Employers have a new weapon in their arsenal against obesity in the workforce. Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unveiled LEANWorks!, a Web site full of free resources for employers to develop wellness programs to address obesity.
The site, www.cdc.gov/LEANWorks, includes research reports, case studies, ROI information and an obesity cost calculator. It features how-to information about assessing the needs of the workforce, developing an effective program, setting goals, budgeting and strategies for implementing and promoting the program.
"What's wonderful about it is that it consolidates the current state of knowledge in one place," says LuAnn Heinen, vice president at the National Business Group on Health. "It has an emphasis on evidence-based information."
Christine Ferguson, director of the STOP Obesity Alliance, says the CDC's site can help employees and employers successfully combat obesity - something that so they haven't been able to do. In recent years, obesity rates have steadily climbed, and now some two-thirds of the nation's adults are overweight or obese.
"Obesity is a very complex disease. It's not only nutrition and physical activity that plays a role," says Marilyn Batan, a public health analyst with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Indeed, employees are influenced by factors outside the workplace, such as their commutes, family responsibilities and comorbid health conditions.
For that reason, it may be helpful to partner with community institutions, such as local schools or hospitals, in your outreach to employees. Although "worksites are a great venue" for addressing obesity, "it's very important to understand that the employee has a life outside of work," Batan says.
The cost of obesity
Why are companies jumping into the sensitive area of obesity? The answer is simple: the high price of excess weight in terms of health care costs, absenteeism and lost productivity.
Ferguson confirms: "Employers are concerned about this in a serious way. They're concerned about their costs."
About 27% of annual health care inflation is attributable to obesity, Heinen estimates. "When you talk about bending the curve, flattening the trend, it's a very obvious target," she adds.
In fact, the health cost of obesity in the United States is $147 billion per year, according to the CDC. The percentage of all medical costs that are attributable to obesity grew from 6.5% in 1998 to 9.1% in 2006. People who are obese spent 42% more for medical care in 2006 than people at a normal weight, the CDC reports.
"It is critical that we take effective steps to contain and reduce the enormous burden of obesity on our nation," says CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden.
Fighting fat
What are the best strategies for employers to use? Batan recommends offering a comprehensive wellness program with many different elements to attract a wider group of workers. Variety increases your chances of success.
"Engage leadership, site managers and the grass roots. You really need to see what people want. It's different at every site. The programs need to fit the culture, whether it's walking clubs at lunch or Biggest Loser competitions or joining together and doing charitable walkathons in the community," Heinen says. The point is to create an overall environment where it's easier to do the healthy behaviors, like walking and eating fruit. (See related story on page XX about employer efforts to provide healthier vending and cafeteria options.)
Batan advises employers to plan their program carefully, assess what the likely participation rate will be and get senior executives to buy into it. "They may have to start small and slowly get buy-in from senior management," Batan notes.
Meanwhile, Ferguson recommends incorporating incentives into the program and getting employees involved in the process of developing the incentives. "Both employers and employees believe that an incentive-based approach makes more sense than a punitive approach," she says.
Avoid measures that seem to single out individuals. "What you don't want is to make anyone feel stigmatized or personally identified," Heinen states. "It's a sensitive, personal issue. That's why some companies choose to focus on physical activity."
A wellness program doesn't have to boast enormous weight drops to be successful. Instead, Heinen says, employers should aim to have most employees not gain the typical one to two pounds per year. "You've got to stop thinking about massive, dramatic changes. Small [improvements] over a large population is what you're looking for," she explains. "Employers are achieving that."
Some employers may be hesitant to start a program focused on weight loss because of employee privacy concerns. But working collaboratively with employees and getting their input can help to overcome those privacy issues, Ferguson says.
