Trigger Warning: Discussion of workplace weight-loss competitions, dieting, weight loss and eating disorders.
We’ve all seen it on blogs, Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity: “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Insanity also means madness, and these two definitions are exactly the best way to describe workplace wellness programs.
A health insurance company’s wet dream
We’ve talked about them before. This March and April, CVS and Michelin created new rules for employees regarding their health insurance wherein those who didn’t meet the requirements for their version of healthy (not fat, not smoking, no high blood pressure or cholesterol) would have to pay more for their coverage. CVS’s extra cost was $600, Michelin’s was a whopping $1,000.
Over at Dances With Fat, Ragen Chastain posted about Penn State’s attempt to force its employees and their covered spouses and partners to get their BMI, waist circumference, lipid and glucose checked at mobile clinics, and take an online health survey. If they refused, they faced a $1,200 fine. Fortunately, the new wellness program, supposed to start in November, was abandoned by Penn State thanks to backlash.
And in this post, Carrie Arnold of EDBites explains how workplace Biggest Loser competitions can be triggering for those suffering and/or recovering from eating disorders, a factor that is ignored all together when these things are put into place.
Why are so many companies and organizations getting involved in regulating their employees’ weight, whether through restrictive insurance mandates, weight-loss competitions, or work-sponsored Weight Watchers (which had to be dropped at a former workplace of mine because there weren’t enough people interested to sign up)? Well, for one thing, it seems a lot of them have bought into the fear about fat people costing them money and supposedly being less productive employees because they use up too much sick time compared to their thinner co-workers. Perhaps they were spurred on by the CDC’s infamous LEAN Works site. Add in insurance companies’ obsession with weight, as opposed to overall health, and it’s not hard to see why they’re panicking.
But the panic is really all for naught. This study, which Carrie also linked to, shows that the results of many of these programs simply aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. A weight loss of one to three pounds to me doesn’t justify penalizing workers with metabolic issues, which affect many thin people as well.
If employers want employees to be productive and healthy, then don’t threaten them with higher insurance premiums. Don’t bombard them with Biggest Office Loser signups. Don’t post fat-shaming pictures and quotes. Focus on their job, not their waistline or their metabolic numbers.
Filed under: DT, DW, ED, EX, FH, FN, Weighty Wednesday, WL
