Some employers offer their employees subsidised membership of gyms and sports clubs, believing that this will make their staff healthier and thus more effective at work. Other employers see no benefit in doing so. Consider the arguments from both aspects of this possible debate, and reach a conclusion. v.1

Every employer like their staff to remain motivated and efficient towards contributing organization's goal. While it is argued by some employers that health related benefits often motivates their employees because they feel more energized, resulting in increased productivity than any other kind of benefits. In my opinion, rewards should be performance linked while specific health facilities may not be useful for everyone’s health needs. Employers, nowadays, are getting conscious about health and mental issues arising due to long working hours, which eventually is impacting the efficiency of the employees. Therefore, to ensure that their employees are physically and mentally fit, organizations are offering reimbursements of subscriptions with fitness institutes like yoga centers, gyms, sports clubs, etc. Organisations consider that this will be more rewarding than any other kind of perks- in cash or kind, because employees will find them more cheerful in their personal life as well. For example, many large corporates either have a small gym facility within their premises or provide subsidized subscription for nearby fitness centers, which not only keep them healthy, but also builds a sense of motivation towards their employer’s overall objectives. Contrary to above, some management feels rewards should be performance linked, which will be difficult to establish in case of providing health benefits and meet health related requirements of all employees. Such organizations prefer utilizing these funds towards on-site training of employees which provide them the opportunity to update their skills. Further, appreciating efforts of staff through various interim employee reward schemes which not only brings recognition from the whole management but personnel also feels contended with his/her job. Various organisations, for instance, identify employee of the month by sponsoring paid skill enhancement courses. To conclude, rewarding based on accomplishments of an employee, in my opinion, is more fruitful in increasing the level of efficiency of the employees as well as job satisfaction than just offering health related benefits.