Whole Foods to Employees: Lose Weight

[ccharles000]

The idea that Whole Foods Markets might not be as wholesome as consumers assume isn't really news. Kate Sheppard recently reported that the grocery chain earned a 27 out of a possible 100 rating on its sustainable business practices according to a recent report, and CEO John Mackey is a climate change skeptic. An August op-ed in the Wall Street Journal by Mackey against healthcare reform led some consumers to call for a boycott. But Mackey's most recent antics have angered not only those in favor of healthcare reform, but also consumers who care about privacy issues and body policing.

According to documents received by Jezebel, employees who participate in Whole Foods' new Team Member Healthy Discount Incentive Program will be ranked according to BMI, cholesterol, blood pressure, and nicotine use. While all Whole Foods employees receive a 20 percent store discount, those who achieve the "Platinum" level in the program by having low results in all four metrics get bumped up to a 30 percent discount. But it's not just employees' lifestyles that count. The program also rewards employees simply for having good genes: Non-smoking employees who have a BMI under 24 (18.5-24.9 is considered normal), but have inherited high cholesterol, will be relegated to "the lowest-scoring biometric" and will have to make due with a 27 percent discount. Employees who do not meet Platinum requirements for other health reasons (like diabetes) are similarly out of luck.

http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/01/whole-foods-employees-lose-weight

[Truth2Tell]

1. Someone still shops at Whole Foods? nt

[T Wolf]

2. Whole FOoods is nothing but a reich-wing scam to separate gullible liberals from their

dollars.

The crap is over-priced and the profits go to the GOP. Add in his anti-worker policies and you have to wonder why any progressive with half a brain would ever shop there.

Trader Joe's is a much better alternative.

[Warpy]

5. Trader Joe's is too damned far away

but the food co-op and Sunflower Market offer great alternatives until Mackey is dumped.

[femrap]

16. I agree 100%.....

Trader Joe's :yourock:

[tonysam]

3. Yours truly to Whole Foods: Kiss my ass.

I'll go somewhere else to shop and work.

[troubledamerican]

26. + 1

[MindPilot]

4. Whole Foods employees could get a 30% discount

by shopping at Safeway

[goldcanyonaz]

6. LOL!

[Robb]

13. DUzy! nt

[Hello_Kitty]

14. They probably do. eom

[varelse]

25. no kidding

:rofl:

[onehandle]

7. Normally I would applaud a company for encouraging employees to be healthier.

But this is just financial blackmail.

Onehandle, still boycotting until Mackey is gone.

[leftstreet]

8. Sweet! Obesity and smoking in one post!

Meh, scanned the article for 'breast-feeding,' 'High-speed rail,' or 'Scott Brown Cosmo naked' but found nothing.

[CTyankee]

11. What? No "circumcision"? I'm disappointed...

[Hekate]

9. I think I'll continue shopping at Trader Joe's and Costco, thanks....

Whole Foods finally arrived in our area last year -- they're a bit out of my usual shopping loop, so I didn't really notice until they had their grand opening with some >oops< contaminated food, which made the news. Well, that could happen to anybody once, so I didn't hold it against them -- but I still haven't remembered to drop in.

After this -- I think I'll just continue to forget to drop in. :eyes:

Hekate

[Luminous Animal]

35. Whole Foods is taking over San Francisco.

We have at least 4 and maybe 5 stores now within the city limits. It is putting a strain on the smaller organic stores because, with Whole Foods purchasing clout, they are dominating the market.

San Francisco is still a union town. A boycott of Safeway's here during a couple of strikes brought Safeway back to the table. I'd like to see some serious union organizing at Whole Foods in this town. I think it would stall their expansion.

[Swamp Rat]

10. Another small step toward eugenics...

http://www.waragainsttheweak.com

[Hydra]

17. Hey Swampy!

Eugenics...a scary subject. Scarier since it's in play, and most people don't even see it.

[Hello_Kitty]

12. Hello_Kitty to Whole Paycheck: Fuck off and die. eom

[Manifestor_of_Light]

15. No autoimmune sufferers should work there, then.

Nobody with a dead thyroid, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, shingles, etc.....

[cutlassmama]

18. what about HIPPA and people's privacy? This is taking it too damned far

[madville]

19. They probably have the option to not participate

Not defending Whole Foods but there is no way they could make it a mandatory program. If people voluntarily submit their medical info then privacy is out the window.

We are having a voluntary weight loss contest at my office right now, two first place prizes, one for overall total weight lost and one for most lowered BMI.

It's voluntary so anyone who doesn't want to jump on the scale doesn't have to. We also get three days a week to go to the gym down the street on the companies corporate membership, you get to come into work an hour and a half late on workout days (M-W-F) but still get paid for your eight hours.

[Tutankhamun]

20. The 800 pound gorilla is BMI.

BMI (body mass index) is supposed to measure how fat people are, but it very often fails miserably. Anyone who runs a store such as Whole Foods, that markets to athletes should know this.

As someone who enjoys lifting weights and eating/supplementing to live the bodybuilding lifestyle, I'm very aware of the limitations of BMI. Bodyfat simply cannot be measured by weighing someone on a scale, measuring their height, adjusting for gender and doing a few calculations. I've been considered significantly and dangerously overweight using BMI calculations, despite a bodyfat of as low as five percent! At five percent bodyfat, musce separations are crystal clear, veins pop out, etc. That is extremely lean.

