Discrimination Against Obese People In Their Workplace - Essay Example

Discrimination Against Obese People In Their Workplace Thesis Statement Obese people have increasingly faced social stigma in various social places, which ranges from restaurants to workplaces. It is becoming a global concern on the many obstacles this group of people is facing in the society due to their condition. The morbidly obese individuals are considered as an obstacle to socioeconomic challenges in the community and this practice is undertaken in the labor market where they suffer from skewed discrimination on various organizational issues like promotion, recruitment and other employee appraisal benefits. It is in this regard that critical assessment of cause-effect relationship becomes quite significant. Introduction Obesity has become one of the most debatable health conditions that are currently overtaking the society. The increasing prevalence of this health issue is raising concern as it has a number of implications in the society (Ali, 2012). It is worth to note that from 19th century generation, this condition has consistently found its way into the society and is projected to affect the next generation more if not given critical preventative measures. The effect of the problem is not limited to an individual physical health but it seemingly attracts social problems like discrimination that tops this list. It is a global appeal that the obese should be embraced as part of the society and instead of discriminating them, they need moral support to find remedial measures against this condition. This form of social apartheid is experienced everywhere in the social framework with worst psychological instability found in work place. Work place is one of the social set up that brings people of different cultural backgrounds together. This makes it one of the complete replicas of the society which appreciates socio-cultural diversity. The overriding debate on obesity is an issue of wide media coverage and this makes it admissible even in the workplace as parents and couples make efforts to contain it. It is in this respect that those who happen to be obese are seen as abnormal and face unfavorable consideration for job position in the labor market. This is attributed to many factors that ranges from the company policy to the type of business dealt in. One fundamental requirement in any workplace is clean bill of physical health. This captures many factors including average body weight for flexible movement and swift response towards discharge of various duties in the office. The currently demanding global business that is operating under competitive pressure has redefined even the type of human capital fitness description which has all of a sudden taken physical wellbeing as a pivotal player in employee performance. With this idea, the Human resource management has over time developed negative attitude towards overweight people with fear of future underperformance from other health related challenges associated with obesity which will cost the organization in terms of money and time. On this ground the managers opt to absorb them as second best alternative if the other preferable group is not attainable. This has actually amounted to social injustice for the obese in the society (Newman, 2010). The image of the firm is a very important factor in management concepts and this constitute the entire organization framework extending to presentable employees. Most firms are preaching slim body that promotes appearance and pose. This is an idea that has greatly influenced the problem the obese people have in the organization. It is not hard to find some organizations posting weight limit as a requisite requirement for some employment opportunities (Hegar, 2012). This is an outright elimination of the obese people who may have the skills but beat the weight threshold, an idea that presents the best example of the discrimination that this group faces in the job market. The most psychologically torturing situation is when one is already absorbed in the job where he/she will face various injustices from the boss and the co-workers over their weight. The policy of some job description completely shuns exceeding a given weight as this amounts to breach of contract punishable by dismissal from the position. In the armed forces, beauty and fashion industry, aviation and many other industries have always practiced weight ceiling rule that guards against expected inefficiency and rigidity in undertaking official duty. Research findings have always established that some obese workers have lost their job from their inability to burn up excess fat and conform to the required standard. Although the fundamental human rights defend them, the internal consideration of individual organization and the kind of business highly dictate their state of vulnerability to workplace discrimination (International Labour Office, 2007). Co-workers tend to find a lot of inadequacies of the obese which they attribute to their weight. This is observation in cases of joint assignments where the fellow staff may feel insecure as far as successful contribution of the obese and the accomplishment of the assignment is concerned. It is common to see workers sidelining the obese in terms of company in the public due to the perceived new identity by association. The personal attitude of workers and managers about the obese victims highly contribute to the stigma experienced in the society. Weight gain is seen from a universal point and is leading in discrimination beating other social factors like color, creed, sex, race and ethnic affiliation. As such, it remains a sticking issue since the victims are likely to be affected more in the workplace and this goes a long way in affecting their productivity. Some managers have the general stereotypical opinion that obese people are lazy, not serious with life and hence not focused in delivering any significant service to the society. This has always cost some otherwise talented overweight employees from being promoted in the management structure of the organization. The obese victims are seen to be very vulnerable to underperformance due to their physical bulk that is associated with a lot of inflexibility. In some cases, the obese are given lighter assignments in the organization and in the most insensitive departments which amounts to underemployment and discriminate low salary relative to other employees with similar qualification (Hegar, 2012). This amounts to social stigmatization that greatly disturbs the mental status of such people. It is important to note that the discrimination that the obese victims are experiencing in the workplace has led to extreme weight reduction measures (Ali, 2012) . Some of these actions are almost unethical and detrimental to their health like starving to cut on weight or involvement in other strenuous activities. The workplace needs to take ethical consideration towards treatment of the obese as they are an integral part of the society. It is imperative that issues to do with workplace promotion can better serve such people since added responsibility will contribute to marginal cut on their weight. This will alternatively provide an incentive to make efforts on weight cut so that they conform to the job requirement in terms of physical health status. The problem of obesity is actually a threat to the global economy in various ways ranging from the social discrimination, medical bills, related health conditions like heart attack and economic inefficiency (Newman, 2010). With these considerations, the society need to give this issue a sober approach lest the efforts made through the media and health promotion campaigns are rendered of no use. Conclusion The discrimination imposed on the obese workers is retrogressive to their career development and the society at large. It is therefore needed that the government, on-government organization, civil society and corporate community embrace ethical standards in dealing with the obesity workers. It is important to note that some of the obese workers have exceptional skills and can contribute immensely to the organization regardless of their weight. It is also imperative that the perception of overfeeding as the cause of the experienced obesity in some workers should be shunned due to possible genetic affiliations. References Ali, N. (2012). The obesity reality: A comprehensive approach to a growing problem. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Hegar, K. W. (2012). Modern human relations at work. Mason, OH: : South-Western Cengage Learning. International Labour Office. (2007). Equality at work: Tackling the challenges : global report under the follow up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. Geneva: International Labour Office Newman, D. M. (2010). Sociology: Exploring the architecture of everyday life. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Pine Forge Press. Read More