Obesity and the Workplace

Is your job making you fat? I'll bet it is. If you aren't obese or overweight and never really have been (I'm talking for a decade or more), then you aren't going to understand what it is like to really get the obesity fight compounded by your work, BUT your job could still be causing a decline in your health. Frankly, nothing will be done by your managers unless you are ready to fight for it.

And this is when you really should speak up and ask for support in keeping yourself and co-workers healthy.

Support attention-starved wildlife, get out and walk more!

I see three ways that my job has increased my waistline: computer dependence, increased stress, and lack of work-life balance.

Twenty years ago I would have been away from my desk about 200% more often than I am now. I would be faxing things, running to meetings, and making regular runs to FedEx and similar office businesses. Thanks to automation, 98% of everything I do can be done from my desk. Which is 32" off the ground. I have two choices, a stability ball or chair. But still, aside from my "health breaks" to walk around for 5 minutes, I am stuck sitting for 8-10 hours a day.

Twenty years ago, the Internet didn't provide so much information on how to squeeze more and more work from your employees. Employers had to use other gauges for productivity and also factor in the time it takes to perform certain tasks. Now, everything is automated. Managers feel that there is no limit in how many automated tasks, emails, etc an employee can take on. I wonder if leaders and managers think that all their employees have a secret stash of cocaine or speed to rely on. Unrealistic expectations are becoming more and more the way of business.

Twenty years ago, when I went on vacation, it was very hard to do work. Today, with iPad and Blackberry devices, you can now stress out about that report you need to write up from the toilet in your beach side hotel room. Even at dinnertime, you can manage your emails and follow-up with clients in different timezones just so you can be one of the lucky few that receive a whopping 1% raise this year. Yeah, that is so healthy, right?

Not to mention eating at our desks more, coming in to work sick, and sitting under unnatural lighting each day... What can be done?

Well, create a committee in your office that is made up of people who want to find solutions. It can be as simple as a group that takes a half hour to walk each day, or you could propose solutions to your management that would help employees live healthier. If you have a great idea, feel free to leave in the comments section below, we have a group that does that at my current job as well.