Wayne State University



Proposal for Extending Weekend Hours of Operation at the Mort Harris Fitness Center Prepared for:Christy Nolan, Ed. D.Director of Campus RecreationMort Harris Fitness CenterWayne State UniversityPrepared by:Nicholas Figueras, Matt Kraydich, Jawad Rashid, Nicholas WysongApril 19, 2017Table of ContentsExecutive Summary..............................................................................................................3Introduction...........................................................................................................................4Overview of Alternatives......................................................................................................5Criteria..................................................................................................................................6Research Methods.................................................................................................................7Interview with MHFC...............................................................................................7MHFC Usage Stats…………………………………………………………8Student survey...........................................................................................................9Area universities hours of operation………………………………….…….…..…10Potential costs of operation (secondary research) analysis......................................11Results…………………………………………………………………………….……….12Survey Results....................................................................................................13-15Conclusion...........................................................................................................................16Recommendation.................................................................................................................17References............................................................................................................................18Appendix A..........................................................................................................................19Appendix B..........................................................................................................................20Executive SummaryFor Wayne State University (WSU) to fully meet the needs of its students with regard to health and wellness, it must look for ways to increase student’s access to weekend exercise and fitness activities. Currently, the Mort Harris Fitness Center (MHFC) at Wayne State University operates on shortened hours of operation on weekends from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Although there are other ways for students to exercise on weekends, the MHFC remains the best option due to the services offered, indoor access to exercise equipment and fitness classes, and ability to socialize with other students. The benefits of exercise and physical activity are well documented and are important to WSU students. Many students rely on physical activity to stay in shape, relieve stress, and as a way to socialize with fellow students. Consequently, we evaluated two options for increasing student’s access to weekend exercise and fitness activities.1. Extending the weekend hours of operation at the MHFC from the current hours of 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. to the new hours of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.2. Each student would come up with their own method of working out outside of the MHFC hours of 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Each option was researched through student surveys and an interview with representatives of the Mort Harris Fitness Center. Additional research on associated costs and comparisons to area colleges was conducted. The options were evaluated based on the following criteria:Greatest benefit to studentsLikelihood of being implementedCost effectivenessConvenienceThis report concludes that extending the weekend hours of operation at the Mort Harris Fitness Center from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. is the best solution to the problem at the present time.IntroductionThis report will address the lack of weekend access to fitness activities for Wayne State University (WSU) students due to shortened weekend hours of operation at the Mort Harris Fitness Center (MHFC). WSU students rely on physical activity to stay in shape, reduce stress, and as a means to interact with other students. The university recognized this need and in 2000, WSU opened the Mort Harris Fitness Center. The fitness center provides WSU students a place to work out and participate in activities that promote health and wellness, as well as the opportunity to bond with fellow students, enriching their college experience. Some area universities offer extended hours of operation at their fitness centers on weekends or have multiple facilities with varying hours to accommodate student’s schedules. Wayne State University's students are at a disadvantage with regard to health and wellness due to the shortened weekend hours of operation at the MHFC.The benefits of physical activity are well documented. At Wayne State University (WSU), the Mort Harris Fitness Center (MHFC) is an important resource for students. With hours from 5:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday, the fitness center provides students a place to go to work out, take a fitness class, play tennis, or rock climb. With so many activities to offer, it has come to our attention that WSU students lack adequate access to the fitness center on weekends due to shortened hours of operation. Weekend hours for the fitness center are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. This means that outside of those hours, Wayne State University students have fewer choices for working out and fitness activities and fewer activities in general on weekends. Overview of AlternativesIn response to the lack of weekend fitness activities at