I’m a big fan of the TV show Biggest Loser. Each Tuesday night, I sit down on my couch with a soda and usually something sweet/salty/fattening and watch a bunch of fat people duke it out. (Yeah, I used the “F” word – if you take offense, you’re probably fat – get over it – getting upset about someone using the word “Fat” when you’re fat is just a victim’s way out of focusing on the truth that you’re fat. Get over your fat self and do something about it.) And I love competition, so whether I’m watching the world’s greatest athletes or a group of fat people complete – it’s still competition – zero body fat or 50% body fat. The show motivates me so much to see these people taking control of their lives for the first time that I actually feel each night after the show ends that the next morning I’m “really” going to start exercising the next day. Then the next week comes, and I can’t wait for the next episode to get that motivating feeling again - so I can start working out the next day (which I never do!) - you see the vicious cycle – damn you Biggest Loser!
What I don’t get is how we (HR Pros) are letting our workforces get so fat. The research is out there, employees who are obese fat cost exponentially more than fit employees – and we aren’t talking about hundreds of dollars – we’re talking about thousands of dollars per fat employee. The University of Virginia Medical School released a study last year “The Economic Impact of Obesity” in which they explain:
“The costs of obesity to the employer are even more substantial since obesity is associated not only with higher health care costs but also with greater rates of lost productivity, disability and earlier mortality. Employers as diverse as General Motors, Bank One and Shell Oil have all demonstrated that excess weight is associated with lost productivity and greater medical and disability costs. Aggregating the direct and indirect costs of obesity to the employer the additional per capita costs to the employer due to excess weight ranged from $175 [(overweight)] to $2,027 [(class III obesity)] in men and $588 [(overweight)] to $2,164 [(class III obesity)] in women, depending on the degree of overweight and obesity. Obesity also imposes limitations while at work. Data from the 2002 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) show that 6.9% of obese workers have work limitations, compared with 3.0% of workers with a healthy body weight. Worksite injuries are also significantly higher among overweight employees; low back injuries were 1.42 times higher and non-back musculoskeletal injuries were 1.53 times higher among overweight and obese employees compared with employees with a healthy body weight. Lastly, overweight and obesity is a significant predictor of transition from short-term to chronic back pain. Overweight employees have a 56% greater chance for developing chronic back pain and obese employees have an 85% greater risk compared with healthy-weight employees.”
Also, a Duke University study from 2007 showed:
“Overweight employees “filed 9% more claims, missed 3.5 times as many workdays and their medical claims costs were 1.5 times their counterparts with “normal” weight, a BMI of 18.5 to 24.9. They also incurred nearly twice the indemnity costs.”
So, look, I know I’m not telling any HR Pro reading this anything you don’t already know – but here’s how I think you can use this data to win the lottery for your employees. HR Pros always (yes – always) complain they don’t have enough budget money to do what really needs to be done to impact wellness. So, I’m going to tell you how to get a whole bunch of money. Ready?
Pay your employees to lose weight.
But how does that get you money, you ask? Pay them less to lose weight than you’re paying them to be fat. Said another way – you’re paying thousands of dollars taking care of your fat employees’ health – make it more rewarding for them to lose the weight – but just under what you’re paying to keep them alive because of their fat related illnesses.
Look, if a company can tell their employees they can’t smoke -here – or they get fired, and it’s legal – you can pay your employees to get skinny. Now – I can already hear the naysayers, “But it’s not about being skinny, it’s about being “healthy”!” You know what? When you’re 50/100/200 pounds overweight – it’s about getting skinny, then getting healthy. Lose the weight and you’d be amazed at how many other issues take care of themselves.
I’ll tell you right now this isn’t easy to put together – it’s far easier to go to one of the those specialty Wellness Companies and pay to have them come out with 7 color brochures about getting fit and eating broccoli and getting a free health assessment. Or you can get creative, put your money where your employees’ big fat mouths are and get some results. Your call tubby.
I’ve never understood why more companies don’t implement programs like you propose. Employees get rewarded AND the company saves a little money. It seems like a win-win scenario. I can only think either companies are too spineless to deal with the whining that might ensue from fat employees who don’t want to participate. I’ll admit it would be tricky to define “healthy”. There are always exceptions to using tools like BMI scores.
It reminds me of some companies that pay employees a portion of the savings from an idea that reduces costs. Of course, most companies would scoff at such an idea. It’s not worth $1,000 for an idea that saves the company $100K?
Here is the deal Sackett:
I LOVE the biggest Loser. I Tivo it and actually exercise to it.
Also, MailSouth–my company–is working on Wellness intiatives. We have a corporate gym, EAPs, teams running the Mercedes Marathon, and we sponser a biannual health fair.
