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Workplace Obesity Cost Study

Sheds Light on Larger Employer

Problem

Special Report From: EasySmallBusinessHR.com

As a business owner, you’re concerned about the rising cost of

health care. For HR managers and other decision makers, the

impact that employee health and wellness makes on the bottom

line becomes more significant every year.

A recent Duke University study has highlighted the impact of one

aspect of the health care challenge: workplace obesity and its cost

to employers.

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The obesity and the workplace research, published in the Journal

of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, studied employees

who were normal weight, overweight, and obese and the effect the

different groups had on a company’s medical expenditures and

productivity levels. Here’s what researchers found:

The most obese employees, who made up nearly 40% of

the obese workforce, were responsible for about 60% of

the total cost of obesity to an employer.

Obese employees also have decreased productivity at

work (called presenteeism) due to health problems. It’s

important to note, though, that the study found that

normal weight employees also lost productivity due to

health problems.

The more obese an employee in the study was, the more

money he or she cost the employer. For example, they

estimated an overweight woman costs the company nearly

$800 extra while a very obese woman (defined as

someone with a BMI of more than 35) cost nearly $7000.

Very obese men also cost employers significantly more

than overweight men.

American employers lose about $73 billion to obesity in

the workplace issues.

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The takeaway? Reducing obesity in the workplace, especially

among those with the highest BMI, could save employers a

significant amount of money both in the cost of health care and in

productivity levels.

But obesity is just a portion of the larger health in the workplace

challenge.

While this study focused on the impact of the high health care

costs associated with workplace obesity, the fact is that rising

health care costs make it “mission critical” for employers to

encourage good health and wellness for all employees, from the

two-pack a day smoker to the employee exhausted from working,

raising children, and caring for an ailing senior parent.

Want to save money on health care costs? Consider investing in

programs that create a healthy workplace. Programs that focus on

weight management, healthful living, and stress relief might

require an initial investment of time and money—but the payoff is

a potentially significant reduction in the medical and productivity

costs associated with unhealthy lifestyles. Start investing in

employee health and wellness today.

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