"We have set out to take the company to greater heights and this can happen only with the right processes all round," Hindustan Times vice-president Sharad Saxena, one of the key figures in the establishment of its gym Health Track, tells Outlook. "Our aim was not just fitness but wellness. Ours must be one of the better gyms across the world. We have good equipment and in the right quantity, besides a systematic process to ensure efficiency. You look at the people using our facility, and when some of these not-so-young guys speak of how renewed vigour and energy helps in productivity, the basic objective appears to be met."
Employees are enthusiastic about the advantages of working out in the gym in office. "At the end of the day, if I leave office after a good workout and a shower, I am not carrying stress back home," says ICICI's Anil Kumar.
"Fitness is more important than ever before, given that we eat so much junk food," adds Saxena.
Some offices allow and even encourage employees to choose the flexi-time option rather than insist that the gym be used only at set times. "If one is low at a given time and feels like getting energised, all one needs to do is to go to the health centre," says Saxena. "You come out feeling fresher, and that always improves productivity."
HT sports writer S. Kannan appreciates the flexi-time policy at his office : "There are times when it's possible to get in an hour's workout before the day's work. But there are days when one is on assignment outside the office, and that is when it helps to be able to go whenever one can squeeze in the time."
"Workplaces offer a captive population, and convincing employers and employees about the benefits of a gym has become easy," WHO coordinator Dr Cherian Varghese tells Outlook. "Employers see a big advantage in helping employees prevent cardiovascular diseases when they realise it is better to make a small capital investment in establishing a top-notch gym than to face a loss of productivity due to ill-health and injury, that costs industry an alarming packet every year."
