Obesity - major hinderance to success?

[JSt0rm]

I'm fat hire me!

done. Play competitive games. Make lots of money for us. 60/40 split. Lets do this soldier.

 

[FeuerFrei]

So failure is hereditary? Got it.

 

[cbrunny]

being fat is objectively worse than being not fat.

 

[madoka]

If there are fat CEOs I've never heard of them.

O RLY?

 

[slackerinabox]

So failure is hereditary? Got it.

I don't, for a second, feel that my waistline is due to anything other than my bad habits. I think I implied the opposite, that maybe i need to stop being a lazy fat ass to get ahead.

 

[JTsyo]

Saw a study the other day that being born to an obese mother, reduces that person's life expectancy by 17 years.

 

[shortylickens]

Not necessarily.
I was a skinny loser, too.

 

[Red Squirrel]

O RLY?

DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS! WHOOOOOOOOOOO!

Guy almost gave himself a brain aneurysm that night. lol

 

[Ruptga]

Not necessarily.
I was a skinny loser, too.

Yeah, the converse error can be a bitch like that.

 

[Sonikku]

I hear that statistically heavy people make less money than non heavy people. Though I'm not sure if that is to say that heavy people score fewer points in job interviews or if the mentality that makes people fat also more often makes them unsuccessful.

 

[Ruptga]

I hear that statistically heavy people make less money than non heavy people. Though I'm not sure if that is to say that heavy people score fewer points in job interviews or if the mentality that makes people fat also more often makes them unsuccessful.

I'm sure there's a lot of things that factor into it. Obesity also correlates with poverty, for one.

 

[MrDudeMan]

I won't hire a fat person if I can help it. I was overweight for a few years and I did something about it, so I have pretty much no tolerance anymore especially when it's obvious the person doesn't care or isn't trying to fix it. I work insane hours at a technically challenging job in an environment that does not cater to physical fitness, which gives me every possible excuse to be or become fat. Therefore, the fact that I turned it around and then maintained a healthy weight gives me a bias and I'm unwilling to change it. I'm not alone in this thinking nor do I find any objective reason to adopt a different point of view. Almost no one at my company is overweight by more than probably 15 pounds and I don't think that's a coincidence because there is no shortage of fat engineers.

It's my personal belief that people who expend effort to maintain their bodies also expend energy to maintain a more predictable and reliable lifestyle when it comes to both personal and professional work habits. That has been my experience as a fat and non-fat person as well as an employer and employee. It's a choice in the extreme majority of cases and the information transfer associated with the obvious visual impact of that choice is not insignificant. Using weight as a selection criteria makes perfect sense to me on an evolutionary basis as well. I find no reason to want to contribute to the long term viability of a person who is likely to become more and more of a drain on an already strained system. It's bad for everyone to allow fat people to prosper.

Yes, I am serious. Yes, I know how this post sounds. Lose weight.

 

[Chaotic42]

I won't hire a fat person if I can help it. I was overweight for a few years and I did something about it, so I have pretty much no tolerance anymore especially when it's obvious the person doesn't care or isn't trying to fix it. I work insane hours at a technically challenging job in an environment that does not cater to physical fitness, which gives me every possible excuse to be or become fat. Therefore, the fact that I turned it around and then maintained a healthy weight gives me a bias and I'm unwilling to change it. I'm not alone in this thinking nor do I find any objective reason to adopt a different point of view. Almost no one at my company is overweight by more than probably 15 pounds and I don't think that's a coincidence because there is no shortage of fat engineers.

It's my personal belief that people who expend effort to maintain their bodies also expend energy to maintain a more predictable and reliable lifestyle when it comes to both personal and professional work habits. That has been my experience as a fat and non-fat person as well as an employer and employee. It's a choice in the extreme majority of cases and the information transfer associated with the obvious visual impact of that choice is not insignificant. Using weight as a selection criteria makes perfect sense to me on an evolutionary basis as well. I find no reason to want to contribute to the long term viability of a person who is likely to become more and more of a drain on an already strained system. It's bad for everyone to allow fat people to prosper.

Yes, I am serious. Yes, I know how this post sounds. Lose weight.

It'd be interesting if anyone who you don't hire ever finds this thread.

 

[MrDudeMan]

It'd be interesting if anyone who you don't hire ever finds this thread.

It would actually not be as entertaining as you might imagine. When they are turned away, they are told why. I plaster all over my advertisements and job descriptions that a physical fitness exam is required because of the need to lift things in the storage area and it's all legal. I paid dearly for a lawyer to set everything up. Oh, I also don't hire people who have any type of relationship with tobacco and I'm legally allowed to ask that question directly.

I've been taken to task three times by overweight people who were turned down for a job because they failed the fitness exam and the decision wasn't even in the ballpark of a close-call. In addition to the physical requirements being stated all over the ad and job description, I say it at least twice during the phone screen and multiple times at the interview. I've only turned away one person who I would have otherwise hired had they not failed the physical fitness exam and I'm perfectly happy with that record. Note: I've hired two people who didn't pass the physical exam because they convinced me they could pass it within a month of being hired. It's not a hard line nor was it ever intended to be.

I prioritize and incentivize keeping my employees healthy by giving a $250 bonus every month for the fastest mile, most pull-ups, longest plank, and best posture. I also give $100 bonuses to anyone who shows 3% or greater improvement in one of many fitness metrics. Some are obviously more involved than others, but I provide a gym membership to any person who wants one. As an aside, I consistently have fewer people out sick than the average company with a similar number of employees (25).

I used to be 80 pounds overweight and there's simply no excuse for it. I still need to lose 10 pounds, so it's not like I think everyone should look like the unrealistic images we see on a daily basis on TV, but being a super-fatty is not acceptable. More than one of my employees has thanked me for making physical fitness part of the job because they felt like they would have stopped prioritizing it otherwise. It actually keeps me fit as well because I could easily skip a month of working out if I wasn't being held accountable by my employees.