Wayne State University, we looked at extending the weekend hours of operation at the Mort Harris Fitness Center from the current hours of 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. to the proposed hours of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Another option is letting each individual student come up with their own method of working out outside of the MHFC weekend hours of 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.The Mort Harris Fitness Center extends its weekend hours of operation This alternative would give students the option of using the MHFC from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends giving them eight additional hours per weekend to utilize the fitness center. Increasing the weekend hours of operation would allow Wayne State University students the ability to improve their health and wellness by allowing more time on the weekend to workout. In addition, students would not feel like they have to rush through homework, studying, or a meal to get to the fitness center before it closes on weekends. Many students use their workout to relieve stress and stay in shape and the limited access to the MHFC can hamper their efforts. By increasing the hours of operation of the Mort Harris Fitness Center, Wayne State University is making a commitment to its student’s health and well-being.Students come up with their own method for working out on weekendsIn this alternative, the Mort Harris Fitness Center keeps its current hours of operation and students find their own alternative fitness activities outside the MHFC weekend hours of 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. CriteriaEach solution was evaluated based on defined criteria. The criteria used are as follows:Greatest benefit to studentsThe solution needs to work for students in order to be successful. Students are the ones most affected by the lack of weekend fitness activities outside 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Any solution needs to be geared to student's weekend schedules and must be beneficial to all students. Likelihood of being implementedAny proposed solution must take into consideration whether or not it has the ability to be implemented. It makes little sense to propose a solution that does not appeal to all of the students, residential and commuter. In addition, if the proposed solution is too costly or unreasonable, it is not likely to be successful.Cost effectivenessA solution that is not cost effective will be less likely to succeed. For that reason, the solution should fit into the Wayne State University's annual budget. Additionally, the cost to students needs to be addressed, as well as any overhead and maintenance costs.ConvenienceWhen looking at convenience, we must look at convenience for students and the MHFC management and staff. The only way additional weekend fitness activities will be utilized is if they are convenient for students. Also, any solution must take into consideration the convenience of the MHFC management and staff with regard to managing and staffing the facility. Research MethodsPrimary Research Methods and Techniques:To gather data to come up with effective solutions to the problem of lack of access to weekend fitness activities outside of the MHFC current hours of 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., we had to use several methods of research. Methods of research included an interview with representatives of the Mort Harris Fitness Center, a student survey to gather current and potential, future usage data, research on area universities fitness center hours and offering, and associated costs.Primary Research Method 1: MHFC InterviewTo gather data from the perspective of the Mort Harris Fitness Center. We conducted an interview to better understand the utilization of the fitness center from the employee’s perspective. In addition, we inquired about their thoughts on extending the hours of operation at the MHFC and trends on usage of the center. In an interview with staff at the Mort Harris Fitness Center on 4/28/2017, staff were asked about weekend usage of the fitness center, most popular activity utilized by students, and how many people typically work on a weekend shift. In addition, we asked how the staff at the MHFC feel about extending weekend hours of operation and if they felt it would benefit students.In summary, the staff at the MHFC felt that weekend usage is slower than weekday usage. The fitness classes are the most popular draw for students and that it takes a team of 2-3 people to cover a weekend shift. In addition, the staff felt extending the weekend hours would benefit students who have a set workout schedule, but that they don’t necessarily want to work the extra hours. Finally, staff felt that extending weekend hours of operation at the MHFC would likely benefit students, but thought it would be the later hours that were more beneficial than the early hours.See Appendix B Figure 1: 2014-15 Mort Harris RFC Usage Stats(Mort Harris Fitness and Recreation Center, 2015)Primary Research Method 2: Student survey The main beneficiaries of our study will be the students of Wayne State, to receive their input we created a quick survey to collect their opinions. The inputs of students are important since they are the biggest group utilizing the MHFC and they have the most influence for facilitating a change in the weekend hours. In order to gather responses, we utilized Wayne State’s Academica social media system. This system guaranteed us responses specifically Wayne State students, we closed the survey reaching 47 individual responses in one week. Surveying Wayne State students specifically is crucial to towards the aim of our study given that random respondents would not be able to relate to our questions. The survey asked very specific questions such as the opinion of the respondent towards increasing the weekend hours of the MHFC from 10 AM to 7 PM to 8 AM to 9 PM. Questions like this