NBCH Survey: Employers' Views on Obesity

According to a recent study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine led by Duke University, 42 percent of Americans will be obese in 2030. And as the number of overweight Americans reaches epidemic proportions, the associated and costly chronic conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease are also rising.

To better understand the business attitudes and needs concerning obesity prevention and control to identify how best to combat this issue, NBCH, with suppport from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Safety Council (NSC), conducted a survey more than 500 employers.

While many U.S. employers are addressing obesity in the workplace, there is still much progress to be made as well as a need for tools and resources, especially among small and mid-size organizations.

“Given the amount of time an employee is at their place of work, there is an opportunity to positively influence the choices they make about their health,” said Andrew Webber, NBCH president and CEO. “A workplace that emphasizes health is more likely to have policies that promote healthy behavior such as incentives and access to health resources. While large employers have been at this for some time, small- to mid-sized employers have been less engaged, but are increasingly seeing the value of these types of programs."

The full report including survey responses, conclusions and recommendations for employers can be found on NBCH's website.

“This project was very helpful to us in understanding the small employer perspective,” said Jason Lang, MPH, MS, Team Lead, Workplace Health Programs, Division of Population Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CDC. “We were able to use findings to inform the development of obesity prevention and control strategies and tools for the CDC National Healthy Worksite Program which is focused on helping small employers build comprehensive workplace health programs.”