On The Health Track: Fiat Chrysler Boasts Company Gym With Features You Might Never Expect

(WWJ) More car companies are finding that keeping employees healthy is good business.

WWJ Auto Beat Reporter Jeff Gilbert explains workers hit the treadmills at lunchtime at Fiat Chrysler headquarters as they have a full gym at the facility with machines ranging from elliptical to treadmills, and including free weights, classrooms with personal trainers, and a track. It's open during business hours, and before and after work.

The gym even has a laundry service so employees can work out, leave their clothes behind and return the next day to find them washed and placed inside a locker.

They also cook up healthy fare in the company cafeteria.

Executive chef Chris Richter said they have plenty of options available daily for workers.

"We tried to make it healthier without them necessarily suffering the consequence of it being healthy," he said. "We try to mask it so it tastes great but it's still healthy for them."

About 45 people work in the main company restaurant alone, plus staff at an on-site Starbucks.

As a single business facility, the headquarters is second in size only to the Pentagon. The 5.4 million square foot complex houses more than 15,000 employees.

And the building is great for fitness walkers like Meg Kennedy, who get their steps in around the building every day. Kennedy fits in about five miles a day.

"In the summer I can also go outside," she said. "There are trails outside and there are gravel paths that you can go on."

Spokespeople for the company say they've found that if they have workout facilities on site, workers are more likely to use them than they would be if they had to head to a gym.