allowed us to provide a solution rather than asking the students to come up with viable operating hours of their choice since this would be hard to analyze and cater towards. The following questions were asked in our survey:Do you find yourself having extra time during the weekends?Do you utilize the Mort Harris fitness center?Do you use the Mort Harris fitness center to reduce stress?Would you support a plan to increase the hours of the Mort Harris fitness center during weekends to 8 AM to 9 PM from 10 AM to 7 PM?Would you use the Mort Harris fitness center more often if there were extracurricular activities present during the weekends?See Appendix ASecondary Research Method 1: Area universities fitness center hours and what they offerIn order to effectively determine what hours the Mort Harris Fitness Center should be extended to; we needed to do additional research on surrounding universities. The main target we have is to assess the data and see if there are any noticeable patterns or issues that led other universities in determining what times their fitness centers are available to students. This in return will help us decide on the best suitable option for extending Mort Harris Fitness Center hours.After gathering information from the eight other surrounding universities shown above, we did not notice any significant trends due to the various hours the fitness facilities opened and closed on both Saturdays and Sundays. All of the fitness centers opened anywhere from 7:00 AM to 12:00 PM on Saturdays. On Sundays, they typically open at the same times or within a few hours of Saturday’s opening time. Closing times varied anywhere from 4:00 PM to 12:00 AM on Saturdays. On Sundays, the closing times were similar in that there were no noticeable patterns. So, the only noteworthy consistencies were the opening time on both Saturdays and Sundays. We expected the universities with multiple fitness facilities to have differing hours of operation from the universities without, but we noticed that the colleges with multiple fitness centers had no relation and they also did not relate to colleges without multiple fitness centers. So, there was no correlation relating to number of facilities on a campus and hours students can access them.After analyzing the data further, we noticed there is more to think about than just the times the facilities open and close. There are multiple outside factors that can lead other university officials to determine what weekend hours they allow students to access the fitness centers on their campuses. These factors are conflicting class schedules, surrounding business hours of operation, safety issues, facility costs, university budget, etc. Each university has their own reasons as to why they choose the hours of operation that they did based on these factors and the differences between these factors and how they relate to the students attending the college. Secondary Research Method 2: Costs of implementationIn order to gather data regarding costs to Mort Harris Fitness Center, our group looked at the MHFC budget. We looked at major expenditures which would be relevant to determining the hourly costs of associated with extending the hours of operation at the center. A summary of the line item, yearly budget allotment, and hourly breakdown is below. We estimated the number of hours of operation per year based on the MHFC current operating hours understanding that there will be some variation due to holiday closing. Mort Harris Fitness Center Sample of Hourly Operation CostsColumn1Column2Column3Line ItemYearly Budget AllotmentCost Per HourSalaries and Wages$899,400 $163.94 Equipment Maintenance$77,000 $14.00 Overhead Admin Costs$76,400 $13.93 Utilities$180,000 $32.81 Supplies and Equipment$111,000 $20.32 Total 1,343,800$245.00 *cost per hour determined by dividing yearly budget amount by current yearly approximate hours of operation (5486)(Wayne State University, 2016)ResultsThe main question we attempted to answer during our research was whether extending weekend access to fitness actives at Wayne State University would benefit students. Prior to 2000, WSU students did not have access to a fitness center on campus and had to rely on other methods for their fitness activities. Since that time, students have become accustomed to the convenience of the fitness center.Survey ResultsIn a span of 7 days, we gathered survey results from 47 Wayne State University students via Academica. When asked if the respondents utilize the MHFC, 85.11% reported utilizing the fitness center while 14.89% denied utilization of the center. Next, respondents were asked if they find themselves having extra time on the weekends. 89.28% of respondents replied that they do have extra time on the weekends while 17.02% reported not having extra weekend time. The third question asked was do they respondents use the MHFC to relieve stress and 78.26 % reported using the MHFC to relieve stress. 21.74% of respondents denied using the fitness center for stress relief. The forth question asked respondents if they would support a plan to increase the weekend hours of operation at the MHFC from the current hours of 10 AM to 7 PM to the new hours of 8 AM to 9 PM. With regard to increasing the weekend hours of operation, 80.85% would support the increased hours, while 19.15% would not support the increased hours. Finally, the respondents were asked if they would use the MHFC more on weekends if there were extracurricular activities present on weekends and 72.34% said yes, while 27.66% said no. These results are important for determining the demand for extended hours.Survey Resultscenter762000center530860Figure 1. Results of Survey Question 1: Do you utilized the Mort Harris fitness center?00Figure 1. Results of Survey Question 1: Do you utilized the Mort Harris fitness center?center16446500center4445Figure 2. Results of Survey Question 2: Do you find yourself having extra time during the weekends?00Figure 2. Results