You can’t put a price tag on a clean bill of health, but with the total annual cost of health care in the U.S. topping $3 trillion a year (about $8,650 per capita) employers and insurance companies are searching for ways to spend less on it.

A study from the University of Michigan Health Management Research Center does offer some encouraging news: As little as 10 to 20 minutes of daily exercise can help “dramatically” lower the risk of developing serious chronic conditions like heart disease and diabetes, even for those with a high risk.

The research project viewed how exercise affected 4,345 employees at a financial services company. About 30% of the employees suffered from what doctors call “metabolic syndrome” which is a cluster of risk factors (including high blood pressure and high cholesterol) that often leads to diabetes and heart disease.

The study also found when high-risk employees put in 150 minutes per week of exercise saw their health care costs drop to the same level as those of healthy employees’. “It was a real surprise,” says Alyssa Schultz, a researcher who worked on the study.

Employees with metabolic syndrome who put in just 30 minutes of exercise five times a week racked up an average of $2,770 in annual medical expenses, compared with $3,855 for at-risk employees who didn’t work out. Data showed that those who exercised also had their’ pharmacy costs cut in half!

The biggest eye-opener from the study however was seeing how helpful it can be to exercise even just a little, as researchers noticed health-care cost savings, even among people who reported just 10 minutes of vigorous movement per day.

Companies intent on cutting their health care bills might want to encourage employees to sit less and move more — and they needn’t do it through an elaborate wellness program. Standing alone burns more calories than sitting, and with enough creativity and encouragement there are several ways to get employees to be more active throughout the day.

“People tend to think that, if they can’t spare half an hour a day to spend on a treadmill at a gym, then they might as well not bother doing anything, but any number of minutes that is more than zero makes a noticeable difference.” – Ms. Schultz.

Moral of the story? That stand-up desk your employee has been bugging you about may actually save you money in the long run.