Employee Massage Offered Worldwide

A study conducted for the world's largest human-resource-management association shows that in 2006, 14 percent of employers worldwide offered massage therapy to employees, a 2 percent increase over the previous year.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) report read, "Massage therapy is a great health-maintenance tool that aids in stress reduction. This is especially beneficial for employees who work in a very stressful work environment."

Although the 2006 report included a section on health and health-care benefits, the information about massage ran in a section titled, "Work-Life Balance Benefits," which also included benefits such as postal and dry-cleaning services, meal preparation, legal assistance and travel-planning services.

SHRM (www.shrm.org) has 205,000 members in more than 100 countries. M