Durham, NC, United States (AHN) – Obese workers cost companies more money than insurance and absenteeism, according to a new study from Duke University.
The researchers said in a statement that obesity among full-time workers costs employees about $73.1 billion.
Lead researcher Eric Finkelstein said in a statement that he and his colleagues quantified the per-capita cost of obesity among full-time workers by considering employee medical expenditures, lost productivity on the job due to health problems and absence from work.
The per-capita costs of obesity are as high as $16,900 for obese women who are at least 100 pounds overweight and $15,000 for men in the same body mass index category, the researchers said.
Lost productivity on the job accounted for up to 56 percent of the total cost of obesity for women and 68 percent for men.
The researchers said in a statement that loss of productivity due to health problems far exceeds company medical costs, even among workers who are not overweight.
A full report on the study is published this week in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
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