BEAT THE BULGE IF YOU WANT THE CORNER OFFICE - 2013 news article.
Spot the difference in 15 years of sitting down at work.
An article I wrote way back in 1998 for a local business newspaper, headlined, The cost of poor health at the office.
The article highlighted the need for executives to provide access to corporate health and fitness programs for their staff, in order to keep a motivated,productive and happy workforce.
I then went onto say that the cost to the company, through poor health at work is enormous, from the top executive door to the main work floor and everyone in between, everyone is affected by poor health and fitness. This is proven by absenteeism and sick leave, it affects peoples ability to perform at their best physically, mentally and intellectually.
Injury at the workplace can also be contributed to a workers personal health and fitness.
Not only does a company suffer from an unhealthy workforce, but these poor habits are copied at home through their children.
The article was sending a message to all executives to get their act together with their own personal health, to be a leader and to provide staff with a workplace health program.
So has anything changed since then?
BEAT THE BULGE IF YOU WANT THE CORNER OFFICE - 2013 (The Australian Newspaper).
Research is showing the extra bulge that executives may carry, effects peoples perception of their leadership ability and stamina for the job.
I would think if I was dealing with an overweight executive, who obviously has no concern for their personal health, would ask the question, does he/she run the company the same way?
Stress is the number one issue with a high paying executive position. The study went onto saying, a heavy executive is judged to be less capable because of the assumptions about how weight affects health and stamina.
The message is very clear from two articles more than 15 years apart, we spend most of our time at work, most spend a lot of it sitting down. Stress has never gone away, in fact in some cases it has gone up at work and home.
We need executives to lead by example, to lead a healthy lifestyle, but put measures in place to do likewise for their most valuable asset…staff.
