Vending machines are out and salad bars are in.

A new initiative which comes in response to growing numbers of Metropolitan Police officers becoming overweight and obese has been launched. Officers who were not watching their weight will be given special 'fat club' memberships and told to go on a yearlong program to get them back to a normal weight. Thousands of police officers will be given free health checks to look at a whole range of obesity related conditions such as diabetes, cholesterol and hypertension.

It is hoped that this health initiative reduces the amount of officers calling in sick most of who tend to be the overweight ones. In fact the target is to reduce sick leave by 30 percent. Ukmedix News has previously published research which shows that overweight individuals take much more sick leave than normal weight people. In fact the Metropolitan Police can already claim success with health initiatives over the last decade which has shown the number of annual sick days reducing from ten to 6.8 today. This reduction has saved the Metropolitan Police ‘several million pounds’ according to a Met spokesman.

Part of the new initiative will involve police canteens full of healthy food options, fitness centres being built in borough headquarters and an all around positive emphasis on healthy lifestyles.  Vending machines are out and salad bars are in. It is amazing how organisations can change the health of their employees by giving a little bit of help and incentives to lose weight. If you run a company and you want to increase productivity and ultimately boost your profits think about how you can get your staff to become more health conscious, lose weight and become physically fitter.

Why not try and discuss the possibility of healthy options at the workplace canteen and see would be interested in using a company gym either early in the morning, in the lunch break or after work?