Pressure mounts on overweight Americans

No, the pressure is mounting on the rest of us who have to make up for the overweight, subsidize the consequences of their overeating and their child abuse.

"Obese Americans are less productive than their thinner colleagues, academics have controversially claimed, adding to what is a growing weight of evidence that those who eat too much or don't take enough exercise are rapidly becoming the pariahs of the modern workplace.

A study of 341 manufacturing workers by academics from the University of Cincinnati has suggested this lower productivity means seriously obese workers can cost companies as much an extra $500 each.

The research has been published in the respected medical publication The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine."

How so?

"Specifically such workers often needed more time to complete tasks than their less overweight colleagues, leading to a rise in "presenteeism", where they were at work but performing at less than full capacity.

They were also less able to carry out physical tasks around the workplace.

'These limitations were significantly greater than in the overweight or mildly obese groups,' the research argued.

The latest study adds fuel to an increasingly acrimonious debate within American workplaces about the burden of growing levels of obesity, its impact on corporate life, individuals and the wider economy, and the perceived discrimination many overweight Americans now feel.

A study by Duke University in April last year, for instance, concluded that obese Americans were more likely to get injured at work or take time off and were twice as likely to cost their organisations in injury claims than their thinner colleagues.

Last February, too, research by PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute and the World Economic Forum argued that chronic diseases, many of which were related to obesity and increasingly sedentary lifestyles, were a growing and costly threat to companies and their workers."

And the cost?

"Based on an average hourly wage of $21, the annual cost of presenteeism for moderately to extremely obese workers was nearly $1,800, or $500 higher than for other workers.

Employees with moderate to extreme obesity also had increased health-related absenteeism, compared with other workers, the research found."

Unless you want this to continue, stand up for your rights.

And go after the experts that contribute to this.