Weight loss earns workers a chance at more days off

Businesses look for gain, but one Everett boss wants to help workers become losers — happy, healthy losers.

Chris Schulz, president of Pacific Northwest Title, is offering an employee benefit with the potential to transform lives. Workers who shed extra pounds may get the added benefit of extra days off.

“Our boss has offered to sponsor anyone in our company who wants to participate in a Weight Watchers program with meetings here at work,” said Roxanne Tye, who works at the title insurance company.

Thirty-two of the company’s 44 employees, including Tye and her boss, have signed up for the 13-week program expected to start next week. Schulz said Wednesday he’ll pay the program’s full cost, about $156 per person.

He’ll sweeten the pot with a gift of time. The biggest loser, by percentage of body weight, will get three extra days of vacation. Second- and third-place winners will get two days or one more day. Those are nice perks at a business where vacation tops out at three weeks after 11 years of employment.

“Either the first prize was going to be three days off or going to an all-you-can-eat buffet,” Schulz said. That’s laughable, but we all know the seriousness of obesity.

A Snohomish Health District report published in May of 2007 — titled “How Big Are We?” — found that the proportion of county adults considered overweight or obese grew from 46 percent in 1993 to 60.2 percent in 2004. While those considered overweight stayed about the same, the report said the increase “was driven by growth in the percentage who were obese” — up 74 percent.

That’s a huge jump, and you needn’t be in business to know it. Figure in obesity-related illnesses and added health costs, and extra pounds affect the bottom line as well as quality of life.

Schulz, 53, got to thinking about New Year’s resolutions over the holidays. “I thought, I’d bet almost everybody has a resolution to lose weight,” he said. “It’s hardest to do something along those lines on your own. Why not turn it into a whole office thing?”

The whole office has only to look at Tye to see success.

“I’ve been doing Weight Watchers since last March. I’ve lost 48 pounds,” the Everett woman said. She attended meetings outside work. “It was right for me. Once you start losing, you kind of get excited,” she said.

Tye, 58, is involved in her company’s “happy committee,” which has planned outings to Mariners and AquaSox baseball games and other events. “I got elected to lead Weight Watchers at Work,” she said.

The program works, she said, because it’s “basic eating.”

“You eat your own food — fruits and vegetables and a little bit of meat. It just works,” she said. Exercise helps, said Tye, who often walks 4 miles before work. When weather won’t cooperate, she exercises at a gym.

“I’ve always exercised; I’ve been a swimmer,” Schulz said. With his age and a back injury, he said, he’s put on a few pounds. In that, he has lots of company.

Schulz said he’s not paying for Weight Watchers to cut insurance costs. He started the company, but it’s now owned by a large corporation that covers employees through Aetna. “We’ve got health-care benefits, all that stuff. This won’t affect the cost. It’s something fun to do,” he said. “If everybody has that goal, it’s better to do it together.”

In some workplaces, there’s a trend to tie benefits to behavior.

Last summer, Snohomish County announced an optional Partners for Health strategy. It includes health risk assessments, annual screenings, Weight Watchers at Work, free flu shots, gym membership discounts and other programs. Announcing the program in June, Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon said the benefits of a wellness program are “happier, healthier workers and fewer tax dollars going toward rising medical costs.”

While Partners for Health is optional, King County goes a step further. There, an incentive program lowers health costs for county workers who earn points for healthful behavior. Those who opt out pay more.

At the Everett business, Schulz expects a boost in self-esteem, if not profits. “If people feel better about themselves, they’re happier, more productive employees,” he said.

And three days off? One worker’s loss will be quite a gain.

Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlstein@heraldnet.com.