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Hindi Review Article
Weight Bias in the Workplace: A Literature Review
Behdin Nowrouzi1,*, Alicia McDougall2, Basem Gohar1, Behnam Nowrouz-Kia3, Jennifer Casole2 and Fizza Ali41Centre for Research in Occupational Safety and Health, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
2Faculty of Arts and Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
3Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
4Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
- *Corresponding Author:
- Behdin Nowrouzi, PhD
OT Reg. (Ont.), Laurentian University
935 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, ON
P3E 2C2, Canada
Tel: 705-626-4554
E-mail: bx_nowrouzi@laurentian.ca
Received date: April 03, 2015; Accepted date: June 10, 2015; Published date: June 17, 2015
Citation: Nowrouzi B, McDougall A, Gohar B, Nowrouz-Kia B, Casole J, et al. (2015) Weight Bias in the Workplace: A Literature Review. Occup Med Health Aff 3:206. doi: 10.4172/2329-6879.1000206
Copyright: © 2015 Nowrouzi B, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
The prevalence of obesity continues to increase in today’s society. Individuals who are overweight or obese appear to be less accepted and are targets for discrimination. The aim of this paper is to review and evaluate what constitutes obesity stigma in the workplace, what societal attitudes are present regarding obesity in the workplace and what interventions exist to reduce and eliminate weight bias in the workplace. A review was conducted using keyword searches. Results revealed that overweight individuals face weight bias and discrimination at every stage of the employment cycle and the presence of negative perceptions and stigmatization in the workplace concerning individuals with obesity. Intervention strategies have included individual based strategies as well as social change models that include both environmental and population strategies. Legal cases for weight-related discrimination in the workplace have been met with mixed results. Recommendations are provided to foster a healthier work environment that is inclusive of all workers and one that supports a higher quality of work in organizations.
