Obesity/Weight Management Employer Survey and Interview Project

plans and vendors or consultants. These employersmay need to have access to unbiased information fromother organizations to complement what they receivethrough their plan, vendor, or consultant relationships.Employers note that some of the information may comefrom CDC and other credible resources; however, thereis still a need to look at the sources vendors and plansuse to inform their employer customers.Employers use the information that they seek out fora number of purposes. The most common use of theinformation obtained is to:E Educate employees (84.2% of respondents),E Reference (70.4%),E Provide data to others (65.0%),E Improve or design programs (57.9%), andE Educate decision makers (43.3%).Given the number of employers without a workplaceobesity program, references and educational resourcesfor decision makers are essential. However, allemployers would benefit from tools and information tobetter engage employees.Only a little more than a third of employers (36.7%)reported that they use the information from externalorganizations for decision-making or setting policy.This indicates that either employers prefer to baseorganizational decisions on internal data or that thedata and information provided by these organizations isnot sufficiently relevant to be usable.E Very small employers (43%) are the least likelyto use the information they seek out to design orimprove their programsE Very small employers (33%) are also the least likelyto use the information they obtain for the purposesof making decisions or setting policy. Both of thesefindings indicate that the information currentlyavailable does not adequately address the needs ofworksites with fewer than 100 employees.Product Utility to Employers. Respondents were askedabout the types of products they would find to be mosthelpful to initiate workplace obesity prevention andcontrol program or support their ongoing activities.Overall, web tools were viewed as the most useful,with an average score of 3.66 out of 5. Other usefultools included checklists (average score of 3.38),intervention templates or models (average score of3.37), a business case (average score of 3.34), andcertificates, certification or recognition (average score of3.33). The least useful products for employers were casestudies (average score of 3.12) and publications in trade,professional, or scientific journals (average score of 3.13)The web tools query did not distinguish between webtools for employees versus those for the employer.Interviews reinforced the need for, not only web toolsand information, but also for other forms of accessto and delivery of information. Employers need thisinformation since many employees do not have accessFigure 13: Percent of Employers Reporting Productsare “Useful and Very Useful” by Employer SizeVery SmallSmallMid-SizeLargeVery Large80%70%60%50%40%30%20%10%0%Web tools Checklists InterventionTemplate/ModelBusinessCaseCertificate,Certification,RecognitionResourceList/Inventory18National Business Coalition on Health