This short piece in The New York Times makes me wonder if the practice of installing exercise equipment (and allowing workers to use it) at the office can become more prevalent.

First, a dire warning:

Every day, millions of American workers do something dangerous to their health: they sit down.

Sitting for long periods is hard on the body. It strains the back and causes the muscles to become slack. It slows the processes that metabolize calories, increasing the risk of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.

People might think they are protecting themselves from such problems if they exercise outside of working hours. And employers may pat themselves on the back if they offer their workers subsidized gym memberships. But regular exercise doesn’t entirely make up for the shutdown of chemical processes that occurs during long periods of sitting, research has shown.

The Times profiles Salo, a financial staffing firm in Minneapolis, which:

[E]ncourages walking meetings. In a conference room, Salo has set up four treadmill desks, where a height-adjustable working surface is placed above the treadmill track. The desks face one another, so that people can walk and take care of business at the same time.

The results seem impressive:

For six months, the activities of 18 employees — including Mr. Dexheimer — were monitored by a device on their belts. With the help of equipment like the treadmill desks and wireless headsets that permit walking while talking on the phone, the employees collectively lost more than 150 pounds, most of it in body fat. Their cholesterol and triglyceride levels also showed a collective decline. Mr. Dexheimer said he lost 25 pounds, and has kept the weight off.

How far do I have to walk to get my employer on board?