Overweight staff should be able to show up for work an hour late, government advisor says

[davieG]

Quote

 

Overweight staff should be able to show up for work an hour late, government advisor says

 

He also says they should be able to demand bigger chairs

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By

Martin Bagot

Sam DimmerDigital Development Editor

17:30, 28 MAY 2018

 

A government adviser has suggested that obese people should be allowed to turn up for work an hour after their colleagues.

He says that the move would allow overweight staff to avoid the rush hour commute.

In recent years the number of obesity related hospital admissions has soared.

But Prof Stephen Bevan says obese people should be protected under discrimination laws, the Mirror is reporting.

As well as delaying start times obese people could demand a bigger chair and work from home.

Prof Bevan will propose changes at the European Congress on Obesity in Vienna as new research shows Brits are among most fattest in Europe.

He has advised the Department of Work and Pensions and is a member of Public Health England’s advisory board.

The professor will tell 2,000 medics that obesity should be classed as a “protected characteristic” allowing staff to sue fat shaming bosses.

 

Prof Bevan, head of HR research at the Institute for Employment Studies, said: “We need to coordinate our efforts so that people who want to work can do so.

“It can be working time, it can be having a bit of understanding that someone might need to turn up at 10am because they have trouble with transport or anxiety about transport.

“Many employers get away with whatever they want.”

 

Prof Bevan will present a systematic review of research in to obesity workplace discrimination.

It included a major study on “weight stigma” in the NHS .

Another study found one in five Brits said they would object to an obese person marrying in to their family.

A third study by the European Association for the Study of Obesity found more than half of UK doctors thought overweight patients lacked willpower.

One in three said they were too lazy to keep weight off.

 

Prof Bevan added: “Some people say that obesity is the last characteristic that its still socially acceptable to make fun of.

“We have a scheme in the UK called Access to Work which not many employers know about.

“If you are an individual living with a health condition or an impairment you can get support, paid for by the Government to make accommodations.

“It could be transport or it could be working from home.”

Another study surveyed 90,573 people in nine countries and found only 47% of Brits believe food addiction is a reasonable explanation. This was lowest other than the US and Germany.

 

Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the Institute for Economic Affairs, said: “This is a ludicrous idea that will only create resentment against obese people if it were implemented.

“Being fat is not a disability and the majority of people get to work by car so it is difficult to see why obese people should be given an extra hour to arrive.

“If obese people are to be given special privileges, should we not also give special privileges to smokers, alcoholics and compulsive gamblers?

“Where does it end?”

 

Across England, there were nearly 617,000 admissions to NHS hospitals in 2016/17 - up by 18% from the 524,725 seen in 2015/16, and working out as 12 for every 1,000 people in the country.

Bariatric surgery can be performed to help with weight loss, and can include stomach stapling, gastric bypasses and sleeve gastrectomy.

Nationally, 66% of men and 57% of women were classed as overweight or obese in 2016. Since 1993, prevalence of obesity has increase from 15% to 26% of all adults.

Meanwhile, 10% of children in reception in England are obese, rising to 20% of children in Year 6.

 

 

[TiffToff88]

What a fat lot of good that would do!

[Captain...]

Everyone in an office based job should be allowed to show up late for work, or early to suit their needs as long as they work the required number of hours and it doesn’t impair their ability to do their job.

[MC Prussian]

How about overweight people working on themselves instead?

I don't think this is helping anyone.

 

Unless you have a genetic malfunction and/or suffer from an illness, take a look at your food and drink intake, people. Sugars, all the artificial sweeteners and add-ons, fatty food, emulsifiers, etc.

Cut down on those. Minimize the risk of Diabetes. Get more active.

 

It just becomes part of a special group glorification culture, a minority receiving special treatment. They'll be getting excuses for doing less and less, making their situation worse with time.

[AndWhat?]

How about overweight people can turn up an hour late for work if they can prove they were exercising for that hour?

[Free Falling Foxes]

Needed to check it wasn't April 1st!

 

He is suggesting that overweight people should stay at home more and rush less?

[Bryn]

What a nonsensical idea. What possible benefit can it have for anyone? It would be better if more workplaces had access to affordable exercise and healthy eating options that all their employees could take advantage of.

Edited 4 June 2018 by Bryn

[ScouseFox]

9 minutes ago, Captain... said:

Everyone in an office based job should be allowed to show up late for work, or early to suit their needs as long as they work the required number of hours and it doesn’t impair their ability to do their job.

absolutely, why every office in the world doesn’t have some sort of flexitime is beyond me. have offices in action from 7-7 or so, everyone can come in whenever they want and stay for as long as they want. easy. 

[Voll Blau]

Let them work from home. Simple.