Many people shop at Whole Foods in order to have fit, attractive, athletic physiques. However, Whole Foods is actually penalizing employees who've reached or who strive to achieve this ideal. By using BMI, Whole Foods' new policy is discouraging the very thing it claims to promote.

[SoCalDem]

21. This is precisely WHY employers should NOT "provide" health care insurance

Whole Foods should be employing people to stock shelves, pile up produce, offer samples to the customers, calculate the purchases & perhaps carry out their bags.

It should be NONE of Whole Foods' management's business:

what you weight
what your BMI is
if you smoke on your off time
if you have a drink or two on the weekend
if you are diabetic (other than to be able to recognize it if you are in distress)
if you "work out"

JOBS should go back to being about hiring people to do a TASK..paying them for doing that task, and then sending them off to live their own lives when their shift is over.

health care should be a PRIVATE thing ...between the doctor and the patient.

Single payer/universal/nationalized health care cuts the insurance companies & the bosses out of the mix...and it should be that way...

[Tutankhamun]

23. That's a really good point about health care being private and

gov't sponsored health care keeping health care between doctors and patients, without employers interfering.

[LeftyMom]

24. +1

Tying health care to employment also increases the risk of ill/older/high risk people being denied employment or shitcanned from their jobs to keep costs down.

[JoeyT]

33. Yep!

And yet, at 5% body fat, you meet the BMI qualification for diet pills. Even though the average male body fat percentage should be around 9-15%. I've actually gotten a doctor to prescribe me some, just to see if they'd actually give them to me. (I was there for something else anyway) Got prescribed phentermine and never filled it.

BMI is less useful than trying to figure out if someone is overweight just by looking at them, and that isn't very useful.

[JI7]

22. they have some prepared foods areas which is just frozen foods

most people buy for microwave . but it costs more like what you wouold pay at restaurant.

[Canuckistanian]

27. I don't know

I like buying my food from plump people. They're more credible.

[laughingliberal]

28. If the Senate HCR bill passes with the Ensign amendment all employers will be doing this

and charging their employees many times more for their benefits. A horrible case of gouging and a big invasion of privacy now legal under a last minute executive order by Bush.

[Tutankhamun]

29. It will be interesting to see what kind of public outcry arises over this.

If this invasive scheme becomes standard practice in America, people will not like it, and may even get up and do something about it. Our country is not particularly skinny, and this kind of fatty flogging could ruffle a lot of feathers.

On the other hand, if the M$M tells us that the new employer-based scheme of rewards and punishments is just the good ol' American way, our nation of overeaters may just swallow it. After all, the M$M ALWAYS succeds in controlling the opinions and (in)actions of the masses. But, and this is a big but(t), the M$M has never tried convincing Americans to actually consume LESS food (or LESS anything, for that matter). That would make for one intriguing battle royale: M$M versus junk food.

I'm getting my popcorn (reduced fat, of course).

[laughingliberal]

30. There should already be an outcry but I don't think people know about it

If overweight was where it ended it might fly but they will also be requiring people to lower cholesterol levels which is often not something which can be changed by behavior nor is it always an indication of future problems.

I had a cardiology workup a few years back and told the cardiologist that my primary care physician's NP had freaked out over my HDL being low and my total cholesterol being high. He said, "We will test you for arterial disease, including CAD. If you don't have CAD, and I don't think you do, cholesterol levels are of absolutely no value. I would not medicate those levels in the absence of a disease process." He apparently felt the statin drugs would be worse than the out of range levels unless there were some other reason to feel I was disposed to arterial problems. On the other hand, my husband has severe arterial disease and has never had a lipid profile that was outside the 'normals.' This is the problem with one size fits all medicine.

[Flaneur]

31. It looks like a voluntary employee health incentive. What's the problem?

[JoeyT]

32. So you'd see no problem with

a company that pointed out that STDs increase health care costs, so anyone that's sexually active will get penalized?

It isn't exactly voluntary, either. They're not giving people the option of switching to that to increase their employee discount if they can become more healthy.

[cherokeeprogressive]

34. How does being sexually active equate to having an STD?

An STD can be contracted during the loss of virginity.

And it IS voluntary.

[JoeyT]

37. It doesn't necessarily.

It is almost impossible to acquire one without being sexually active.
So I was asking if it would be ok if insurers cut healthcare costs by trying to force abstinence only on their employees.

Of course the answer should be no, but you never can tell.

[Luminous Animal]

36. Because it is a corporate invasion into personal lives.

It is a failure of both management and workers to differentiate employees' private lives from their obligations to the workplace. Plus, it penalizes the genetically unlucky.

[Salmonslayer]

38. If I go to a chinese restaruant I want to be served by chinese people.

When I go to health food store, I expect to see people with healthy appearance. This does not exclude people with handicaps. I realize interpreting how healthy someone is by their physical appearance is somewhat subjective, but, that is life. There is not one individual here that does not judge people through the filters made up from their life experiences.

Wholefoods is selling the image of a healthy lifestyle through wholesome high quality and organic foods. If I were hiring employees for this business I would hire healthy looking people. I would also provide incentives similar to wholefoods to give my employees incentives to strive for a more healthy lifestyle. However, I do agree that using measurements like cholesterol levels or the BMI chart are not ideal measurements of ones health. The BMI chart puts me at borderline obese which is completely ridiculous. I have low body fat
and I am very active.