of Survey Question 2: Do you find yourself having extra time during the weekends?center-51879500center267970Figure 3. Results of Survey Question 3: Do you use the Mort Harris fitness center to reduce stress?00Figure 3. Results of Survey Question 3: Do you use the Mort Harris fitness center to reduce stress?center21907500center344170Figure 4. Results of Survey Question 4: Would you support a plan to increase the hours of the Mort Harris fitness center during weekends to 8 AM to 9 PM from 10 AM to 7 PM?00Figure 4. Results of Survey Question 4: Would you support a plan to increase the hours of the Mort Harris fitness center during weekends to 8 AM to 9 PM from 10 AM to 7 PM?center-20764500center5715Figure 5. Results of Survey Question 5: Would you use the Mort Harris fitness center more often if there were extracurricular activities present during the weekends?00Figure 5. Results of Survey Question 5: Would you use the Mort Harris fitness center more often if there were extracurricular activities present during the weekends?ConclusionAccording to our research, Wayne State University is failing to meet the physical activity needs of its students with regard to the weekend hours of operation of the Mort Harris Fitness Center. This feasibility report proposed and evaluated the need for a weekend hours’ extension as opposed to continuing, as is by requiring students to find their own fitness activities on weekends outside of the operating hours of the fitness center. Primary research conducted in the form of an interview and survey showed that staff at the MHFC felt that students would likely use the fitness center on weekends if the hours were extended and that extending the hours of the fitness center would be beneficial to students. According to the student survey, students are interested in having greater hours of access to fitness activities at the Mort Harris Fitness Center on weekends and that they would utilize the fitness center during those hours. In addition, students would likely utilize the fitness center more on weekends if extracurricular activities were offered at the center. Secondary research conducted showed many area colleges have a wide variety of hours of operation at their fitness centers. Additionally, comparing WSU to area colleges might not be a fair comparison as many factors go into deciding what hours of operation to offer. As expected, the secondary research on approximate hourly costs at the fitness center showed that the MHFC would incur costs associated with extending the hours of operation and that those costs would need to be included in the operating budget.Wayne State University has the option of allowing the Mort Harris Fitness Center to extend its weekend hours of operation from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. or allowing students to continue to find fitness activities on their own outside of the MHFC current hours of operation. Both solutions could work based on our research, however, the MHFC remains the best option due to the services offered, indoor access to exercise equipment and fitness classes, and ability to socialize with other students.RecommendationIn reviewing the options, the recommendation is for Wayne State University to allow the Mort Harris Fitness Center to extend its weekend hours of operation from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. This extension would give WSU students the greatest opportunity to take advantage of the services offered at the center, indoor access to fitness equipment and fitness classes, and a place to socialize with fellow students on weekends. Additionally, by addressing the lack of access to weekend fitness activities outside of the current MHFC hours of operation, Wayne State University and the Mort Harris Fitness Center would be making a commitment to the health and fitness of WSU students. ReferencesMort Harris Fitness and Recreation Center. (2015). Quick facts. Retrieved from State University. (2016). Current funds budget. 1-192. Retrieved from AStudent SurveySurvey Questions,1. Do you find yourself having extra time during the weekends?2. Do you utilize the Mort Harris Fitness center?3. Do you use the Mort Harris Fitness center to reduce stress?4. Would you support a plan to increase the hours of the Mort Harris fitness center during the weekends to 8 AM to 9 PM?5. Would you use the Mort Harris fitness center more often if there were extracurricular activities present during the weekends?Appendix BInterview with Mort Harris Fitness CenterInterview QuestionsThis interview was from a staff Member of the Mort Harris Fitness Center and wishes to remain anonymous Q. Is the fitness center busy on Saturdays and Sundays near opening and closing times?"They vary weekend to weekend on how many come in, it is slow because of finals this week"Q. How many people must be staffed on a shift for weekend hours?"Only a few there is me and at least 2 in not more other people going around and cleaning and keeping an eye on things"Q. How would you feel if you had to work more on a Saturday or Sunday to allow extended hours?"Personally I don’t care it would be annoying to stay longer"Q. What’s is your opinion on extending the hours for students?"It may help some students stick to a routine if they work out very day at the same time"Q. How much would you say the fitness center costs Wayne State University?" I couldn’t tell you"Q. What is the most popular activity at the fitness center for guests?"Normally the classes that are given and normally people who don't do that just run on the tread mill and other machines"Q. Is the fitness center less active on the weekends?"Yes, it is I think that is due to that we are a commuter school"Q. Do you think that extending the hours on the weekends would allow more people to work out at the fitness center?"Possibly we don’t get that many people in the morning more of mid-day on Saturdays and Sundays" ................
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