Occupational Differences in Barriers and Incentives for Routine Exercise among Municipal Workers

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends that employers create healthy worksites through promotion wellness programs that included routine exercise, daily physical activity, and nutritional education among other initiatives. This study aimed to identify barriers and incentives of routine exercise in varying occupations among rural municipal workers in Southeast Georgia. A cross-sectional research design was used to evaluate the barriers and incentives for exercise among rural municipal workers in a rural setting. The four occupational departments used for analysis were as follows: fire, police, public works, and administration/other. An electronic survey was sent to all 309 workers on November 2016. The survey asked for participants to rank 10 common exercise barriers and incentives. One-hundred and twenty-three (~40%) complete responses were used for analysis. Based on a personal ranking, lack of time to exercise (mean = 2.2), inconvenient time/location of a facility (2.5), and no motivation (5.3) were found to be the top three barriers across all employees. No significant differences (P > 0.05) between departments were found for nine of the exercise barrier rankings. “Cost is too much” was only significantly different result found (P = 0.019) between departments, with fire department reporting lower than the other departments. Another barrier approaching significance was “feel awkward exercising” (P = 0.054). The results suggest that a variation of motivators and incentives, depending on occupational responses, could be a successful means of improving exercise in all employees, instead of implementing a single motivating tactic based on the raw majority.