The Bottom Line

The cost of obesity on the workplace.

	How extra pounds affect the bottom line. Although data on the actual cost of obesity to governments, industry and the individual is disparate, there have been some significant studies of the issue in recent years, particularly in the United States.

A 1998 study to find the aggregate medical expenditure attributable to overweight and obesity suggested somewhere between $51 billion and $78.5 billion in the US, but a Surgeon General report places the actual monetary cost as much higher. It suggests that 9% of the Americas healthcare expenditure, that's some $117 billion, and 300,000 deaths annually are directly related to obesity and physical inactivity.

These are just the direct medical costs, and don't take into account the many indirect costs to both individuals and business in areas such as income lost from lower productivity, increased absenteeism, and elevated insurance costs. An evaluation¹ based on 1994 numbers claims $3.93 billion for lost productivity from work days lost due to illness, bed days and physician visits as a result of obesity. By another estimate, obesity related conditions are costing US organisations $12 billion a year, totalling all the indirect costs. With these kind of figures there are plenty of incentives for companies to integrate fitness and exercise plans into the workplace in a bid to combat the trend.

¹National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.