The spread of obesity has severe detrimental effects on employee benefit costs. Weakening overall health can exacerbate any other issues that arise and extend recovery time, meaning higher medical expenses in general for individuals and employers.
About two-thirds of adults and one-third of children in the United States are considered overweight or obese, according to Employee Benefit News. Obesity typically leads to medical costs of about $1,429 per person each year, leading to a total cost of about $80 billion in 2011, according to the National Institutes of Health. This is higher than the expense associated with smokers who develop cancer, respiratory, lung and heart diseases.
This is because obesity can contribute to problems with hip and knee joints or other structural difficulties, as well as cardiovascular conditions and other health issues, expert Gail Christopher told the news source. While it is not necessarily easy to map the causal relationship between obesity and other health issues, research does indicate it has strong links to worse health outcomes. This is likely what encourages some employers to attempt to address the trend through wellness programs.
Combating obesity and weight-related health issues
The potential for cost savings and to improve employee productivity should be enough to motivate businesses to invest in combating obesity specifically, not just employee health in general, Christopher states. If HR professionals or managers are overweight, she notes, they may be able to encourage enrollment in wellness programs by participating themselves, as doing so demonstrates their commitment to the initiative and strengthens the message.
It may also help to ensure employees understand just how being overweight or obese can negatively affect their health in other ways, which they may not. Information may not be enough to bring man to participate, but can still be a valuable part of such as effort.
