Here is one final look at an archived piece of health journalism from Dr. Bruce Y. Lee, which featured seven myths about obesity under the punning title, “Obesity is Everyone’s Business.” The general topic of this sequence of posts is the overall cost to society of treating and/or preventing obesity, and especially the way in which it has increasingly affected the cost of doing business.
In a very pragmatic demonstration of cause and effect, the author enumerated some of the
“immediate and long term physical, psychological, and social ailments” caused by obesity, which in turn affect a person’s effectiveness on the job. It should be mentioned that upper-level executives are just as prone to debilitating illness as the most humble new hire in the shipping department. The difference is that the folks in the higher ranks are more advantageously positioned to hide the deficiencies in their work output.
The check makes a difference
Also, executives can much more easily afford health-producing commodities like high-quality food, vacation time to recover from stress, membership in fitness establishments, and so on. However, in recent years, there has been some improvement in the equality with which corporations try to affect the basic health of their people.
Many physical ailments may be detrimental to an employee’s productivity. Depending on what field of commerce they are in, the damage from workplace machines, noise, and substances in the air can be quite serious. Even psychological issues (depression, anxiety, etc.) are perfectly capable of minimizing the usefulness of a worker at any level. A conscientious manager never wants to see conditions deteriorate to where workers experience sickness, pain, lack of energy, and the consequent lowering of morale.
Hopefully, that consideration results at least partly from generous human considerations. It is possible, after all, to operate simultaneously on two different planes of consciousness. Management can care and, at the same time, remain conscious that any and all physical and mental dysfunction in the workplace leads directly to lowered productivity, increased healthcare expenses, and shrinking profits.
This quoted paragraph illustrates some of the trends that motivated the business world to take a hard look at the consequences of obesity in the workplace. As previously mentioned,
A study by researchers at Duke University tabulated that obesity-related absenteeism and presenteeism cost U.S. employers $73 billion annually. [W]hile normal-weight employees cost on average $3,838 per year in healthcare costs, overweight to morbidly obese employees cost between $4,252 and $8,067.
Once researchers have wrapped their heads around some numbers, they enjoy expressing the significance of those figures in various ways. In this case, the authors also calculated the dollar amount of Body Mass Index points above the normal range. Once the border of obesity territory has been broached, statically speaking, each BMI point was said to represent an additional amount of around $200 per year that the company would pay out in healthcare costs for that employee.
The broad overview matters
Getting back to Dr. Lee, he formatted his Forbes.com article as a series of propositions which turn out not to be true; or myths. As Myth #5, he specified: “Obesity has little to do with overall business strategy, management, operations and finance.”
On the contrary, this author emphasized the big picture and maintained that “Employee weight and health can be a bellwether or ‘canary in a coal mine’ of how the overall business is functioning overall.” Why? Because a person’s normal weight can say a lot about their dedication, discipline, and work ethic, as well as function as an indicator of “the social, cultural, and financial situation and environment.”
In various industries, many members of the workforce have learned (the hard way) to keep the majority of their job-related opinions to themselves. Surveys and requests for feedback about company policy are often thinly-disguised traps designed to identify underlings who might be inclined to cause trouble. If “management” really cared about the average worker (the thinking goes), that collective noun would have caught on a long time ago, and realized that the whole outfit, from top to bottom, needed refurbishment.
Instead of initiating feedback requests that could be viewed with suspicion, the wise executive might be well advised to consult a psychologist familiar with the health manifestations of discontent — because obesity can definitely be interpreted as one of them.
Your responses and feedback are welcome!
Source: “Obesity Is Everyone’s Business,” Forbes.com, 09/01/15
Image by daha3131053/Pixabay
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