You should be concerned about employee obesity

Obesity in the workplace is a plague that you need to learn how to control right away. Employees that are unhealthy and not working towards improving their health can leave you with reduced productivity, abuse of sick leave, and reduce employee morale. Obesity is a growing problem in our society and if people aren't going to do anything about it on their own, it is the job of the employers to step in and try to help employees understand what they are doing to their health.

Bring in a medical team to teach employees about the problems related to obesity and encourage them to lose weight. You should have the medical team do individual health exams that offer insight into the employee's body mass index so they can see just how unhealthy they are.

What causes employees to become obese? It comes down to choices. Employees that eat too much food and do not counter that with enough exercise to burn off the excess calories will struggle with obesity. The foods that are found in the office like candy bars and potato chips in the vending machines can easily be converted into fat, especially when the employees are sitting for hours at a time and they are not getting enough exercise in when they are in the office.

In many offices the reason why they are suffering from obesity is because of the amount of stress they are under. Mental stress is one of the leading factors of obesity. When people are under stress, they will turn to comfort foods that they believe make them feel better. The foods they should be eating include water, fruits and vegetables, and other healthier snacks instead of turning to soda and caffeine to try and reduce their stress load.

Companies need to look for ways in which they can reduce their mental stress if they truly want to find a way to reduce obesity. It is vital for the companies to seek out exercise programs and other things that release tension from the body and promote a healthier way of life. Massage chairs are another way to help reduce tension and stress as it gives the employee a chance to go and sit where the tension is released from their muscles.

Look for ways to promote exercise in the office by giving your employees time to exercise. While you want to get the most out of your staff, you could be doing more damage to your company by not giving them an extra 30 minutes to go to the break room and workout or to go outside and walk around the building. You must look at the benefits of exercise and how it will provide your company with a great financial reward in addition to a great production increase.

Introduce a wellness program that will encourage people to lose weight. A quality wellness program will offer great benefits like gift cards, time off, and other things that encourage your staff to get motivated to lose weight. In order for them to find the motivation they need to exercise, you have to be a good example to them as well. You need to be there in the weight rooms lifting weight and you need to head outside for your lunch break to go for a walk around the building. Let your employees know that you have lost weight and encourage them to follow in your steps. If they see a good example ahead of them, it will be much easier for them to make the decision to finally take care of their struggles with obesity and they will try to lose weight.