Several recent studies have confirmed that overweight workers are costing their employers a mint, and their findings support the dire need for the development of workplace programs that fight obesity.
An eight-year-long study by Duke University researchers found that overweight workers are costing their bosses twice as much in injury claims as their lean colleagues. The results of the study were based on eight years of data from 11,728 people employed by Duke University and its health system.
Key Findings:
- The most overweight workers had 13 times more lost workdays because of work-related injuries.
- The medical claims for those injuries were seven times higher than those of their fit co-workers.
- Overweight workers were more likely to have claims involving injuries to the back, wrist, arm, neck, shoulder, hip, knee and foot than other employees.
- Researchers found that workers with higher body mass indexes, or BMIs, had higher rates of workers' compensation claims.
- The most obese workers, those with BMIs of 40 or higher, had the highest rates of claims and lost workdays. BMI is a measure of height and weight. A 6-foot, 300-pound person, for example, has a BMI of just over 40.
Researchers at RTI International and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported similar findings. In a new study documenting the costs of specific levels of obesity in the American workplace, they quote the average annual per capita increase in medical spending and absenteeism associated with obesity to be between $460 and $2,500 per obese employee, with costs increasing as body mass index increases.
Their findings also state that for men employed full time in the labor market, the combined annual per capita cost of being obese, including medical expenses and absenteeism, ranges from $460 to $2,030. For women the per capita cost ranges from $1,370 to $2,485.
To put the issue into perspective, the authors estimate that the cost of obesity at a firm with 1,000 employees is about $285,000 per year. The authors believe the high costs of obesity should be getting the attention of employers.
"As the prevalence and cost of obesity in the workplace continue to increase, so does the financial motivation to search for strategies to reduce these costs," said Eric Finkelstein, Ph.D., the study's principal investigator at RTI International. "Such strategies may include worksite wellness and disease management programs related to obesity."
