Fraggle145
5/26/2010, 01:18 PM
Yep.
http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-life/just-dreaming/article.aspx?cp-documentid=24077874&icid=LIFESTYLE2>1=LIFESTYLE2
Will Getting Fat Hurt Your Career?
Finishing off that plate of French fries certainly won't kill you, but putting on the pounds doesn't just hurt your health — it could cost you a raise. The latest HR battle may surprise you.
By Zach Weisberg
In case you didn't already think Whole Foods catered to scrawny vegan hipsters, how'd you like to see the hippie-turned-high-end chain get sued for it? It almost happened. Earlier this year, the company gave employee up to a 10 percent discount if they lost weight and got healthier. The Health Starts Here program didn't take long to raise eyebrows — and legitimate cries of discrimination — from both the government (several Bureaus of Labor launched inquiries) and fellow hippies quickly showed up on Whole Foods logos across the country. But Whole Foods, like a growing number of employers aiming to balance health care costs with solving an American obesity problem that was part of the push for health reform in the first place, had a decent point: "Many of our health care problems are self-inflicted," wrote CEO John Mackey. And since when is it a crime to have a healthyguy working the cheese aisle?
Well, it might not be, but a handful of advocates are raising concerns that weight-loss incentive programs only reinforce what an important field of research has long shown: Even as last week's labor report reflected the largest job growth in three years, nearly 15 million unemployed Americans are still having a tough time finding work — which makes it seemingly impossible for the third of U.S. adults who are considered obese. More and more, scientists are beginning to study the connection between work and weight, and what they're discovering might make you want to hit the gym. (Maybe even grab a vegan shake or two.) Take a recent study in Sweden, for example, where nine out of ten managers said obesity came into play — and negatively so — during the hiring process.
If you're an insurance salesman, you probably can't blame them. But the fit-or-quit conundrum is a particularly American one, complicated by the most hypercharged American issue of the last year. Even at progressive companies like Whole Foods, most incentive programs are offered only to employees who have company-paid health insurance, which means that they're essentially cost-cutting measures. "There is evidence that obese people, in particular, end up costing more in terms of health care," says John Cawley, who's been studying weight loss for fifteen years at Cornell. The effects of weight on the bottom line varies by occupation, but the military does speak publicly about how obese people are less successful at their jobs. That makes sense for the Army, but statistics across many fields also show a higher rate of job absenteeism among the obese.
For those on the other side of the debate, this isn't pure economics. Because for every 10 million people who watch The Biggest Loser every week, a new set of advocates is worried that Americans have their crosshairs aimed at fat people. "Our research shows that weight discrimination has increased by 66 percent over the past decade," says Rebecca Puhl, the Director of Weight Stigma Initiatives at The Obesity Society. Her staff has found that overweight workers are given raises and promoted far less frequently than their peers. When performing the same jobs, obese men earn about 3 percent less than their slimmer counterparts. (Women are even worse off, at 6 percent less.) When researchers at Stanford looked at similar numbers, they agreed that weight discrimination does occur when employers are hiring and promoting their workers — but only when health insurance is also a factor.
Of course, no matter what the HR folks are thinking, it never hurts to slim down on or before the job, and some office programs are, you know, working. Cash-for-diet offers have shown up to 5 percent losses in body weight, and the Mayo Clinic announced last week that it just helped an office burn close to nine pounds per employee with little more than some regular stretching.
Still, telling overweight job seekers that they're less likely to get hired or promoted unless they lose nine pounds is not only illegal, it may not ultimately be enough to help them. "Obesity prevention and treatment is kind of like the Wild West, where everyone realizes that we have to do something," Cawley says. Except Billy the Kid didn't have health insurance. Or a soda tax.
Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc.
http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-life/just-dreaming/article.aspx?cp-documentid=24077874&icid=LIFESTYLE2>1=LIFESTYLE2
Will Getting Fat Hurt Your Career?
Finishing off that plate of French fries certainly won't kill you, but putting on the pounds doesn't just hurt your health — it could cost you a raise. The latest HR battle may surprise you.
By Zach Weisberg
In case you didn't already think Whole Foods catered to scrawny vegan hipsters, how'd you like to see the hippie-turned-high-end chain get sued for it? It almost happened. Earlier this year, the company gave employee up to a 10 percent discount if they lost weight and got healthier. The Health Starts Here program didn't take long to raise eyebrows — and legitimate cries of discrimination — from both the government (several Bureaus of Labor launched inquiries) and fellow hippies quickly showed up on Whole Foods logos across the country. But Whole Foods, like a growing number of employers aiming to balance health care costs with solving an American obesity problem that was part of the push for health reform in the first place, had a decent point: "Many of our health care problems are self-inflicted," wrote CEO John Mackey. And since when is it a crime to have a healthyguy working the cheese aisle?
Well, it might not be, but a handful of advocates are raising concerns that weight-loss incentive programs only reinforce what an important field of research has long shown: Even as last week's labor report reflected the largest job growth in three years, nearly 15 million unemployed Americans are still having a tough time finding work — which makes it seemingly impossible for the third of U.S. adults who are considered obese. More and more, scientists are beginning to study the connection between work and weight, and what they're discovering might make you want to hit the gym. (Maybe even grab a vegan shake or two.) Take a recent study in Sweden, for example, where nine out of ten managers said obesity came into play — and negatively so — during the hiring process.
If you're an insurance salesman, you probably can't blame them. But the fit-or-quit conundrum is a particularly American one, complicated by the most hypercharged American issue of the last year. Even at progressive companies like Whole Foods, most incentive programs are offered only to employees who have company-paid health insurance, which means that they're essentially cost-cutting measures. "There is evidence that obese people, in particular, end up costing more in terms of health care," says John Cawley, who's been studying weight loss for fifteen years at Cornell. The effects of weight on the bottom line varies by occupation, but the military does speak publicly about how obese people are less successful at their jobs. That makes sense for the Army, but statistics across many fields also show a higher rate of job absenteeism among the obese.
For those on the other side of the debate, this isn't pure economics. Because for every 10 million people who watch The Biggest Loser every week, a new set of advocates is worried that Americans have their crosshairs aimed at fat people. "Our research shows that weight discrimination has increased by 66 percent over the past decade," says Rebecca Puhl, the Director of Weight Stigma Initiatives at The Obesity Society. Her staff has found that overweight workers are given raises and promoted far less frequently than their peers. When performing the same jobs, obese men earn about 3 percent less than their slimmer counterparts. (Women are even worse off, at 6 percent less.) When researchers at Stanford looked at similar numbers, they agreed that weight discrimination does occur when employers are hiring and promoting their workers — but only when health insurance is also a factor.
Of course, no matter what the HR folks are thinking, it never hurts to slim down on or before the job, and some office programs are, you know, working. Cash-for-diet offers have shown up to 5 percent losses in body weight, and the Mayo Clinic announced last week that it just helped an office burn close to nine pounds per employee with little more than some regular stretching.
Still, telling overweight job seekers that they're less likely to get hired or promoted unless they lose nine pounds is not only illegal, it may not ultimately be enough to help them. "Obesity prevention and treatment is kind of like the Wild West, where everyone realizes that we have to do something," Cawley says. Except Billy the Kid didn't have health insurance. Or a soda tax.
Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc.