In a new health benefits program offered by Whole Foods, employees who don't smoke and have a low body mass index (BMI), low blood pressure and cholesterol are about to be rewarded for their good health. On the flip side, that means the new initiative, aimed to promote a healthy lifestyle, will offer fewer rewards and a lower discount to employees who don't meet the company's health criteria.
I'm all for a workplace that recognizes and fosters healthy living, but as Fit points out, the "healthy" requirements employees must meet are a little suspect — not to mention an invasion of privacy. Keep in mind, employees can opt out of the new program, but their current employee discount of 20 percent is even less than the bronze-ranked employee discount (22 percent) under the new program. So what do you think? Is this initiative a step in a healthier direction or does a program like this seem inappropriate in the workplace?
Photo courtesy of CNN
Lacoste
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Free People
That's pretty awesome. I like it!
1However.....now that I think about it, for some people, won't this make it so that the people with greater BMI buy less of the store's food (which is healthier than other stores) because it's more expensive?
Shouldn't these people get a greater discount, so that they buy more of the store's food?
2Baffling.
BMI isn't a good indicator of health and/ or fitness. Someone with a lot of muscle will weigh more and have a higher BMI than a thin person with very little muscle (who may smoke, drink to excess, etc).
low BMI =/= healthy.
3Baffling
I'm with @runningsq, BMI doesn't tell the whole health picture. But the Whole Foods policy is also an invasion of privacy.
4why are people so freaked out about invasion of privacy stuff? your weight is not a big deal, it's just a fact that has little to do with either your security (identity theft, etc) or who you are as a person, like your age, which is something else people get freaked out about. i realize that one program isn't going to change peoples' views, but i think people put too much of an emphasis on hiding 'embarassing' things like age, weight, etc & should be focusing on more important things.
so, i have zero issue with having to record/tell your weight publicly, but i do agree that BMI isn't the best way to do it...i would say it would be a better program to perhaps track workouts? or do food journals with goals like avoiding processes foods or hitting a certain calorie range that can make employees eligible for discounts and other perks.
5Last year my weight put me at either a 24 point something BMI or a 23 point something BMI depending on what I was wearing/ what time of day it was... I suppose it's only a 3% discount difference but it feels a little odd that they set the best discount level at a BMI under the "normal" level (under 25) and that someone like me would change discount brackets seemingly all the time. Not to mention that if your BMI is a 15 (grossly underweight) you're still considered healthy under this scheme and given the best discount. Also, while BMI is a decent measuring device for most people, athletes with lots of muscle and really tall people have skewed BMI's which might make it hard for them to make the
6best discount bracket. (somehow got cut off.... whoops!)
7um. considering how I just had my tests done yesterday, I can tell you that it was totally NOT an invasion of privacy. First of all, it is optional. Out of 175 team members in my store, only about 50 probably went to get tested. Second of all, you can get the tests done privately and submitted on your own, or if you lose weight or stop smoking you can resubmit at any time. Not one person in our store has complained about it, and we have many smokers and heavier people. My personal BMI is not that great, 24.9. According to a lot of doctors, that is borderline overweight. However, it falls in the middle of the WFM chart. The part that you are missing is that this is only one piece of a new program that is being launched at the stores called "Healthy Eating". You can find more info at the Whole Foods website, and you will begin to see signs all over the stores with information on the program, which is for both customers and Team Members.
8and by the way, you have to meet cholesterol and blood pressure requirements AND you can't have nicotine in your system. I don't know why the media just has info about the BMI thing....
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10BMI is different for men and women... isn't a healthy man's BMI supposed to be less than 20? Isn't this sort of sexist?
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