Obesity/Weight Management Employer Survey and Interview Project

A workplace culture of health provides the supportiveenvironment and policies that encourage individualemployees to maintain their own health with supportfrom an integrated approach of health screenings andassessments, preventive services and chronic diseasemanagement in conjunction with the health plan,commitment to safety at work and off the job, andpolicies that align with employee health and safety.Employer Readiness to Take Action. Employersresponded as follows regarding their readiness toaddress overweight/obesity in the workplace:E Almost a third of employers are “somewhat” ready(32.9%) to address healthy weight in the workplace.This is higher than the percentage of employerswho report being “very” or “completely” ready(28.6%) to take action and less than the percentageof employers who report they are “not ready” or“not very ready” (38.5%) to address the issue ofoverweight/obesity in the workplace.E The largest firms are the most completely ready totake action.E Within each size category, a plurality of employersare at least somewhat ready to take action (27%–42%), indicating that there is a recognized need andinterest in improving the weight status of employeesin these firms.Respondents who identified themselves as a wellnesscoordinator were more likely to at least be “somewhat”ready to take action as compared to other job functionsresponsible for workplace health. Stage of readinessvaried with those employers interviewed as well. Oneemployer with a long-established program was lookingfor better ways to measure results that will supportprogram sustainability; another indicated the need formore attention to health conditions that might affectsafety. There still appears to be a gap in understandingthe connection between health conditions and obesity/overweight, which may influence the level of readiness.E On average, smaller firms are less ready or not readyto act than are ready to take action.Figure 7: Employer Stage of Readiness toTake Action Results by Employer Size60%55%50%45%40%35%30%25%20%15%10%5%0%-5%Not ReadyNot VeryReadySomewhatReadyVery ReadyVery SmallSmallMidsizeLargeVery LargeAll EmployersCompletelyReady12National Business Coalition on Health