Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today

Health and safetyLettersWellbeing

Make people responsible for their own health

by Personnel Today 12 Nov 2007
by Personnel Today 12 Nov 2007

While I welcome all reports that draw attention to the critical impact that an individual’s health status has on their own wellbeing and the country’s economy (‘Working Lunch, Personnel Today, 17 October), any report that suggests an individual is not personally responsible for their own health may only exacerbate the problem, and feed the generally held perception that health is someone else’s issue.

Clearly, a healthy nation is both an individual and a collective responsibility. However, data from the World Health Organisation proves that lifestyle and personal choices are responsible for more than 50% of the health status of an individual.

The Tackling Obesity: Future Choices report may well be an effective ‘call to arms’ which the medical community can use to urge government intervention, although the deflection of individual responsibility is not helpful. In much the same way that further education is a lifestyle choice, unless individuals start taking responsibility for their own health and wellbeing, employers in the future might take a harder view on obesity.

We know that employers currently use academic qualifications as a measure for assessing intelligence and psychometrics as a measure for emotional intelligence. Given that research proves there is a direct correlation between health and performance, it seems reasonable that employers might begin to think about differentiating current and potential employees based on their modifiable health issues, of which weight is one.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

For most people, weight management (which is a function of nutritional and physical activity habits) is a lifestyle choice, just like smoking. By taking responsibility away from the individual, we risk ending up in a situation where third parties will start to dictate what we can and cannot eat or drink. Surely that is not the sign of a healthy country.

Clive Pinder, managing director,Vielife

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Home Office admits 5,000 illegal immigrants were cleared to work as security
next post
Increased flexibility will be a balancing act for human resources

You may also like

Workplace stress: Why it’s time to rebrand resilience

22 May 2025

Employers ‘worryingly’ ignorant about stress risk assessments

20 May 2025

Awareness weeks fuel spike in demand for mental...

19 May 2025

Preparing for a new era of workforce planning...

8 May 2025

Employers urged to do more to tackle loneliness

1 May 2025

Why employers must do more to support all...

24 Apr 2025

Nearly half did not take even one full...

14 Apr 2025

Warning of diabetes risk for workplace drivers

11 Apr 2025

Calls growing for UK national asbestos register

4 Apr 2025

Gen X storing up health problems by failing...

28 Mar 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • OHW+
  • Resources
    • Clinical governance
    • Disability
    • Ergonomics
    • Health surveillance
    • OH employment law
    • OH service delivery
    • Research
    • Return to work and rehabilitation
    • Sickness absence management
    • Wellbeing and health promotion
  • Conditions
    • Mental health
    • Musculoskeletal disorders
    • Blood pressure
    • Cancer
    • Cardiac
    • Dementia
    • Diabetes
    • Respiratory
    • Stroke
  • CPD
  • Webinars
  • Jobs
  • Personnel Today