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# Report: Employers can make for healthy workers
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/report-employers-can-make-for-healthy-workers/
- Published: 2004-02-12T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T03:46:36.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Health, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By Daily Press staff*

Employers can help reduce employee obesity and health costs by offering healthier food choices and improving access to physical activity at work, according to a report issued last month by the California Department of Health Services.

The report found that many business leaders promote worker-health programs as a way to reduce the costs of employee obesity. Those costs include increased absenteeism, loss of productivity and higher medical bills.

“Workers spend the majority of their waking hours on the job, so it makes good business sense for employers to try to improve worker fitness,” said Dr. Gilberto F. Chavez, chief medical officer of the department. “Access to healthy foods and physical activity during the workday can significantly reduce the risks of obesity and other health-related problems.”

Obesity-related medical expenses cost California $7.7 billion annually — more than any other state — according to research released in January by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The department research findings include: ■Fewer business leaders are concerned about physical inactivity, poor diet and being overweight than tobacco use, even though more than half of all adults are overweight, obese or sedentary. ■Fifty percent of business leaders said their worksites had programs that were intended to promote good health. The most common offerings were health screenings, health fairs and flu vaccinations.

For more information, visit www.ca5aday.com For further information about the CDC report, visit www.cdc.gov

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 12, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/021204.pdf?ref=smdp.com)