a way to skate by at a job/in life.

Agree.

Not rewarding for people who don't like exercise unless they fudge. I'd probably use it to take my wife out to lunch or something. 

Or I would use it to leave 30 mins early for the day when I felt like it. 

I suppose it is rewarding, but I don't think it will do much as far as "health goals". So I guess I like everything except for the reporting it to the supervisor part. I would use it as extra 30 minute breaks at my discretion. Pain in the butt to report it. "Hey, I am leaving 30 mins early, I have 2 health breaks left." Suerpvisor: "Are you going to the gym?" Me: "ummmm yeah". 

By the way, I often run at lunch.  We're down with sweaty workers here.  Just the flip-side to "I couldn't do a real workout during the day."  Some can

And no one here smokes.  They are actually a ridiculous bunch who toe the line and need an excuse to leave their desks.     I am the only one who routinely shows up late