Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Laura N. Courtney
Abstract:
This review examines the effect of employee and executive fitness on the success of an
entire corporation or business. With the rapidly growing obesity epidemic in America, there has
been an increased emphasis on exercise and healthy eating. Through many studies and surveys,
researchers have found that when an executive and the employees of a company are physically
fit, as determined by the American Heart Association, they are more satisfied with their jobs, are
better workers, and make more money for their business. Furthermore, executives and
entrepreneurs whom are frequent exercise are better liked by their employees and report greater
productivity while in the office. These benefits of exercise specifically to the working class can
partially be attributed to the biological benefits of exercise. Research on the effects of employee
exercise is a rapidly growing field of research and upon education of the benefits of corporation
Introduction:
The benefits of exercise have been long researched and known my psychologists. The
idea of the correlation between physical fitness and success in the office is a new concept, and
the research has grown with the rise in workplaces like Google implementing company exercise
programs and reporting greater employee productivity with a gym located in the office. The
benefits of exercise were first self-reported, with individuals noticing that after morning exercise,
their days at work were more productive and they were in better moods. Psychologists and
researchers attempted, and succeeded, in quantifying the benefits of exercise for success in the
workplace. Employees and their bosses are finding greater success in their jobs when exercise
The American Heart Association has changed their recommended exercise amount. Their
2005 update from their prior 1995 quota. They recommend thirty minutes of moderate intensity
physical activity at last five days a week or twenty minutes of vigorous activity at least three
days a week. Additionally, these can be combined and alternated, some days with moderate and
others with vigorous activity. The recommendations have been made assuming that some
physical activity happens during the day from walking, self-care, and cleaning (Frew & Bruning,
1988). To maximize exercise, individuals should seek to exercise in a way that promotes
endurance, strength, and flexibility (Neck & Cooper, 2000). For the purposes of this paper, a fit
individual is one who meets and/or exceeds the recommendations by the American Heart
Association.
Andrew Johnston, a business professor at Red Rocks Community College teaches a class
called Change through Challenge, where business executives spend the semester training for a
full marathon and attending weekly seminar classes regarding how their training parallels their
work. His class has been wildly successful because marathon training and running a marathon
both require goal setting, consistency, and perseverance. Members of his class report back to him
citing that they feel as if they can better overcome adversity in their careers after knowing they
can run a marathon. The success of his class proves that the positive consequences of running
can in fact help an executive have increased success in their job (Johnston, 2015). To quantify
these results, Limbach and Sonnenburg researched the corporate benefits of CEOs who have
successfully completed a marathon within a year of the study. They found that these fit CEOs
were better able to moderate stress, had improved cognitive function while at work, increased
Effects of Exercise on Corporation Success 4
self-esteem, more positive behavior, and generally higher performance compared to non-
marathon running CEOs. Furthermore, fit CEOs had a higher firm value, as determined by
Tobins Q, a higher return on assets, and more cash flow (Limbach & Sonnenburg, 2015). But
the benefits of CEO fitness extend past monetary and self-benefits. Physically active CEOs and
managers, as determined by the American Heart Association, had higher evaluation scores from
their constituents and employees. On a scale of 1-5, the interpersonal performance and task
completion was a 3.93 for physically fit leaders compared to a 3.85 for physically unfit leaders
Employees should not dismiss exercise as something for just CEOs. Normal employees
can still reap similar benefits from regular exercise. People who exercise at least three times a
week have enhanced job performance in high-stress jobs. For example, real estate brokers who
exercised three times a week for twelve consecutive weeks had greater commissions during and
after the twelve weeks compared to those who declined participation in the study (Lovelace,
Manz, & Alves, 2007). Similarly, individuals who exercise according to the standards set by the
American Heart Association perform more consistently throughout the day, have a stronger heart,
and are less fatigued after a long day at work (Chtourou, Hamdi, & Souissi, 2012). One of the
effective employee. As a result of lower stress levels, employees are able to be more productive
and resilient during their time at work, truly maximizing their time in the office. Although the
number one excuse for lack of exercise, specifically of working Americans, is that they dont
have enough time. But, as pointed out in the Journal of Managerial Psychology, people who say
Effects of Exercise on Corporation Success 5
they cant find time to be fit should realize that a fitness program actually produces time (Neck
The benefits of exercise have been long known and researched by both biologists and
psychologists. The rationale for the increased performance in the workplace due to exercise can
resting heart rate. This is because frequent exercisers have a higher maximum oxygen uptake and
as a result can exert themselves longer without fatigue. As a result, fit employees and CEOs carry
their physical resilience into the workplace, which explains the increase in task efficiency and
productivity (Lovelace et al., 2007). Similarly, exercise results in a large secretion of serotonin,
positively affect ones mood, which explain the positive mood states after exercise and the
increased satisfaction with fit CEOs (King et al., 2014) (Frew & Bruning, 1988).
Conclusion:
The positive benefits of exercise for working individuals discussed in this review should
not be ignored. When examining the benefits of exercise from both lenses, psychological and
biological, it is logical that exercise makes employees and executives more effective in the
workplace. Given the recent rise in Americas obesity epidemic, corporations and businesses
should highly consider physical fitness when hiring new employees and perhaps consider
implementing a company-wide exercise program to encourage fitness among the entire office.
This subject should become increasingly more relevant to businesses and hiring practices alike
because exercise is a (sometimes) free tool to enhance performance across the entire office.
Effects of Exercise on Corporation Success 6
References
Chtourou, Hamdi, and Nizar Souissi. "The effect of training at a specific time of day: a review."
Frew, D. R., & Bruning, N. S. (1988). Improved Productivity and Job Satisfaction Through
King, Eden B., et al. "Waistlines and Ratings of Executives: Does Executive Status Overcome
Lovelace, K. J., Manz, C. C., & Alves, J. C. (2007). Work stress and leadership development:
The role of self-leadership, shared leadership, physical fitness and flow in managing
demands and increasing job control. Human Resource Management Review, 17(4), 374-
387.
Johnston, A. (2015, May 20). Andrew Johnston: What is the Best Business Education? Run a
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Neck, C. P., & Cooper, K. H. (2000). The fit executive: Exercise and diet guidelines for