Guide to Improving Fitness And Reducing Health Costs in the Workplace

Americans are fat. There's no denying that the whole country's been fighting obesity for many years now. TV shows like "The Biggest Loser" and movies like "Super Size Me" have gone a long way to demonstrating that not only it is a problem, but that people are at the point where they are ready and willing to do something about it. However, what business owners might not know is that their employees' weight problems are hurting business.

Duke University released a study in April that found overweight workers cost their employers more in injury claims than their healthier colleagues. The fattest workers had 13 times the missed workdays as the healthy workers because of work-related injuries, and their medical claims for the injuries were seven times higher.

Couple the immediate financial losses of injury claims with the future health care costs of weight-related illnesses like diabetes and heart disease, and having a bevy of overweight workers on staff suddenly gets very expensive. However, if employers treat the fatter employees differently from the leaner ones, they're opening themselves up to discrimination lawsuits.


Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Tips & Tactics
Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• Traceability would be one of the most important options for a business. If you're going to be spending several thousand dollars implementing a fitness program, you want to make sure that you can see results.
• Look for a program that allows you to log in at any time and keeps you updated on your employees’ progress. The best programs will keep track of employee progress on both a group level and on an individual level. Some will even update you on how many pounds and inches they’ve lost.
• Also, look for something that will encourage employees to work together in a team effort to lose weight. One of the reasons "The Biggest Loser" is so popular is the teamwork that encourages all the participants to give it their best shot. In turn, the participants cheer for each other in meeting their weight loss goals, something that would boost morale both in and out of the workplace.