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Workplace Health: Engaging Business Leaders to Combat Obesity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Tina Lankford ,
Jason Lang ,
Brian Bowden  and
William Baun
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Extract

Worksites are an important setting to promote healthy behaviors as 143 million adults are employed full-time and spend 8-10 hours per day at the workplace. Participation in health promotion programs have been shown to have a “dose response” relationship with health care costs, meaning health care costs decrease as employee involvement in health promotion activities in the workplace increase. Also from the employer perspective, it is important to note that obesity is a risk factor for many other chronic conditions, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer and is known to be related to increase injuries and health care costs. Motivating employees to participate in a number of wellness activities may provide benefits not only for obesity prevention but other desired outcomes such as: risk reduction, risk avoidance, reduced health costs, and improved productivity measures. Employers should be concerned as forecasts suggest that by 2030, 42% of the adult population will be obese. In fact, among employers, the costs of medical expenses and absenteeism increase as employees become more obese. The cost burden of obesity (BMI 30 or greater) ranges from $462-$2,027 among men and $1,372-$2,164 among women in comparison to normal-weight employees. However, halting this trend over the next few decades by maintaining (vs. increasing) current prevalence of obesity could potentially save billions in medical care expenditures related to obesity. Employers can be part of the solution by offering workplace wellness programs and facilitating opportunities for physical activity, access to healthier foods and beverages, and incentives for disease management and prevention to help prevent weight gain among their employees.

Type
JLME Supplement
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 41 , Issue S2 , Summer 2013 , pp. 40 - 45
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2013

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