This report thesis is about finding out how employers support the physical training of over 55-year-olds that are still working and how these employees use the perks available to them in order to fulfill the Physical Activity Guidelines. This report is a part of the work for future project application for LiiTo -research team in the University of Applied Sciences in Turku. 65 fitting employees out of three companies took part in the research. The data was collected via electronic questionnaires and the results were analyzed anonymously.

In Finland aging is on the rise relative to birth rate and it has been predicted that in 2030 a fourth of the population would be over 65. This is a significant thing as the share of people in working age gets lower. Thus, it is important to preventively start supporting the well-being of employees in order to secure as lengthy a working career as possible.

By following the Physical Activity Guidelines of the UKK Institute you may get enough endurance, strength, and mobility training weekly. This could help maintain health-related fitness, as muscle strength starts weakening around the age of 50 among men and after menopause among women. Musculoskeletal disorders are among the most common reasons for disability pension and in this thesis, we researched how over 55-year-olds are able to meet the Physical Activity Guidelines in order to maintain their physical fitness. A key part in our inquiries was how and how much employers support the possibilities of exercising, economically.

The results show that employers do indeed support the chances of exercise among their employees, but they are not specifically directed towards people over the age of 55. In addition, according to our research, only few were able to meet the guidelines of the UKK Institute only by the perks provided by employers. We came to the conclusion that employers should invest more in the physical well-being of employees in order to maintain the ability to work as long as possible.