Less fat in lean business

Obesity has moved onto the mainstream agenda, not just of governments concerned about their public health budgets, but also employers anxious about the impact that an unhealthy workforce could have on operational and financial performance. Sarah Perrin reports

According to data collected between 1999 and 2002 by the National Center for Health Statistics in the US, 30% of US adults aged 20 years and over - over 60 million people - are classified as obese, compared with 23% in 1994. Across the pond the situation is also worsening. According to the UK's Commons Health Committee, the number of obese people in the UK has increased by 400% in the past 25 years. Unfortunately, health risks associated with obesity include hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, gall bladder disease, lung and breathing problems and arthritis. Such problems inevitably lead to increased absence from work.

Not surprisingly perhaps, a survey conducted last year by Manson Warner Healthcare found that UK employers in many sectors had concerns about employing obese candidates. A third of accountancy firms surveyed admitted to being worried that obese candidates were more likely suffer from related illnesses and were therefore more likely to take time off work. Overall, 24% of all UK businesses would prefer not to hire an obese candidate on the grounds of perceived health problems.

Given such concern, and the fact that people spend so much time at work, increasing attention is being given to finding ways that people can improve their activity levels while in the workplace. 'The worksite or workplace is now being recognised as a neglected area of health promotion,' says Len Almond, adviser to the British Heart Foundation's National Centre for Physical Activity and Health. Employers who invest in their employees can reap rewards, according to Almond; if £115 is invested in an individual, three times that amount can be saved within two years. 'If you promote regular exercise through the worksite and get more employees to be more active, there are benefits,' he explains. 'More active employees have less sickness and less absence. If people are more active, they are more productive at work.'

Some US employers have understood the benefits of taking action. In 2002, telecoms company Sprint completed construction at its new headquarters - a 200-acre campus in Kansas where the layout and building design were specially designed to encourage the fitness of its 13,500 employees working there. 'The stairwells are extra large,' says a spokeswoman. 'They are carpeted, they have art works and have windows and skylights - everything to encourage people to take the stairs.' Because the architects had found that people are on average willing to walk up to five stories, none of the buildings are more than five stories tall.

Weight training facilities, an aerobics floor, cardio fitness equipment and an indoor track are all available in a fitness centre, while outside there are jogging trails and sports fields. The fact that garages for parking cars have been spread around the campus, rather than sited directly next to buildings, encourages staff to walk a little further than they would otherwise. Anecdotal evidence suggests all these factors are having an impact. 'One employee and her husband, within one year, lost 180 pounds combined through taking the stairs and using the fitness centre and personal trainers,' says Sprint's spokeswoman.

In the UK, Northern Rock, the banking and mortgage specialist, is also encouraging its staff to get and stay healthy. Its Gosforth site, where around 1,000 people work, benefits from an on-site gym staffed by personal fitness trainers who can provide tailored, individual programmes. 'The chief executive and COO are regular users of the gym, on the same terms as everyone else,' says David Hood, assistant director, corporate responsibility, from Northern Rock in Gosforth. 'The COO in particular has great personal interest in this area. It is led from the top. We have showers and changing rooms for cyclists and runners. There are also lots of things that staff organise themselves, such as football, cricket, rugby, golf and netball. There is a running club that enters into running events.'

Following a poll of staff last year, Northern Rock developed programmes to support healthy eating and weight loss. An organisation called Scottish Slimmers ran slimming classes on site, and liaised with the caterers to ensure healthy eating options were available. 'We put offers on the healthy eating options, because they often tend to be more expensive,' says Hood. 'In our shops, for example, a banana is cheaper than a chocolate bar.' The intranet is used to involve staff in branches around the country who do not have access to facilities in Gosforth. 'Our intranet includes links to, for example, the British Heart Foundation, and also has articles on healthy eating and the like,' Hood says.

Financial services giant Standard Life is another positive corporate role model, having won the gold award (the top level) in Scotland's Health At Work scheme. Its support for staff well-being is extensive, including a proactive occupational health department and programmes targeting many health issues, but particularly mental health (such as stress and depression) and muscular skeletal problems. There are free counselling sessions available for staff (up to six sessions per problem per year), and heavily subsidised head, shoulder and neck massages. There is also a fat club for people wanting to get fitter. 'Once a week staff can go and be weighed in and get help and advice on staying healthy,' says Andrew Moore, occupational health manager at Standard Life. 'They pay £1 to be weighed, and the money goes to charity. Our focus is very much on keeping our employees healthy. As the old adage says, good health is good business.'

Large companies may have more resources to spare for funding gyms or healthy eating programmes, but small companies can also take effective action to improve staff activity levels. The British Heart Foundation has developed a Workplace Health Activity Toolkit providing information, leaflets, practical ideas and materials that employers can use to increase the activity levels of their staff. Even simple changes can add up to a significant increase in activity, and calorie burning, over a year.

'We should be encouraging people to have a mixture of travel modes - using the tube or bus and walking,' says Almond. 'Walking in the morning and evening to a bus stop helps you fulfil 30 minutes of moderate activity each day. We should also encourage people to do ten minutes walking at lunchtime, because that improves blood flow to the brain and therefore concentration. If you work in a building which has stairs, ensure people use the stairs more often. In some of the places I have worked with, we have changed the timing of the lift so it's slower than walking up four flights of stairs - that encourages employees to walk up. Even employers with less than 50 staff can still encourage more stair climbing.'

Sarah Perrin is an accountant and writer.