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Employee reward and benefits news
Employers should tackle obesity with employee benefits
Obesity has become a national epidemic, and one writer maintains that the issue can no longer be ignored by businesses, who must put health and wellbeing employee benefits in place to deal with it.
Writing on People Management, Tim Smedley noted that many managers are too embarrassed to tackle the issue of obesity with staff, even if they believe it to be genuinely affecting their wellbeing or productivity.
However, he advised that firms avoid generalisations and moralising, as health and obesity issues are in no way straight forward.
Dr Julie Waumsley, chair of the British Psychological Society's working group on obesity, told the publication: "Employers have to take responsibility, not necessarily in terms of the facilities they offer, but for the culture that is promoted in that workplace.
"Working long hours negatively affects health and performance. Nevertheless, that doesn't seem to have stopped the long-hours culture."
This indicates that implementing employee benefits such as flexible working, exercise classes and office fruit baskets could not only improve the health of the workforce, but also have a positive effect on the business.
Recent research found the UK to be the most overweight and obese country in Europe, with 23.9 per cent of women classed as obese - the highest level on the continent - and men not faring much better, with 22.1 per cent being obese.
Authors of the European Commission report acknowledged that lifestyle pressures, such as the lack of opportunity for exercise at work, can make it difficult for people to maintain a 'normal' weight.
Some employee benefits businesses use to boost the health and wellbeing of their workers include entering into partnerships with local gyms, allowing employees to exercise for cheaper, or providing on-site exercise classes.
It is also important to eliminate unhealthy snack foods from vending machines and meetings, replacing these with nutritious options such as fruits, and providing drinks with less sugar and caffeine.
Posted by Editorial Team
February 22nd 2012
