Eva Jenkins has found a new intersection for personal and professional success: weight loss. The respected business consultant and personal coach believes that corporate support for employee weight-loss programs

can pay off in bottom line savings. “There’s no denying the strong link between obesity and workers’ compensation claims, so bottom-line conscious companies must take note,” she observes. “So work-based programs designed to make employees healthier can give a booster shot to a business and inoculate it against rising healthcare costs.”

A Better Way to “Insure” Employee Health

Healthcare and insurance costs remain at the center of the economic and political debate, especially in light of recession worries. “If you pay health insurance for your employees, obesity is affecting your bottom line,” says Jenkins. “It has a direct relation to your economic health and smart businesses are finding that investing in a little preventive medicine can pay off with significant savings.”

Healthcare and insurance costs remain at the center of the economic and political debate, especially in light of recession worries. “If you pay health insurance for your employees, obesity is affecting your bottom line,” says Jenkins. “It has a direct relation to your economic health and smart businesses are finding that investing in a little preventive medicine can pay off with significant savings.”

According to a recent study out of Duke University Medical Center, obese employees cost companies more money than their fit counterparts—in lost workdays, higher medical costs, and more workers’ compensation claims. “The researchers found that obese workers filed twice as many workers’ compensations claims as workers who fell within the recommended BMI range,” reports Jenkins. “Those claims translated into medical costs that were seven times higher ($51,019 per 100 employees.)”

An article in The Wall Street Journal reported that an obese employee costs General Motors approximately $1,500 more in health services each year compared to an employee who is height-weight proportionate. “If you apply the national average for obesity (approximately 25%) to the company’s active workforce and their dependents, GM is spending nearly $1.4 billion more in healthcare costs each year than it would if all its employees were fit and trim,” says Jenkins.

The Chicago Tribune reports that per-worker healthcare costs increase by more than 80% in the past 8 years. Given the alarming rise in obesity in American workers and the relationship between weight and a wide range of diseases and illnesses, “it’s not hard to connect the dots and see that it’s in the interest of businesses to help their employees maintain their weight.”

Healthy Teams Win

Jenkins is an advocate of team effort. “No one can fully achieve their dreams alone. Not people and not companies.” She is a strong advocate for onsite weight loss support groups led by an experienced facilitator who can also provide one-on-one counseling to individuals.

Jenkins notes that team wellness efforts should include everyone in the corporate hierarchy. “When managers and supervisors share in the fight to lose weight and stay healthy themselves, they send a powerful message up and down the line. “Weight loss efforts create tremendous bonding,” says Jenkins. “Everyone feels like they’re part of the same team, working hard to support one another’s success.”

The magic, reports Jenkins, is that “the spirit of shared success spills over into other business functions.”

A Permanent Framework

Jenkins is quick to point out that her approach to employee health goes far beyond calorie restriction and exercise. “As a personal success coach, my job is to help each person clarify and refine what he or she wants out of life,” says Jenkins. Clarity, however, is just the first step.

“Creating a plan is how the journey to success begins, but it’s a series of small steps that actually get you there,” observes Jenkins. “Unfortunately, many people simply run out of steam.” The antidote is a consistent, continuing framework of support, and the workplace provides an ideal setting.

“Learning opportunities about health and wellness that are presented as an integral part of business life send an important message to employees.

Additionally, weight management sessions offer equal parts of inspiration and accountability. “A regularly scheduled Office Wellness Check makes it harder for team members to ignore excess weight, so they’re more likely to be ‘nudged’ into taking action and literally trimming the fat..”

Building Dreams

“To become reality, a dream house needs to be designed, engineered, and constructed with an eye towards maintenance and longevity,” observes Jenkins. “The same is true for a dream life.” She believes that a blueprint for weight-loss that includes support in the workplace will yield positive results on all fronts.

Via EPR Network
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