PaperWise invests in employee fitness

As a corporate trainer at Springfield-based PaperWise Inc., a document-management software company, Joe Badger is responsible for teaching others about the company's products.

But after a doctor's visit earlier this year, Badger knew he needed to take some responsibility for his health, namely his blood pressure and blood sugar.

"I just knew from the results that I needed to do something," he said.

Badger wasn't alone in his quest for better health, though. PaperWise contracts with personal trainer Mollie Crawford to provide one-on-one training, boot camp and yoga for its 50 employees - and the entire cost, roughly $2,000 a month, is paid for by the company.

Badger has been working with Crawford for about three months, and he said he's already seeing improvement in his blood pressure and blood sugar. He's committed to walking daily, meeting with Crawford weekly and working out three times a week, either at the office or at home. "My blood pressure is down, and I'm noticing that I feel better when I get up in the mornings," he said.

Crawford has been contracting her services with PaperWise for nearly six months. She visits the company four days a week.

President Dan Langhofer said he and his wife, Shelley, originally were Crawford's clients at a local gym.

When the couple was ready to become more disciplined in their approach to fitness, they decided to make Crawford's services available to employees.

While bringing Crawford on board is the latest move for PaperWise on the fitness front, it certainly isn't the first.

A racquetball court at the company's headquarters, 3171 E. Sunshine St., was made available to employees until a broken sprinkler line flooded the court.

Langhofer said the company opted at that time to split the racquetball court into two levels, putting an expanded workout area below a new employee lounge with video games and other recreation. That work was completed earlier this year.

Langhofer said one of the main reasons the company has added workout facilities and a trainer is employee attraction and retention.

"Our folks are very, very hard to bring on board and keep," he said. "So anything we can do on the associate level to make this an environment that is better than any other environment in Springfield is a goal."

PaperWise Benefits Coordinator Katie Abbey said that younger job candidates in general are more interested in the fact that PaperWise supports employee wellness, but she said the company's fitness options are mentioned to all potential hires.

"Generally we mention (them) as one of the perks of working here, as well as the flexible hours, dress code and things that appeal to different people depending on what position they're interviewing for," she said.

Langhofer noted that balance for employees' lives also is important, and in-house workout options can help achieve that.

"At this company, we sit at a desk all day long. If they eat a big lunch, a big pasta dish, they come back here and they have the three o'clock sleepies, and they basically fall off the face of the earth until about 4:30 when they wake back up from their insulin spike and continue on throughout their day," Langhofer said. "What happens now is, they can work out anytime they want. I don't care if it's my time or their time ... individually or with Mollie, get the blood moving again. The day progresses faster. They're a lot happier and more energized."

At present, 15 to 20 of PaperWise's 50 employees are using the workout facilities and/or Crawford's services, Crawford said, but that doesn't include employees who may come in on the weekends or after-hours to use the gym equipment.

Offering personal training and workout equipment also enables Langhofer to keep his staff healthy - which is a good move, given that PaperWise pays all employee health insurance premiums. That comes to between $82,000 and $85,000 a year, he said.

"It's in our best interest to make sure that our associates are as healthy as they possibly can be," Langhofer said, noting that the company is moving toward a rewards program for wellness initiative participation.

And even with the costs of retaining Crawford's services and covering all health insurance premiums, Langhofer said his investments in wellness and fitness are nominal.

"What we've invested in our wellness and fitness program is nothing compared to what it would cost to replace one associate," Langhofer said. "It's probably not so much of a dollar return (issue) from my perspective as it is taking care of associates."

That effort seems to be working. Crawford said that during a recent boot camp re-evaluation of participants, the group as a whole had reduced its collective body fat by 20 percent.

And while Langhofer's not currently focused on using fitness initiatives to cut premium costs, the company's efforts will likely pay off in the long run, according to Benefits Coordinator Megan Trower. Right now, the company is lumped in with other similar-sized firms for access to benefits, but when that changes as the company grows, PaperWise will be well positioned to benefit from a healthier work force, she said.

"As we do grow, and we are growing very quickly, we'll start to see the return on investment for having healthier employees, because we'll (become) that company that is rated based on our individual claims, and we've got a head start on getting our employees healthy," Trower added.[[In-content Ad]]