HR must ensure that wellness programs don’t discriminate against obesity

The Obesity Action Coalition conducted a study recently to determine the effectiveness of employee wellness programs at reducing the costs related to obesity. The group found found that of the 5,000 employees who were studied, 59 percent belonged to employer-health programs that did not cover obesity treatment, even though the same companies would also set weight diet and exercise goals for employees, according to the Business Law Review.

"Our study shows how some programs can amount to a subterfuge for discrimination," said Ted Kyle, the lead author of the study,  BLR stated. "All too often, a wellness plan that sets weight goals for employees is paired with a health plan that denies coverage for evidence-based obesity treatments. By doing this, an employer risks alienating more than a third of its employees."

The team concluded companies setting up wellness initiatives without proper obesity treatment can lead to discrimination. This could be a potential liability that businesses should seek to avoid. The responsibility lies with HR to distinguish any risks of discrimination within its wellness programs and eliminate them if possible by switching to another health care provider or paying to add an obesity program.

Workforce management must avoid setting weight and body mass limits that prevent employees from receiving full health care benefits, as this could lead to a discrimination suit.

Wellness programs and productivity
The question of whether corporate wellness programs benefit productivity remains a dicey one, according to Fast Company. In theory, according to a 2007 Duke study, the difference between a healthy and an obese worker may amount to up to seven times the medical insurance costs and 13 times more missed days due to injury or illness. However, quantifying everything remains difficult.

That being said, although wellness programs are incentives to be healthy that people generally enjoy, some CEOs are skeptical that the industry behind wellness is not doing a good enough job at proving its value.

"I believe there's more than just fanfare out there," said Rod Reason, CEO of Healthiest Employers, a company that creates wellness programs, in an interview with Fast Company. "[But when pressed for specifics] we're very quiet. That's the journey we are on right now. We have several publicly traded customers right now tracking that exact question."

In contrast, a separate article by SHRM indicated that wellness programs can indeed reduce worker absenteeism and boost productivity. The group cited a study by the American Journal of Health Promotion that cites a return on investment of of $3.48 per $1.