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Article: Obesity costs U.S. companies billions; employees say they want weight-loss help.
- Article from:
- The Journal of Employee Assistance
- Article date:
- July 1, 2008
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Employee Assistance Professionals. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The rate of obesity in the United States has doubled in the last 30 years, and those extra pounds are costing private-sector employers an estimated $45 billion annually in medical expenditures and work loss, according to a new report from the Conference Board.
The report, which includes three case studies, discusses whether and how U.S. companies should address the many issues raised by the fact that 34 percent of American adults now fit the definition of "obese." It concludes, for example, that employers must weigh the risks of being too intrusive in managing obese employees against the risks of not managing them. There is evidence that wages go down as weight ...