Health promotion and management issues associated with the underutilization of a civilian fitness program and fitness facility by employees: An exploratory case study of the 221st Base Support Battalion in Wiesbaden (Germany)

Despite documented benefits for health and productivity, civilian employees of the U.S. Army's 221st Base Support Battalion in Wiesbaden, Germany, are not participating in the Civilian Fitness Program (CFP) and Fitness Center (FC), which the Army is offering free of charge. This underutilization of the CFP by 99% and the FC by 12% of the civilian workforce not only fails to realize the expected benefits of exercise---greater productivity, fewer health care costs, and better morale---but adds to the Army's and, ultimately, the U.S. tax payers' costs the building, maintaining, and staffing of facilities that remain largely unused. The purpose of the study was to discover the reasons for the underutilization of these wellness programs through a triangulation approach. Data were collected with: (a) a self-administered questionnaire, completed by 208 civilian employees; (b) archival data searches pertaining to current utilization of the CFP and FC; and (c) direct observation of both programs and the Wiesbaden Army community's exercise participation in general. Significant positive findings included that 38.1% of the respondents used the fitness facility, 65% reported their stress to be manageable, and exercise days averaged 3 per week. Significant negative findings included that 87.9% of respondents did not use the CFP; 75% were unaware of the programs; 55% worked more than 40 hours per week; most were overweight; number of barriers and utilization of the FC had a linear, synergistic relationship; and the Number 1 reported barrier to exercise was employer does not allow time off during working hours for exercise. The researcher recommends changing the current transactional leadership style to a transformational leadership approach to maintaining the health of both employers and employees. Transformational leaders view all of their organization's resources---real property and human capital---as essential to the organization's success. They seek to modify employees' beliefs and values and, ultimately, their behaviors to inspire actualization, both individually and collectively. Through the implementation of the researcher's recommendations for the Wiesbaden Army community and by seeing positive changes, this organization could serve as a role model for fitness and wellness improvement within the Army. These positive changes could have broad implications in shifting the current fitness/wellness paradigm that the Army advocates. Expanding the scope of the Army's programming to include its' civilian workforce---extending beyond the soldier---and serve as a role model for work organizations in the private sector.