Have you thought about the employees you will hire 10 or 15 years from now? Probably not, but the National Business Group on Health (NBGH) wants you to. The organization works with large employers to develop workplace policies aimed at keeping the population healthy and productive and at the same time save money for their constituents. They worry that your future pool of applicants will be obese and, therefore, unhealthy.
The NBGH recently released another in a series of employer toolkits; this one aimed at childhood obesity. Available free of charge, the toolkit can be downloaded at the group’s website (www.businessgrouphealth.org).
The group encourages employers to read through and implement some of the recommendations. By doing so, you may not save a significant amount of money on your health insurance premiums. You will, however, derive other benefits, says LuAnn Heinen of the NBGH.
“There is a small added cost for the healthcare of kids who are obese,” Heinen admits. “But since kids are only about 15 percent of the total benefits cost for an average employer, and it is a minority of children who have weight problems, the impact isn’t great.
“There are two other, more important reasons to pay attention to this. One is the fact that families are affected by having kids who need more doctor visits, so there is a productivity impact on the parents who are employees. But the even more important reason is that kids are the future workforce. It really is incumbent on employers to think about this.
“Millenials, who are in the workforce now, are not as healthy in some respects as the Baby Boomers were at that same age,” Heinen says. “When the Baby Boomers were under 30, they were a healthier weight and more physically active than today’s Millenials. And research shows that parents are not very good judges of whether or not their kids are at a healthy weight. So in the toolkit we offer tips about how to talk about it on your next visit to the pediatrician, and what to do if your child is overweight.”
As an employer, you can include families in any community-based events in which you participate. For example, if your employees join a walkathon for diabetes or breast cancer, you could suggest they bring the kids. Or maybe you can bring in an expert to discuss issues of childhood obesity for a brown-bag lunch.
“If you realize that this is important, take a close look at your benefit package,” Heinen urges. “Look at what kinds of behaviors you’re incenting, and see if there isn’t a way to include the kids.” We’ll all be better off.