Home & People Companies realising the advantage of encouraging staff fitness

Press, 12 April 1978, Page 13

Home & People Companies realising the advantage of encouraging staff fitness

Coronary-artery blockage and strokes are costing big business such huge sums annually in the United States that every giant corporation there is pouring millions of dollars into staff-fitness programmes and facilities. The main cause of labour loss, coronaryartery trouble, is costing an estimated several billions a year. General Motors, Exxon, General Foods, Firestone, Goodyear, Boeing, Xerox, Phillips Petroleum, and Metropolitan Life are among more than 300 industrial giant; who now employ full-time fitness directors. Big Government departments, including the Federal Reserves Board, the State Department, the Justice Department and N.A.S.A. are also putting big sums into staff-fitness programmes. In all programmes the emphasis is on running as the best and cheapest way to heart and artery conditioning. The problem is now so acute that according to the chairman of the Long Distance Runners’ Club of New Zealand, Don Cameron, who has toured North America on a running holiday, top candidates for executive posts who are coronary risks are being passed over in favour of men who have good stamina ratings in fitness tests.

Some Government departments have staff exercise cardiologists who evaluate employees’ fitness to begin training and design prescriptive exercise packages to suit them. An executive of the huge Rockwell organisatioi has said: “The greatest asset of our company is its people. We don’t want to lose them through illness or heart attacks.” An executive of Phillips Petroleum has said: “When our employees are

gaining physical fitness through regular exercise they become more productive and live longer. When we consider the investment our companies have in people, and in their skills and experience, it is clear that longevity of employees is a real benefit to our organisation.” The president of the Bonne Bell Corporation, Mr Jess Bell, who is a keen long-distance runner,

sponsors the biggest road race in Ohio and offers all employees from produc-tion-line staff to senior manager a half-hour of free time during business hours for physical-fitness activity.

American industry and the United States Government evidently think “running is good for business.”

In Christchurch, one of New Zealand’s biggest firms is encouraging running by its staff and without any mercenary motives.

Employee* of Lane, Walker, Rudkin, Ltd, now train regularly on Sydenham Park, only a stone’s throw from the factory.

The idea was that of Mr Paul Brosnahan, a divisional manager. Susan Young, the Canterbury Women’s marathon titleholder, who is a company training officer, soon got the project under way. She called in other Long-Distance Runners’ Club members to help. Don Cameron said: “As soon as I heard what Lane, Walker was doing, I could see the tremendous possibilities of developing this move for community benefit.”

“The idea was first to give people a chance of regular training leading up to community fun-runs,” said Miss Young. “First it was the City-to-Surf run. Now we have runners coming out on Mondays and Wednesdays getting ready for ‘The Press’ Park-to-Park run on May 7.” It seemed strange, she said, that even to hold a job in the Army all personnel had to pass regular fitness -ests yet m the high-powered world of business, candidates for middle and top management positions gained appointments without fitness tests at all. Yet most would agree that emotional and stress pressures at this business level were equal to, if not greater than, those in the Armed Forces, Miss Young said. Now, because of the encouragement the Lane, Walker, Rudkin staff have had from their new-found fitness, and the enjoyment they have had from group training, some are keen enough to become members of the St Martins Athletic and Harrier Club and other clubs.

More may follow. The Lane, Walker programme could be the incentive for other Christchurch firms, both big and small, to join tl.a firm’s Sydenham Park training outings. Mr Brosnahan said that runners from other firms would be welcome to join in any time they like. “Thanks to the help given by the Long-Dis-tance Runners’ Club, our runners have built up quite a bit of know-how on training, and can pass this on to newcomers from other firms who

would like to come along,” he said. Runners in “The Press” Park-to-Park fun run will have a further incentive to keep up with their training— of — the Sumner Round Table will hold a City-to-Sumner fun-run on the morning of May 21, also starting from Sydenham Park. It will be a little longer than the Park-to-Park run, and should be an ideal extra challenge. In the meantime, among other fun-runs leading up tJ the Park-to-Park run is the annual Anzac Day run,

for which Mr C. H. Upham, V.C. and bar, has consented to act as official starter. This run, according to Alex Kaihau, the LongDistance Runners’ Club’s Anzac-Day run co-ordina-tor, will take the form of a pace-judging contest. No emphasis will be placed on speed. The runners will leave the Bridge of Remembrance at 2 p.m. and run to the Artillery memorial in Victoria Park on the Cashmere Hills, and return — a distance of about 14 km.

So it’s all go on the Christchurch running scene. Keep gradually increasing your training preparation for the Park-to-Park by running more and walking less in training. If you would like a training schedule to suit your needs, write to “Runner’s Diary” and we will try to help. If you are aged over 30 you should seek an exercise electrograph examination by an exercise cardiologist before starting on a running programme.