As a matter of fact—I very soon will be launching a wellness blog (www.mailsouthfitfiles.wordpress.com) talking about my fitness journey before I get married. And as a girl who always has 10 lbs to lose, I like incentives to stay fit.
Here is the wrench in your theory—it’s called HIPPA. And rules are getting really gray about what you can and can’t reward employees for. Right now I think there is more risk via HIPPA to push hard core, monetary, results based plans than more low key awareness campaigns.
Someone educate me if I am wrong…..
Tim, great research. You did a remarkable job of assessing and analyzing a serious topic with panache’ and humor. The sad truth is that you are absolutely right, and obesity is the subtle killer. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I will defintely RT this post.
@HRMargo Margo Rose http://HRMargo.com
Tim, I agree with this on its face–and studies have shown that incentivizing fitness with moolah works. But how do you address the BMI bias? I, as a healthy young woman with very dense bones (“I’m not fat, I’m big boned…”) and higher muscle mass would be on the losing end of this. Add to that that I don’t even use my employer-paid insurance plan enough to have a PCP, so I couldn’t get a BMI waiver without costing my employer more money to begin with in the form of a doctor’s visit.
Again, I’m all for encouraging employees, and really, Americans in general, to be healthier. Especially given that diabetes is set to double by 2025, but is there a better way than BMI?
Also, in response to Dawn (Dawn Hrdlica @dawnHRrocks): To be taken into account is GINA–Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. Employees with genetic defects or family histories are now a protected class.
Those of you who find this humorous, are any of you overweight? And when I say overweight, I don’t mean trying to lose those 10 lbs you put on over the holidays, I mean, 50 lbs or more?
As brutally honest as this post is, it holds truth. Being healthy, losing weight, how ever you want to put it, is a big issue for a lot of corporations. There are also benefits to exercising besides losing weight. There is the feeling of confidence in yourself, feeling more awake, more active and more aware. All these make for a greater employee.
Here is a great post that shines light on these benefits http://community.ere.net/blogs/recruiterguy/2010/01/pushin-up-at-work/
Enjoyed the read Tim and good job on not holding back!
Hmmm…I’m just saying…wouldn’t it be easier to take away the office cafeteria snack machine and soda machine? Especially those that are subsidized by the company so the crap food costs next to nothing? Just a thought.
Oh and another thought…some of you companies do have some money…think how much you’d save if you helped government figure out healthcare reform and could then save money there.
Now mind you…I may not be the best person to point fingers…as I’m saying this the day after I watched “The Biggest Loser” on my DVR while chowing on potato sticks…is that wrong? (true story)
This isn’t a very good idea and that’s neither for the knee jerk response you were likely expecting to get nor the legal reasons proposed by others: the incentives aren’t going to be strong enough to be cost effective to the employer.
Let’s take a look at the only piece that’s important in your argument: aggregate direct and indirect costs of overweight and obese people in the workplace.
If I am 20 pounds overweight, you are going to give me an amount that is less than $175 and you expect that to convince me to lose weight? That amounts to an $0.08 raise over the course of the year. And if you go fatter, for a class III obese person to lose that sort of weight, it would involve years of dieting and training and/or some sort of weight-loss surgery. All for a measly sum of less than 2g’s?
That’s not even to mention that incentive programs that reward people for correcting behavior is often looked upon fairly poorly among the well performing employees. You don’t give a bonus to the guy that is always tardy just because he corrects his behavior do you? You don’t give a person a bonus for getting off of a performance improvement plan.
I agree that obesity is an issue. I understand that it costs companies a great deal of money. But the way that this post was written is just mean-spirited.
There are a million ways you could have brought up this issue, Tim. You chose a horrible way to do it.
Everyone – Thank you for the insight and comments.
What most of you don’t know is this is a very real issue for my family – so it’s something that is close to home. I wrote this not to be mean, but to insight thought.
We have some major issues with obesity in our society, and as HR Pros, we have a platform to use that can make a difference if we decide to get creative.
It’s not the ones who follow the pack that will create real change – but those who come at differently, and do what others will not.