 

[Bryn]

There should be a shift away from working a set number of fixed hours for the sake of it to a more flexible, accomplishment focused style of work, and more downtime for people in general. Singling out any one group is ludicrous.

[StanSP]

11 minutes ago, Captain... said:

Everyone in an office based job should be allowed to show up late for work, or early to suit their needs as long as they work the required number of hours and it doesn’t impair their ability to do their job.

agreed.

That's what I love about my job - we have 'core hours' at work where everyone needs to be 'at work' but they can do their regular hours within these times. Core hours being 8am to 6pm so if you wanted you could start late and finish late (10am to 6pm) or start early, finish early (8am to 4pm). Or be flexible as long as its agreed with your boss/team that you can do this. Works very well across the immediate team as well as the organisation as you're comfortable with hours you've chosen and you know where you stand. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

7 minutes ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

He is suggesting that overweight people should stay at home more and rush less? 

Haha exactly. Spend ~8 more hours a day sat on your arse next to your fridge, that'll help! 

[Innovindil]

No words. 

 

[RowlattsFox]

I work in employment support and a lot of people on benefits do have concerns about travelling to and from work during peak times, particularly in big cities, some of which is genuine and some is just a shit excuse. I do believe more flexibility from employers if business needs allow should be considered and would definitely encourage more people to return to work, particularly parents with childcare, genuine anxieties about public transport etc but being fat is not a good enough reason to be late in.

[AndWhat?]

48 minutes ago, ScouseFox said:

absolutely, why every office in the world doesn’t have some sort of flexitime is beyond me. have offices in action from 7-7 or so, everyone can come in whenever they want and stay for as long as they want. easy. 

 

That's how my office works. I am based in the office of a 24 hour production factory and as long as I am in work for 42.5 hours a week they aren't fussed when that is. 

 

Perfect in the summer when I want to be on the golf course for 3!

[ScouseFox]

3 minutes ago, AndWhat? said:

 

That's how my office works. I am based in the office of a 24 hour production factory and as long as I am in work for 42.5 hours a week they aren't fussed when that is. 

 

Perfect in the summer when I want to be on the golf course for 3!

yeah that seems ideal. we occasionally have shifts where i have nothing official to do at certain times so similarly i can turn up at 6am, 4pm, can work 5 hours or can work 12 hours as long as it all adds up in the end. 

 

i get some roles require meetings or people to be in place at specific times but flexibility is seemingly at a bare minimum in this country which is daft when you consider how many reasons there are to not work from 9 til 5 monday to friday. 

[foxy boxing]

give them an hour in the gym everyday instead!

[yorkie1999]

Why can't over weight staff turn up an hour earlier if the given reason is to avoid the rush hour. Might lose a bit of the old chub if they weren't lazying about in bed.

[RoboFox]

That's that then.

 

I'm gonna get fat.

Edited 4 June 2018 by RoboFox

[urban.spaceman]

Complete and total failure to actually think.

[Buce]

 

I have no axe to grind regarding this, but I'm not sure it's helpful to treat obesity as a disability.

[Lovejoy]

Speaking as someone carrying a few too many pounds, this is shambolic. I'm personally working hard to hit the gym and eat better, but this could have the complete opposite effect, and personally like most others, I'd love an extra hour in bed.

 

Should be told to get in earlier and miss the rush!

[Hirsty The Blue 94]

2 hours ago, ScouseFox said:

yeah that seems ideal. we occasionally have shifts where i have nothing official to do at certain times so similarly i can turn up at 6am, 4pm, can work 5 hours or can work 12 hours as long as it all adds up in the end. 

 

i get some roles require meetings or people to be in place at specific times but flexibility is seemingly at a bare minimum in this country which is daft when you consider how many reasons there are to not work from 9 til 5 monday to friday. 

I think it should go further than that. We need to move away from an hours based form of monitoring work to a production based. I work in an office and the amount of time you see some people wasting just to make up the hours is obscene.If it takes you 20 hours or 40 hours to do the work required then so be it. Flexibility should be the key to any employment really.

[yorkie1999]

I personally believe that office work is one area that could be fully automated and the need for any office based employees could be totally eliminated.

[Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo]

Sorry... the only reason they have given for fat people to be given special treatment is "it can be having a bit of understanding that someone might need to turn up at 10am because they have trouble with transport or anxiety about transport." What?

 

I think it's dangerous to tread too carefully around the whole "fat-shaming" malarky. Most cases of obesity are due to poor diet and lack of exercise and can be prevented. If everyone thinks it's ok to be fat (and gets to skip rush hour) then it's surely going to lead to more cases of obesity, more strain on the NHS, more flab hanging over seats on planes and public transport, more unnecessary mobility scooters