ROCKY Mountain Mutual:
Promoting Fun or Fitness?

You are the administrative assistant to Joseph Mirola, the Claims Manager for Rocky Mountain Mutual, a growing insurance company which just three years ago built a new headquarters complex in a fairly remote suburban area in Utah. No expense was spared for the complex, which included professionally landscaped grounds, elegant offices, and a Fitness Center featuring an indoor walking/running track, a small lap swimming pool, and an exercise room with free weights and exercise machines. The cost for the Fitness Center alone was almost a million dollars, and a small staff was hired to supervise the activities. A major reason for building the Fitness Center was that no sports club facilities were conveniently available near the firm's headquarters, and management considered exercise to be an impor¬tant benefit to offer its employees. In fact, with its plans to grow the company in the next few years, management touted the Fitness Cen¬ter as a major draw for young employees, especially because of the somewhat remote location of the firm's headquarters.

Promoting Health and Fitness

Many of Rocky Mountain's 250 employees use the Fitness Center; in fact, the center is often crowded before the workday and during lunch. Joe Mirola, your boss, began to use the Fitness Center as soon as it opened and now averages five days a week, either walking or swim¬ming, before work. Since he began using the center regularly, Joe has enthusiastically described an increase in his energy and productivity. Because of Joe's enthusiasm for the Center, you have started exercis¬ing there, too.

Since Joe Mirola has benefited greatly from using the Fitness Cen¬ter and because, as Claims Manager, he has an interest in healthcare costs, he asked you to review the company records to see if the center has had any impact on employee