The link between childhood obesity and your bottom line

Recently, Michelle Obama has waged a full-scale war against childhood obesity — a cause CFOs everywhere may have good reason to get behind.

Childhood obesity can directly affect a firm’s bottom line through increased health costs, as well as increased costs to its employees in the form of benefits contributions, co-pays, etc.

Also, because obese children are more likely to have health issues, employees may have to spend more time during the workweek taking their children to doctor’s appointments, etc.

Finally, there’s the future to consider. Healthcare costs for obesity-related illnesses already run businesses around $45 billion each year. And, according to the National Business Group on Health, an obese teenager has a 70% chance of becoming an obese adult.

With childhood obesity continuing to rise, there’s incentive for employers to take a proactive approach to staving off this problem in any way that they can.

One way: on-site fitness facilities for employees’ children. Texas Instruments (TI) lets workers’ children use the company’s three fitness facilities and also provides access to personal trainers — as long as the sessions are supervised by an adult.

For more examples of how employers can combat childhood obesity, check out, “Childhood Obesity: It’s Everyone’s Business.”