By Pyc Fitness
©2004-2008
MARION - Her shoulder muscles rippling as she stretched the taut elastic bands attached to the wall of the fitness center, Kathy Keirns didn't look like she was doing accounting.
An observer might expect that because she was on company time Keirns should be crunching a few numbers, not working out.
But one of her bosses, at Sims Brothers Inc., Scott Fischer, stood nearby, smiling approvingly.
"We really want to promote a healthy lifestyle," Fischer said, watching Keirns as she used an elliptical trainer and two other employees of the scrap management company walked on treadmills in the Sims Brothers fitness center.
The South Prospect Street-based business opened the in-house exercise facility this summer in a building it leased next
door to its headquarters as part of an initiative intended to improve employee wellness and reduce health insurance costs, said Connie Horne, vice president of human resources.
While Sims Brothers also has begun reimbursing employees half the cost of smoking cessation programs they successfully complete and is getting quotes on "healthy snack" vending machines, the fitness center is the keystone to the company's health initiative.
The employer purchased approximately $60,000 of equipment for the fitness center and hired certified fitness trainer Chris King on a full-time basis to provide guidance to interested employees and any spouses who wish to participate, Fischer said.
Approximately 40 of the company's 107 employees who work at its 1011 S. Prospect St. facilities are working out regularly in the fitness facility, and approximately 83 have received the blood profile and physician permission required to participate, King said. The screening alerted some employees to potential health risks, and they were encouraged to visit their physician, Horne said.
Fischer, who with King's assistance lost 90 pounds about seven years ago, hopes the program helps instill healthier habits in employees and suspects they do, too.
"I think most of us feel that way, but it's just a matter of getting it done," said the company's vice president of nonferrous and ferrous material.
He said that making the fitness center available and allowing employees to be on the clock for three 45-minute sessions weekly can be the boost some need.
For further incentive, the company on a quarterly basis awards prizes of $500, $400 and $250, respectively, to employees who work out the most. Others who exercise at least 40 times during the designated three-month period are entered into drawings for other prizes such as gift cards.
Beginning Jan. 1, 2008, the voluntary workout regimen will have an added incentive - participants will benefit economically through lower premiums on health coverage through the company, Fischer said.
The recipient of the first $500 bonus for exercising the fitness center option, Keirns said the program is helping her get back in shape.
"I used to work out at home," but gained 20 pounds when she stopped, said the accounting department worker. "Lo and behold, once you stop it's hard to get back into it. But, heck, if they're going to pay you ... It's wonderful."
Megan Alexander, another accounting department employee who's been with Sims Brothers for six years, said prior to the Sims Brothers program her personal exercise routine was to walk in the cemetery occasionally. She said she receives her health insurance coverage through her husband's employment, working out solely for the health benefits; she's lost 29 pounds.
The employer-run training is the only such program she's "really stuck with," which she attributes in part to the company hiring King as a full-time on-site trainer. "I have to answer to myself, but it's easier to do when you've got a person there to help you and pushing you when you need a push."
Losing weight is not the primary objective of the fitness center, but diet and nutritional information is available to those who seek it, King said.
Cooling down after their first workout together at the Sims Brothers facility, Ricky Breeding, a truck driver for the company, and his wife, Debbie, looked forward to the potential health benefits.
"I just came to encourage him," she said, but added a personal motivation. "He wants to lose (weight), and I want to gain."
Her spouse, a Sims Brothers truck driver for 12 years, described the trainer-guided program as a win-win proposition. "We're getting paid to come here, plus we get Chris here. ... It keeps everybody healthier so you don't miss so much work."
Sims Brothers, which currently is self-insured with an insurance company administering the program, has received positive feedback from the providers it's talked to while preparing to lock in for another year of health coverage, Horne said.
Having the fitness center next door, she said, also makes a healthful life choice more convenient.
"We're pretty labor intensive," she said. "Some guys work long hours. It's hard to go home and exercise, so we have it right here."
The company also is working to provide a workout program possibly through purchasing memberships to outside fitness centers for its approximately 50 employees who work away from Marion at Sims Brothers work sites in Columbus, Bellefontaine, Delaware and Mount Vernon, as well as at Honda sites in Marysville, Ana and Russells Point and Celina Aluminum Products in Celina, she said.
Fischer said he doesn't expect the company to reap the benefit of lower health insurance rates in the first year, but anticipates a return on the investment within three or four years.
Meanwhile, the blood profiles, cardiovascular exercise equipment, weights and training assistance already have begun paying off in better employee health, Horne said, referring to "at least three people who have lost 20 pounds since July" and three who are "in the process of quitting smoking."
"Obviously, our health insurance is getting more expensive all the time," she said. "We just want our employees to have a healthier lifestyle and feel better."
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