First it was CVS making employees pay a penalty for not adhering to their new “health” policy, and now we’ve got something even worse: Michelin North America Inc. is instituting a new policy where employees will have to pay as much as $1000 if they have high blood pressure or a waist circumference over a certain size. Apparently, Michelin executives own a very powerful crystal ball that shows soaring health care costs for everyone who is “too” fat around the middle.
According to the Wall Street Journal, “the company will reward only those workers who meet healthy standards for blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides and waist size—under 35 inches for women and 40 inches for men. Employees who hit baseline requirements in three or more categories will receive up to $1,000 to reduce their annual deductibles. Those who don’t qualify must sign up for a health-coaching program in order to earn a smaller credit.”
It’s good that Michelin’s policy allows employees to meet requirements in several of those categories (as opposed to all of them), but the fact that waist circumference is even included is ridiculous. I would like Michelin executives to explain to me how they expect employees to get – and stay – smaller, when study after study (and the life experiences of 95% of us) shows that long-term weight loss is almost impossible. In order to reduce my waist circumference to Michelin-approved standards, I would have to make losing weight (because spot reduction is impossible) my second full-time job. I would have to resort to extreme calorie restriction and compulsive levels of exercise – and I’d have to do that for the rest of my tenure at Michelin, because if I stop doing those things, I’m going to regain the weight. Sorry, but I’d rather resign and find work at a company that doesn’t punish me for what they have determined is my poor health.
Sadly, CVS and Michelin are leading the charge. Again from the WSJ: “Six in 10 employers say they plan to impose penalties in the next few years on employees who don’t take action to improve their health, according to a recent study of 800 mid- to large-size firms by human-resources consultancy Aon Hewitt.” Great. Thanks for making fat discrimination corporate policy.
Just about the only health risk more maligned that obesity is smoking (but that leads us back to the idea of fat being a “habit,” which it is not). But while many companies have smoking policies (including penalties for continuing the habit and rewards for quitting), these same corporations aren’t penalizing employees for other health-related risks, such as excessive alcohol consumption, practicing unsafe sex, taking illegal drugs, texting while driving, not wearing seat belts, etc. There are dozens of unhealthy behaviors that employees engage in every day. But it’s tough to figure out who is putting their health most at risk by engaging in any of these habits, whereas eyeballing a fatty and deciding they’re to blame for soaring health care costs is easy.
As of today, I’m starting a list of companies I will no longer do business with because of their fat-shaming policies. You can bet if Michelin called me up today and offered me a sweet new job, I’d say no in a heartbeat. I won’t put up with fat shaming or health policing in my personal life, so why should I tolerate it in my work life? So I’ll boycott CVS and Michelin as a start, and meanwhile, I’ll be over here training for my tenth half marathon (less than three weeks away) with my extra-large waist. Oh, the horror!
One final note: Can we talk about the irony of a company penalizing employees for their fat waistlines when this is their mascot?
