Australia has the debatable honour of being the ” fastest growing population” …. Literary.

2 out of 3 adults are overweight, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, depression and some cancers. And the risks of developing these conditions rise exponentially with the numbers on the bathroom scales.

But it doesn’t stop there. With the rise of the numbers of the scale, the financial costs of obesity, due to medical expenses and loss of productivity through absenteeism, also increase.

In an attempt to quantify these losses, a cross-sectional analysis of the 2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and the 2008 National Health and Wellness Survey was carried out. Grading obesity in 3 levels among US employees, the estimated cost of obesity started at $322 (USD) for a grade I up to $6087 for a grade III for males. For women, these estimates range from $797 for grade I to $6694 for grade III.

Considering that the average human being in fulltime employment spends about a third of their waking hours at work, the workplace is a perfect environment to implement lifestyle interventions reaching a large number of working adults. Think about it, not only the company canteen but also the strategically placed vending machine, catered meetings, heck even the birthday cakes of colleagues, all contribute to the daily food intake of our employees.

And by modifying the food options available in your workplace as a whole, and not only for those who really need it, the culture of your organisation will eventually change into a healthy one. By offering healthy food alternatives in these different settings so that it becomes part of the culture, would not only assist employees in losing excess weight, but more importantly help them maintain it. A bit like ‘ a healthy employee in a healthy company’.

So while the weight of an employee is a private matter, giving your employees the right healthy environment might just save you money in the long run.

Interested what I can do for you and your staff? Visit my website: www.susansteinnutritionist.com or send me an e-mail: susan@susansteinnutritionist.com

References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18073342
http://www.aihw.gov.au/overweight-and-obesity/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20881629/