Tim
tim, i know you’re writing lots of this tongue-in-cheek, so i’ll skip right by any finger wagging i want to do. fact is, obesity is a huge problem for the individual and the company. so are many other modifiable health risks, like tobacco use, lack of exercise, stress, and so on. i am all for companies taking a stand on wellness. i think it’s the right thing to do and i think companies definitely have a stake in it, with many companies paying the bulk of the health care costs that stem from poor individual health management.
i also think incentives can work–to a point–though the use of them has been further complicated by GINA, as Louisa pointed out. and as lance states, a certain amount of cash needs to be on the table for some employees to participate in the first place.
you can’t just pay people to lose weight and call it a day. cash can get some started, but it can’t sustain them. for the weight to stay off, the tobacco to be kicked, the stress that leads to heart disease to be eliminated, etc — the whole person needs to be addressed. systems and services need to be in place to catch the person where they are, when they’re ready to make a change and to deliver what they need to stay motivated, educated, and supported. if anyone’s interested, i’ve been slowly chipping away at this idea on my blog: http://www.freerangecomm.com/2009/09/are-you-and-your-wellness-partners-working-at-cross-purposes/
interesting comments and conversation.
f
OK – but what about the people that are not overweight and live a healthy life style? Sounds a bit lop sided to my skinny ears.
What about the thin employees? I can foresee a huge backlash from them, since they wouldn’t be eligible for this financial perk.
What is wrong with most of you people? This is a nasty piece of prose, simply put. There are many ways to encourage weight loss, and motivate employees to live over healthier lives. However, this poor excuse for a post is NOT one of them.
“I can foresee a huge backlash from (thin people), since they wouldn’t be eligible for this financial perk.” You betcha! I work very hard every single day to eat clean, resist fast food temptations and exercise religously while others watch TV and crunching chips. I am fed up with insurance plans that pay for fat reduction surgeries, weight loss programs and companies that reward those who lose weight while ignoring those who do the right thing quietly every day. How about tossing a bone or two to the few folks who ARE taking care of their health – and costing your health plan LESS? Then others will be motivated to join suit.
The most effective reward systems encourage positive behavior on both the individual and group level. “Wellness” initiatives that are tied to group benefits are a great example of this. Health insurance costs companies big bucks. Health insurance companies know that unhealthy employees are much more likely to use insurance. Health insurance is a gamble… if you are healthy and don’t need to visit the doctor then you’ve paid $$ to a health insurance provider that you don’t get to use (you lose). If you get sick frequently and see the doctor more than it costs for your policy then the health insurance provider covers the rest (they lose). To hedge their bets health insurance providers offer “wellness” programs where the outcome of completing the “wellness” program is tied to insurance rates. Again, healthier employees tend not to use as much of their health benefits as unhealthy employees which in turn saves the health insurance provider $$ by not shelling out $$ for medical claims. If a health insurance provider sees that a company is full of healthy (low risk) employees it can offer more benefits to that company at a lower cost (not as risky of a gamble). The unhealthy employees win two fold, 1)They are healthier and need to see the doctor less and 2)Now have cheaper insurance deductibles or more benefits (eye, dentist, alternative med) and the “always been healthy” employees win as well… didn’t have to do anything different and now have cheaper deductibles and more benefits. It is fairly simple… reward the individual and the group by tying incentives to how the individual benefits the group.
I’m not sure you have to pay employees to loose weight. We kicked off a Biggest Loser program at our office three weeks ago. 99 of our 250 employees signed up to participate and we’re not paying them. However, I agree with you on every other front. It is our responsibility to address this as HR pros.
Tim, what do you think about Whole Foods new Weigh Less, Pay Less program? I’ve read some pretty nasty feedback about that too mostly touting it as unfair. All over an additional 10% discount on their store purchases. Sounded like a pretty cool incentive to me.
Tim, if this is an issue for your family and this is how you approach it with them, I am sure they don’t appreciate it. Being overweight is a disease much like alcoholism or any other addiction. It should be treated the same. You can NOT force someone to do something – they have to be ready for it.
Tim, I agree with this on its face and studies, and how do you address the BMI bias?
Tim – This is what I wrote in response to your article. I am sure that my readers will have something to say.
http://fattiefatterton.wordpress.com/2010/02/07/this-article-really-bothered-me/
The late George Carlin got it right.
If you want people to be thin, give money to the thin people.
Paying people to lose weight is rewrding being fat in the first place. The only way i could benefit from this is to get fat first! ridiculous!
As a commenter brought up on my site, then what about anorexics and bulimics? Are you going to pay them TO eat?
Although it is an issue to be tackled, this approach is wrong, wrong, wrong.
It’s up there with parents paying kids who are struggling or slacking off for every A they bring home. Wrong motivator.
And as other commentors have suggested..should we be rewarding people who already maintain a healthy weight. On there own. Without having to be bribed to do so?
There is way too much hand-holding in the workplace – people need to take responsibility for their own lives/health. I believe in employers providing resources and information…not spoon-feeding.
I am interested about your post, and very useful for many people, i enjoyed reading your post
I am so super late to the party on this one, as far as comments go, but as far as picking apart the whole “Biggest Loser” idea goes, I thoroughly gutted it in a blog post, like, 2 years ago.
http://recesswellness.com/blog/?p=38
Take that, Sackett!