It is possible to use work time for exercise or other measures to promote health, and still achieve the same production levels or higher. The same production levels with fewer hours of work means increased productivity, while at the same time, individuals benefit from improved health as a result of physical activity.
“This comes from increased productivity on the one hand, people do more things during the hours they are at work, perhaps due to increased resistance and on the other hand, from absenteeism due to illness of less” Ulrica von Thiele says Henna Hasson and Schwarz, the researchers behind the study.
In the study, two places of work in the dental care were asked to spend 2.5 hours per week of physical activity, spread over two sessions. Another group had the same decrease in working hours, but no mandatory exercise, and a third group maintained their normal working hours, 40 hours a week.
The results showed that all three groups were able to maintain or even increase their production level, in this case the number of patients treated during the study period compared with the corresponding period last year. The exercisers also reported improved productivity self-assessment – the perception that you have more things at work, had a greater work capacity, and are sick less often.
