Obesity/Weight Management Employer Survey and Interview Project

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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
Factors and Information ofImportance to EmployersQuestions related to what is of value and importanceto employers are described below in the followingcategories:E Importance of Selected Improvement FactorsE Barriers to Developing or Enhancing a WorksiteObesity ProgramE Sources and Uses of Information by EmployersE Product Utility to EmployersE Employer CommunicationsSelected Improvement Factors Importance toEmployers. Given that less than 50% of participatingemployers who report having an obesity preventionand control program and over 60% indicated a level ofemployer readiness to act and to help build supportfor initiating a worksite obesity program or enhancingan existing program, there appears to be a need forinformation for employers. Questions were posedthat related to what types and sources for informationwould be of most value to employers.Respondents were asked about the importance ofseveral issues in terms of understanding the effectsand impact of overweight/obesity on the workforce(Figure 8). Factors related to improvements in workerhealth, safety, and direct medical costs were ratedas most important, followed by those factors relatedto productivity (absenteeism and presenteeism) andbuilding a culture of health. Less important issues werereturn on investment, incentives, company image,improvements in community health, and specificstrategies and actions to take to impact obesity. Theleast important issue was shareholder value, which maysuggest that no metrics exist that can easily quantifyobesity’s impact on shareholder value.The survey team recognized that employer selectionof safety as a top improvement factor may have beeninfluenced by the number of respondents who are inenvironmental health and safety functions, althoughit was also highly rated by others. Additionally, somerespondents may have interpreted the “safety” choiceas not only safety at the worksite and home but safetyin health care settings — avoidable medical errors orhealth acquired infections.Figure 8 shows the alignment of top choices in whichfactors are most important. These may also reflect thecurrent state of measurement of cost.Figure 8: Importance of Selected Improvement Factors to EmployersVery ImportantImportantModerately ImportantOf Little ImportanceNot Important at All100%90%80%70%60%50%40%30%20%10%0%DirectMedical CostSafetyImprovementin WorkerHealthProductivityCreating aCulture ofHealthObesity/Weight Management Employer Survey and Interview Project 13
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 12 and 13: esponsibilities associated with a j
Page 14 and 15: Length of Time Obesity Program in P
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
Page 62 and 63: How important to you is each of the
Page 64 and 65: 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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