Obesity/Weight Management Employer Survey and Interview Project

Executive SummaryA person’s place of work is an important componentof his or her social and physical environments. It caninfluence the individual’s choices and can provideresources to support those choices. 1 A workplace thatemphasizes employee health is likely to have policiesthat promote healthy behavior, such as incentives oraccess to health resources. 2Many large businesses have recognized the adverseimpact of obesity on their employees, and haveinvested resources in worksite strategies to increasephysical activity and improve the diets of theiremployees. Small and medium-size businesses havebeen less engaged in these efforts. One reason forthis lack of engagement is that small and mediumsize businesses are less likely to have the resourcesto provide worksite supports that improve physicalactivity and nutrition and reduce obesity. However,most employers in the United States employ less than500 people, making small to mid-size employers akey audience to engage concerning workplace healthprograms. In 2007, the U.S. Census statistics reportedthe following about employer size: 54% had lessthan 100 employees, 25% had between 101 and 500employees, 7% had between 501–1000 employees, andthe remaining 13% had more than 1000 employees. 3The National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH),working in collaboration with the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention (CDC), and the NationalSafety Council (NSC), developed and implementeda survey to help understand business attitudes andneeds concerning obesity prevention and control.The purpose of the project was to gather informationfrom the business/employer community, particularlysmall (1 to 500 employees) and mid-size (501 to 1000employees) companies, about their needs, interests,opportunities, and challenges in implementingworkplace obesity prevention strategies. These findingswill help identify ways to communicate the threat thatobesity presents to the current and future workforceand what actions employers can take to address thisissue. In order to support these efforts, the findings willalso inform the development of a set of obesity-relatedtools and resources for employers to use to engage inobesity prevention and control activities.Employer responses represented the following themes:E Employers are already addressing obesityand wellness in the worksite. Employers aremore active in wellness activities that addressobesity than they realize. The results showed thatmany employers are already investing in obesityprevention, and even those that are not doing so areinterested in learning what they might do, how to doit, and how to measure success.E Obesity prevention/weight management shouldbe framed as an overall healthy lifestyle issue,i.e., as part of a broader wellness and healthpromotion program. Overweight/obesity can be asensitive issue for employers and employees. Whendeveloping a program, employers may be reluctantto place too much emphasis on overweight/obesitydirectly, and prefer to communicate the importanceof maintaining a healthy weight as part of a largerwellness program that strives to improve ormaintain overall health and well-being. Employersare also seeking a balance between the role they canObesity/Weight Management Employer Survey and Interview Project 1