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How much money do you lose on overweight employees?
Employers are quickly finding that overweight employees are costing them billions of dollars in healthcare costs, sick leave, and lost production costs. Obesity is an epidemic in America and it is only getting worse. How much money is spent on obesity? Around $100 billion a year is spent in medical care costs for individuals that are obese. Overweight employees cost their employers 39 million lost work days each year. The costs for healthcare average to be about $2,325 per employee in medical expenses. Sadly employers will spend about 38% more on obese employees than their healthy co-workers.
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To reduce these huge costs, insurance companies have begun partnering with employers that are trying to get their employees to lose weight. Employers can introduce wellness programs that are targeted on obese and overweight employees. The goal of wellness programs is to reduce the costs of obesity in America. Employers are trying to find a way to reduce their medical expenses and save money on lost production costs as well as sick leave benefits. Employers not only get discounts from health insurance companies by introducing a wellness program, they also get to deduct the cost of funding the wellness program from their taxes.
Type II diabetes has increased by 70 percent since 1990 and this can be directly related to obesity. What other health problems does obesity cause? There are several:
- Heart disease
- Hypertension
- High blood pressure
- Heart attack
- Cancer
- Sleep apnea
- Arthritis
There are several other health problems; these are just a few of the most common.
Employers need to consider investing in wellness programs. A wellness program can easily save companies millions of dollars a year. Most companies report that implementing a wellness program produced a $10-$20 return for every $1 that was invested per employee.
To implement a wellness program, seek the advice of personal trainers and physicians. Physicians can come into your office and give your company a good idea as to what you are up against as far as weight loss goes. They will be able to place your employees on special diets they need to lose weight. The good part about a special diet is that your employees can deduct it from their taxes if they spent 7.5 percent of their income on the diet. A personal trainer can come in and develop unique exercise programs for your employees and help them tone up and lose the excess weight.
Even if you don't have any obese employees working at your facility, you still need to implement a wellness program. It is far easier to prevent obesity than to treat it. You can save your company millions of dollars by implementing a wellness program before your employees get out of shape. Contact your health insurance provider and discuss wellness program options for your business. They can help you create a good wellness program that will encourage overweight employees to lose the weight and get in shape.
When you use wellness programs to inspire employees to lose weight, be aware that you may need to deal with some of the downsides like self-motivation. Since your employees are essentially on their own to lose the weight, it can be frustrating for many of them and they may not be able to do it. Keep them motivated by sending out emails and have meetings with them to discuss their commitment to living a healthier lifestyle. Ask them what you can do to help them lose weight and improve their health. Many of them just need a little encouragement on their weight loss journey and it helps when they know their employers are supporting them.
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