Obesity in the workplace

This is an interesting discussion, Amy. As I was once a people manager before, I only looked at skill sets, work experience and attitude when I hire people. You have made an important point - weight, or race, or religion, or marital status, etc should not be a deciding factor when hiring (whether it is a legal requirement or not, it's just the right thing to do). On a lighter side, even for some of us who have a job in the office, we sit in front of the computer screen for so many hours a day, we do need to take breaks and move around. I usually don't like to exercise but lately have joined a hula class. Now I am exercising and having fun!

Looking down, somehow I can't quite see this as adding to my character . I suspect that a fair number of men might not react very favorably to that way of thinking either, but you don't get to read minds. What we can do together is take some action in our own little corner of the business world and make better hiring selections. Maybe one way to impact this is to call out the crassly obvious. If you're hiring people based on body shape, it will cost you money because you are surely going to miss a lot of talented people that your competition might not.I'm going to pass this thread along to a lot of other people I use to work with in online communities. There were literally hundreds of us spread across the US and working globally and this was a constant topic of conversation. A lot of talk about health as well.Do men hula dance? LOL, I don't know! I'm open to some creative ideas!Dennis

For those of you following this thread I just saw another interesting article [ http://news.independent.co.uk/... ] that is somewhat related. It isn't focused on obesity, but physical attractiveness in general and how that impacts an individual's salary. I agree that focusing on skill set will ultimately help ensure you find and keep the best fit for the job. I wonder how many managers that are guilty of allowing physical features to impact their pay and hiring decisions are making a conscious decision to do so. Would love to see more articles or comments on this discussion.

There is a great article here [ http://www.stlukes.org/body.cf... ] that describes several different types of stretches that can be done at work. Sitting behind the computer all day doesn't really give you time to stretch, like Lily said. But these are great techniques that you can use in an office environment.

here is another great article, seems like a lot when you are open to seeing the topichttp://discussionleader.hbsp.com/corkindal... [ http://discussionleader.hbsp.com/corkindal... ]

I just read this blog at MSNBC about new federal regulations allowing employers to charge overweight employees more for health insurance [ http://yourbiz.msnbc.msn.com/a... ] . The buzz is that people who smoke say "about time" and that being overweight causes more health problems than smoking. I find that a hard sell, but anyway, I have kind of a mixed reaction to this whole matter. I do think it's worth talking about, although in just the last few days insurance premium projections for the coming year are being reported as not on so much of a steep incline. The obvious question being asked is - what comes next?Warning about the blog - The blog language is not necessarily bad, but it strikes me as kind of in your face for a major network site. But who knows these days.DennisLater addition: I just blogged about this at Tips and Tricks [ http://www.quickbooksgroup.com... ] .

AMY you post such good topics! After working in retail management for YEARS, my last two jobs have been desk-jobs. I am very health-conscious and was concerned about weight gain when accepting a desk-job.One thing I wanted to say is, when I hired people, their appearance played a small role in their eligibility for the position. Potential employee's weight was never a factor, the only appearance geared decision I made was based on if they were a mess [ie; jeans, t-shirt, flip flops to an interview] or if they at least tried to look 'put together.'Another thing is, Ive always been pretty into health and fitness, so I know all kinds of weird little tips and tricks! Jolting up stairs even ONCE a day will boost your metabolism. Also even if you are sitting completely still, contracting any muscle burns calories, and tones believe it or not!