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Employees who are moderately to extremely obese have reduced productivity on the job, even compared to overweight or mildly obese workers. Workers with moderate to extreme obesity had the greatest health-related limitations at work, or “presenteeism.” Specifically, moderately to extremely obese workers had limitations in time needed to complete work tasks and ability to meet physical work demands. These limitations were significantly greater than in the overweight or mildly obese groups.
Health-related losses in productivity averaged 4.2 percent for workers with moderate to severe obesity—1.8 percent higher than for all other employees. Based on an average hourly wage of $21, the annual costs of presenteeism for moderately to extremely obese workers were nearly $1,800 about $500 higher than for other workers.
Employees with moderate to extreme obesity also had increased health-related absenteeism, compared with other workers. Presenteeism—days employees are at work but performing at less than full capacity—is increasingly viewed as an important contributor to costs related to employee health.
Workplace programs targeting obesity, especially among the most obese workers, could help to reduce costs due to lost productivity. “The study's results support other research that has indicated that a weight loss of ten percent can yield substantial health and economic benefits,” said Donna M. Gates, Ed.D., R.N., of University of Cincinnati. “Even modest weight loss could result in hundreds of dollars of improved productivity costs per worker each year.”
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