Employers blamed for ever expanding waistlines!

Recent research, by jobs website ‘Career Builder’ has blamed long working hours and sedentary lifestyles for making workers fat.

In a poll of over 1,000 employees, Career Builder found that 2 in 5 had gained weight in their current job, with a fifth of people admitting to gaining more than 10Ibs. The research also found that almost 60% of respondees spent most of their day at their desk, citing this as the biggest reason for work-related weight gain.

13% of people taking part in the survey said they had lost weight in their current place of work. For these people, almost 1 in 5 cited skipping meals and irregular eating patterns as a big contributing factor in their weight loss.

Revealingly, one third of the people surveyed said they were too busy to focus on their health.

These findings reflect the fact that many people working in sedentary, high-pressured jobs are too exhausted and stressed to exercise after work, and adopt unhealthy eating habits. One third of respondees admitted to stress-eating habits, such as going to the biscuit tin or the office snack-machine.

13% blamed lack of time and energy for relying on take-aways and eating out rather than choosing to cook fresh, healthier meals at home.

Clearly, healthy eating and physical exercise get put onto the back burner when employees are faced with high amounts of work-related stress, lack of sleep and an over-packed schedule. Evidence suggests that people with high levels of the stress hormones cortisol and adrenalin are likely to suffer adrenal fatigue, leading to weight gain and poor physical health. This, in turn, can have an impact on mental and emotional wellbeing, too.

Not only are unhealthy and obese people less productive at work but they also take off more time sick. A recent CIPD study in Absence Management found that, on average, sickness absence costs employers £609 per employee per year. Nor does this figure take into account the adverse impact that sickness absence has on other employees in terms of increased work pressure and reduced staff morale.

Humans were never designed to live such sedentary lifestyles and work in robotic cultures!

At Xclusive Corporate Fitness, we are offering a brand-new 'Lunch and Learn' initiative to help employers improve levels of employee fitness and wellbeing, and aid productivity, focus and engagement.

For any organisation recognising the value of its employees, this is a great opportunity to invest in employee fitness and well-being, and reap additional rewards through reduced absenteeism and higher retention levels.

Lunch and Learn is a 60-90 minute interactive workshop-based session. It is designed to give your organisation a platform to bring your team together, creating innovation, engagement and focus.

Lunch and Learn is an effective way to help educate your employees about issues such as stress, poor nutrition, lack of exercise and work-life balance that may be affecting their job performance and career potential.

To enquire about ‘Lunch and Learn’ please go to this link here.