NEAT and the Modern Benefits Package — Why Employers Track Everyday Movement, Not Just Gym Time
NEAT and the Modern Benefits Package — Why Employers Track Everyday Movement, Not Just Gym Time Something shifted in the corporate wellness conversation over the past couple years. HR folks started talking less about gym reimbursements and step challenges, more about "ambient activity" and "metabolic load throughout the workday." Odd terminology for benefits meetings, right? But there's a reason. Traditional wellness programs — the ones that reward hitting the gym three times weekly or completing a 5K — weren't moving the needle on the metrics employers actually care about: healthcare costs, absenteeism, productivity drag. People would dutifully log their workouts, collect their incentive points, then sit motionless for nine hours daily and wonder why they still felt terrible. The disconnect between exercise incentives and real health outcomes finally got too obvious to ignore. The missing piece was NEAT. Non-exercise activity thermogenesis, if y...