Your fitness could determine your paycheck in the future!

Recently, a leading insurer in India tied up with a fitness device company to help them calculate the insurance premium based on the fitness levels of the individual. Another company launched a plan offering 30% discount to those who maintain a healthy lifestyle by monitoring health habits through their app. Quite obviously, insurance companies would want to charge a higher premium amount to those whose fitness levels are poor and less to those whose fitness level is better.

It won’t be long that your fitness could be an integral part of all future jobs at various stages including recruitment, promotions and pay hike. The math is very simple, companies would be interested in assessing whether your body and mind is fit to take on the job challenges in a competitive environment.  

And it’s not only about physical fitness but also about an agile mind. It’s quite well-known that a regular health regime not only impacts your body, but also the mind. An hour of exercise every day leaves one with a fresh mind and a positive outlook. Researchers from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden revealed that regular exercise boosts the brain power of young adults. It improves blood flow to the brain helping build new brain cells.

Organizations would soon start asking candidates and employees to include their ‘fitness score’ during recruitment and promotion. They would want to assess whether candidates and employees are ‘fit’ to perform and deliver on a consistent basis. Organizations might also start creating a fitness culture as a part of their ‘employee social responsibility’ if they make it mandatory for employees to stay fit. They might also look at linking incentives and bonuses to the fitness progress achieved by employees. This isn’t such a bad idea because certain things like fitness can best be effected when a carrot and stick approach is adopted. Organisations are increasingly starting to include in house sports facilities or club memberships so this access is already available; for them to start creating a healthy organization is just a matter of priority. Like a CMO, CTO or CFO, why not have a Chief Health Officer who would drive this initiative?

While one doesn’t necessarily have to wait for the organization to effect these changes, one can begin immediately and start monitoring fitness. Today, monitoring health has become easy, there are so many fitness gadgets and apps available to kick start immediately.

A modest beginning could be made by asking simple questions to gauge your fitness levels on an ongoing basis, as follows:

·        What’s my body weight? (against an ideal weight for my height and age)

·        What’s my fat percentage? (approximately 24% for women and 18 % for men)

·        What food am I eating? (Fried/ cooked/raw/processed etc)

·        What is the nutrition my food contains? (carbs/protein/fat/vitamins/minerals etc)

·        What do I need to reduce/increase in my diet? ( eg: reduce fried food and increase salads)

·        How many calories did I consume today?

·        How many calories did I burn today?

·        What level is my cardiovascular strength? (how much am I able to run/brisk walk/cycle etc)

·        What level is my muscular strength? ( how much weights can I lift?)

·        How much is my flexibility? ( how much can I bend forward/backwards/sideways?)

·        How much do I need to gain or lose to get to an ideal fitness level?

For a beginner, one may find pointers like these taxing and confronting initially, however, this would become a normal part of routine in due course. It makes sense to start making a habit and incorporate such parameters as a part of daily routine and make that small beginning.

Who knows your next incentive or bonus could be dependent on your fitness levels!