Lord Jason Scott, president of Corporate Events Management provides an insight into the industry from the heart of the West End
The Skinny on Office Fat cats
Summer is here, Summer is here! Like many of us you are now only thinking of two things :Summer Events and Summer Holidays. I know that you know all about how to deal with Summer events so this Blog is about Summer Holidays or more accurately your body and summer holidays:Most of us in this industry work long hours and our diet consists mainly of the “two C variety” : Canapé’ and Champagne , neither good for the figure but both great for the mood.
After much searching and exploration through the leaning tower of paper I like to call my filing system. I found an article about how managers could motivate their employees to lose weight from back in January. Hooray! Unfortunately at that time, I was probably too busy finishing off the Christmas office party leftovers to notice that newsflash and now, here we all are, fatter than ticks, preparing for all the summer party’s and the annual migration somewhere hot with a book, a towel, best friend and a roll of fat so large it may need its own seat on the plane. I may be speaking of myself here ;-)
But it’s never too late to become a loser, and I’m sure that’s a sentiment likely to be endorsed by Gillian McKeith the internationally acclaimed Holistic Nutritionist who looks at things most dogs would turn their nose up at. But I remember she did a talk about “ Achieving a Healthier Workplace One Employee at a Time.”
It is Mrs. Gillian’s contention that an enlightened employer can lighten up his workforce with a “corporate wellness program". While I am less sanguine about getting over-stressed, underpaid worker bees to “just put down that jelly donut and come out with your hands up”, our Gillian certainly has a plethora of facts to demonstrate that the fat in our systems is doing more than clogging our arteries.
Parliamentary report estimates that back in 2001 the Cost to NHS was £2bn. The cost now to the UK economy is £7bn (3.5 times greater) and if nothing changes the cost of Obesity could cost the NHS in England as much as £6.3bn a year by 2015 if no effective action is taken, the government has said. Scary numbers, though, of course, it all depends on your definition of obese. [My definition doesn’t rely on a bunch of complicated statistics. In my world, an obese person is defined as anyone who is fatter than me.] Not to mention the expense of the recalls to remove the Pizza Hut pizza boxes from all the offices around the country from all of us that work late.
Being a PhD, Dr. Gillian is smart enough to realize that getting employees to shape up takes more than scary statistics. She offers some tips for the caring, cost-conscious manager to utilize in trimming the fat around the office. I’ll share a few to help you get started:
Brad has lost the war on Fat
1. Broach the subject in terms of overall health, not just weight.
If you don’t want to offend your obese employees, Gillian suggests you downplay any emphasis on the disadvantages of being overweight and focus instead on the positive attributes of being healthy. “Remind people that by losing weight, they may ward off hip and knee replacements, diabetes, heart disease, perhaps even cancer.”
I disagree. While this is certainly the politically correct way to discuss weight, I’m not sure the fatties in the group will get the message. Believe me, if I can convince myself that the best explanation for why my pants no longer fit is because there are Martians living among us who are trying to make us lose confidence by systematically shrinking our trousers, I’m never buying some ridiculous story about celery being good for you.
2. Get your employees excited about good nutrition.
Gillian suggests erecting a “recipe bulletin board so that employees can share the details of their delicious finds and their own culinary creations.” She also suggests a “potluck lunch to which everyone brings his or her favorite healthful dish”. Now this might actually work. Once your co-workers smell the irresistible aroma of your meatloaf with hollandaise they may give up eating altogether.
3. Foster and encourage exercise groups
“Put a treadmill in a vacant room,” suggests Dr. Gillian. I would put a treadmill in every space including the 7th floor balcony if I had a choice they’re cheaper than those fancy Aeron chairs we have now, and are really much more appropriate for a group of people who are working hard and not getting anywhere .
4. Remove all junk food from the premises.
Gillian is correct when she suggests “it’s hard to stay on track when your Chef is always cooking food packed with grease and sugar and trans fatty acids that beckon with their sinister glow.” On the other hand, it is even harder to stay employed when deprived of these essential and yummy elements. With our paychecks the way they are now in this Credit Crunch (another “two C’s” Coincidence? I think NOT) if it weren’t for the opportunity to satisfy our addiction to trans fatty acids, we would probably never work in Events at all. P.s. Annie and I are now on a health plan to change, Annie spurred on by Ibiza and yours truly by wearing my Armani suit to the Premier of Harry Potter 6 in July. So we are taking the advice of the moon-walking, high singing, crotch grabbing, glove wearing, high kicking, skin lightening, hat wearing, baby bouncing, musical icon M.J. and starting with the man ( or woman) in the mirror!
