Obesity Increases Absenteeism by 3 Days per Year in the US

In keeping with the theme of the week, obesity in the workplace, some recent research published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine has found that obesity, relative to normal weight, raises job absenteeism due to injury or illness by 3.0 days per year, an increase of 128%. Further, annual productivity loss due to obesity ranges from $271 to $542 per employee with obesity. US national productivity losses ranged from $13.4 to $26.8 billion in 2016.