Public Servant Lifestyle

Do overweight job applicants 'miss out' on jobs and promotions?

British employers are taking a negative attitude to workers who are overweight, new research shows.

The research - carried out by on behalf of the Benenden Healthcare Society* - shows that 2.1 million people know someone who believes their weight has hurt their job prospects - and that work colleagues also tend to view overweight staff as ‘unprofessional’ or ‘lazy’.

Health Issues

At the same time as the Government has been targeting obesity as one of the major health issues in the UK, workers believe employers have to play their part too. According to the survey findings around one in five adults are saying employers have a role in helping staff to lose weight by providing perks such as access to gyms, healthcare services and advice on eating healthily.

However the research also shows that weight is counting against people in the workplace. More than 2.1 million say in the last five years they know of someone who believed they were turned down for a job or for promotion because of their size.

To pile on the misery 23% believe people have a tendency to view those who are overweight as lazy or unprofessional with younger workers aged 16 to 34 the most likely to take a negative attitude to the overweight.

Jakki Stubbington of Benenden Healthcare said: “Obesity has become the major health issue for the Government and is now becoming a topic for employers too. People’s weight should not count against them in the workplace. The ability to do the job should be all that matters.”

Obesity

“However it is easy to say that weight should not matter. Increasingly however it does. If people are passed over for promotion or turned down for jobs because of their weight then self-evidently it does matter.”

“Employers may say that it is not a matter for them and that they should not dictate to staff. However there are simple measures they can take which needn’t cost the earth and which should pay off in the long-run in terms of reduced absenteeism. A healthier workforce can be a more productive workforce.”

More than 11 million people - according to this report - say they believe there is a tendency to view people in the workplace who are overweight as 'lazy' or 'unprofessional'.

The figures produced from these findings indicate that:

In London 34% said there was a tendency to view the overweight as lazy compared with 23% for the country as a whole and 19% in the North of England

Around 21% of adults believe employers should help staff to lose weight with 29% of 16-24-year-olds believing support should be given

The most popular perks employers should offer staff are access to healthcare services which were chosen by 77% of people.

According to the the survey the figures worked out like this:

Free healthy food such as fruit was chosen by 72% while 71% said discounted gym memberships should be on offer

Other options include financial incentives to cycle or walk to work picked by 68% and advice on eating healthily chosen by 69%

Benenden Healthcare - which last year celebrated its centenary year - offers membership to teachers and education workers, Post Office staff, civil servants, BT and local government authorities’ employees, charity workers and their families.

*GfK NOP interviewed a representative sample of 1001 adults between 6th and 8th October 2006.

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