Obesity/Weight Management Employer Survey and Interview Project

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esponsibilities associated with a job title indicatedsignificant variance of the structure and administrationof workplace wellness programs. For example, wellnessdirectors may report into the Human Resourcesfunction while those in the safety and environmentalfunction may report to a business unit leader withlittle or no coordination with the corporate HumanResources function. Respondents noted this disconnectbut stated that their employers are making effortsto better integrate health and safety functions withhuman resource benefits and other areas responsiblefor wellness programs. For example, one safetyleader is also working to support the human resourcebenefits function in the company as part of his jobresponsibilities. This type of alignment allows a broaderapproach to employee wellness, including weightmanagement programs. The importance of the role ofthe environmental health and safety function is furtherdiscussed as a theme from the study.Employer Size. Over half the respondents wereinclusive of the targeted small employer community(59.2% identified as having 500 or less employees),and 73% were small and mid-size. Responses alsoFigure 1: Employer Respondents by Size21.0%Very Small (1–100 employees)11.2%38.2%Small (101–500 employees)Midsize (501–1000 employees)15.8%13.8%Large (1001–5000 employees)Very Large (5000+ employees)Figure 2: Employer Respondents by Industry TypeManufacturingTransportation, Warehousing, and UtilitiesConstructionPublic AdministrationProfessional, Scientific, and Technical ServicesEducation ServicesRetail/Wholesale TradeHealth Care and Social AssistanceAgriculture, Forestry, Fishing, and HuntingMinig, Quarrying, and Oil & Gas ExtractionFinance and Insurance17.6%11.7%5.7%5.5%4.0%4.0%3.1%2.9%2.9%2.1%36.2%0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%8National Business Coalition on Health
included those from several large employers. While thelarge employers were not within our target population,they allowed for comparison between small and largeemployers. Respondents’ employer size appears welldistributed,with a bigger proportion of large employerscompared to the employer size distribution reportedby the U.S. Census. The U.S. Census statistics showthat 2007 business enterprises included the followingproportions of employers by size: 54% with fewer than100 employees, 25% with 101 to 500 employees, 7%with 501–1000 employees, and 13% with greater than1000 employees.Employer Industry Types. When employers werebroken into industry sectors, the participantsprimarily represented the following three sectors: 1)manufacturing; 2) transportation, warehousing, andutilities; and 3) construction. Together, these threesectors correspond to 65.5% of respondents. Overall,the survey had a mix of industries as shown in Figure2. The industry categories are identified by NorthAmerican Industry Classification System (NAICS).That allows a broad view of employers with a range oflocations and types of job categories.Existence of Workplace Obesity and PreventionPrograms. Questions were designed to assess whetheremployers currently had a program designed to helpprevent or control overweight/obesity in the workplace.Per the survey results, companies were split almostevenly on whether or not they had an obesity programin place, although more employers, overall and byindividual size category, reported not having a programdesigned to specifically prevent or control overweight/obesity (see Figure 3). The presence or absence of aworksite obesity prevention and control program wassimilar regardless of employer size with the exceptionof very small employers:E Mid-size employers reported the presence of anobesity program at similar levels to large employers.E Smaller employers were the least likely to have anobesity program in place; just over one third of verysmall employers reported that they have an obesityprogram (37.5%), and nearly two-thirds reportedthat they did not have a program (62.5%).One variable that may be associated with the numberof employers reporting that they did or did not havean obesity-related program is how they define sucha program. Respondents demonstrated a lack ofconsistency in what constituted an obesity preventionand control program. Some employers conductedobesity prevention-type education and activities, suchas fitness classes or nutrition education, but did notrefer to them as obesity programs. Interview resultsreinforced this finding, with interviewees suggestingthat employers think about addressing the issue ofoverweight/obesity very broadly, incorporating awide range of activities such as: worksite employeeparticipant weight management initiatives, educationfor employees about obesity and weight managementwithin the framework of healthy lifestyles, health planprovidedbenefits, and a full health assessment with acoach or follow up support for specific conditions.Figure 3: Current Program—Percentage of Responding Employers by Size500450400350300250200150100500YesNoTotalVery Small Midsize Very LargeObesity/Weight Management Employer Survey and Interview Project 9
Page 1: Obesity/WeightManagementEmployer Su
Page 5 and 6: Executive SummaryA person’s place
Page 7: BackgroundOver the past thirty year
Page 10 and 11: ApproachNBCH, CDC, and NSC develope
Page 14 and 15: Length of Time Obesity Program in P
Page 16 and 17: A workplace culture of health provi
Page 18 and 19: Employer Ranking for Importance of
Page 20 and 21: Barriers for Employers to Take Acti
Page 22 and 23: plans and vendors or consultants. T
Page 24 and 25: Existing Community Partnerships. Re
Page 26 and 27: Figure 14. Continuum of Program Evo
Page 28 and 29: those individuals in the safety fun
Page 32 and 33: The small number of employers curre
Page 34 and 35: E Employers need information to dem
Page 36 and 37: Recommendation 2Help Employers addr
Page 38 and 39: Endnotes1. Sepulveda M, Tait F, Zim
Page 40 and 41: Your organization’s industry type
Page 42 and 43: When thinking about the potential i
Page 44 and 45: F. SafetyNot Important Neutral Impo
Page 46 and 47: N. Strategies and ActionsNot Import
Page 48 and 49: D. My employees are knowledgeable r
Page 50 and 51: As an employer, how much of a barri
Page 52 and 53: Barrier: Lack of employee data on o
Page 54 and 55: Centers for Disease Control and Pre
Page 56 and 57: Information Use: To educate employe
Page 58 and 59: Product: Web ToolsEmployer Size Not
Page 60 and 61: Communication Means: Training or De
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How important to you is each of the
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Partnership Benefit: Access to usef
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As an employer, how much of a barri
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Partnership Barrier: Partner’s re
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4. From your own experience, what i
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then move on to successful ways to
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Discussed in prior questions.23. Fr
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access on a voluntary basis to a he
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employees. Others have included wor
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E Sample policies and other tools e
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specifically (YES/NO)? Thinking abo
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75. Can you discuss why you feel th
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National Business Coalition on Heal
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