Your boss wants you to lose weight

[@LouisFoglia]

Clarification: I connected with Dr. Song - co-author of the JAMA study - after this piece was published. In the video, I overstated his confidence level on the idea that his JAMA study could be generalized to draw conclusions about other wellness programs. To be clear - he does not believe his JAMA study’s results are necessarily generalizable simply because the wellness program he studied shares common features with other wellness programs. I regret this error and appreciate Dr. Song’s graciousness in pointing it out. His scholarship on this issue continues. Stay tuned

[@flavio___lira]

Lou, eating less fat won't make people lose weight, eating less sugar will. Just my 2 cents on this really interesting video.

[@dillon5906]

Something my job does is offer healthy food for cheaper and I always eat healthy there now and it’s helped me with my weight loss journey

[@ghostnoodle9721]

That's pretty cool. Sounds like its less invasive then paying them for working out, less of an upfront cost, and it achieves the same thing! Genius

[@MrTaylorfenoglio]

One major thing that is missed here is a real simple answer to what is also going on in most companies. Corporations are having to compete more than ever for employees. A gym at work appease to alot of people. For example. Where I used to work they put in wellness programs and a gym. They put healthy food in the vending machines. Because the people literally begged for it. I think you will find in most cases with these big companies that the employee is the one who demanded a healthier workplace.

[@LouisFoglia]

I talked with the folks who did those studies quite a bit about recruitment/retainment. The jury is still out if workplace wellness helps in those areas...

[@MrTaylorfenoglio]

@@LouisFoglia we would loose employees all the time become the bigger company offered those type of amenities. I think they become benign over time but it was definitely a selling point and many of my co workers went to the other company. Even tho they didnt pay better it made them think the company cared more. That wasnt really the case but that's what was percieved.

[@Nisfornarwhal1990]

@@LouisFoglia we love you Lou!

[@wickedwood04]

That $100 spent on a gym is worth $0 if the employee doesnt use it.

[@EsoterikGirl]

To move away from the sense that we are mostly "wage slaves," selling the most productive hours of our days to masters who pay us far less than the wealth we produce, the most valuable "perk" or "benefit" is time. Some companies offer the opportunity to BUY back time from them for added vacation days, and they take your salary for those days out of your paycheck over the year. One way more innovative employers are addressing the needs of individuals, while promoting retention and wellbeing is by offering the flexibility of working from home - if not every day, then some days. This gives people a break from having to dress for the office, commute, and be social in environments that call for professional demeanors. I would argue the benefit of more personal time and flexibility is the most critical need we have in general. Of course medical care is essential, and it should not be tied to your employer. We need Medicare for All, so we are not literally slaves to our jobs, but free people working together (hopefully to make the world a better place, and not just to further enrich the 1%).

[@fish9468]

If everyone went to the gym the whole world would be better off in general.

[@guillermoramirez2058]

Except the people who already go to the gym. Gyn membership prices are subsidized by people who pay but don't go

[@VintageToiletsRock]

We're gonna need to build more gyms then.

[@Nelsn3]

Great editing on this video. Whoever added all the little touches really knocked it out of the park on this one.

[@johndaly2816]

Man, i heard CNN is having a massive layoffs. I hope you guys at Beme are doing okay.

[@ichtozavuzovsky8370]

i think then turn a proffit

[@KingoftheAdriatic]

Super interesting Lou! Another one of those things that seem 100% positive on the surface! Thanks for doing the investigative work for me once again :'D

[@Lumencraft-]

Yesterday I was riding a sweet trail on my dirt bike while making a KZbin video. Just then I thought to myself, if KZbin is my job, then I'm "AT WORK" right now!!! That's my kind of benefit :)

[@zues121510]

2:43 If they're talking about coffee beans, that's kind of BS because coffee beans cost pennies, which is making coffee farmers bankrupt.

[@dragsigma]

Very thought provoking piece. Well done

[@zen123w]

Very interesting points. Taking a step back from all of this, everyone should seek to be healthier.

[@LouisFoglia]

I agree. But I want my job to stay out of my private life.

[@puppzogg]

Beme always has some of the best put together stories

[@ruzzaruzza]

Sounds like a win-win.

[@kenyonnisbett9370]

this channel doesn't get enough love

[@pikminlord343]

this is such a great channel

[@graham1034]

Things I learned watching this: 1) The US keeps trending towards a dytopia. Just have public health care like every other developed country in the world. 2) There is a store called BJ's that I really want to visit. I think I'll enjoy their services. I really appreciate the last couple of minutes in the video. The rest was all pretty obvious, but the nuances around companies becoming an ever larger part of employee lives and how that factors into our culture are much more intriguing. I recently had a friend lose a job at a tech company that has tons of great perks. Her entire life and identity was largely associated with her work since she was always working or engaging in work related activities.

[@randyozaeta1026]

The Outrage by peter coffin check it out :)

[@given-namesurname5740]

"Trending toward a dystopia" So no one told you yet huh?

[@vacationviking]

Really interesting points here

[@giles5493]

It could also be argued that when people are healthier they are off ill from work less often and so they will be more productive workers

[@OwenRULESSS]

Very interesting video!

[@thejflores1219]

I’m jealous my dad has a gym at his job

[@gibdopaminepls]

This is peak capitalism. Can't wait until you need to be lean AF to get a job because the corp will have to pay less in insurance than if you were a bit chub. Good thing Europe is actually civilized and provides healthcare for everyone.

[@ghostnoodle9721]

I dont have a problem with obese not being able to get a job. Sounds like a personal problem. But then again, conservatives are going to say "Dey skinny mexis are TAKIN R JERWBS" I can almost smell the vitriol

[@withelisa]

Was with you until that pesky European supremacy popped up yet again 😅 "Civilized", oy.

[@braytongoodall2598]

Great vid

[@josuec]

what they say is a helping hand doesn't sounds so bad actually. I'm happy being able to say no, but I don't dislike anything I heard. This feels bit more dramatic than what I understand it is

[@ghostnoodle9721]

You give american companies an inch they lobby a mile

[@josuec]

@@ghostnoodle9721 true that I would home at least a few of this companies know that some benefits outside salary ( like everything related to pregnancy or parenthood like maternity leave and vacations) gives more benefit in the long run but it's tru that most of the companies only look at the more direct and quick economic benefit On the other hand, on my country, last 2 jobs I had an quit, expected me to stay all night finishing impossible design work just because its "the work" no benefit, for $660 a month So, that's why I probably see those benefits with a better face

[@Starry_Night_Sky7455]

I shall put my healthy health stats on my resume.

[@EsoterikGirl]

Lou is awesome. I had to wonder if producers of this episode were pulling a prank on Lou to see how far he could get without stumbling up through having to cite all of these researchers' difficult names and their titles throughout the show. I'm pretty sure that was all done in (almost) one take! Wowsa Lou wins! lololol

[@LouisFoglia]

Probably closer to 10 takes. I do chunks at a time.

[@EsoterikGirl]

​@@LouisFoglia It was impressive no matter how many takes. :) Thanks for your great work, by the way. My husband and I both watch Beme News and are fans of yours. :)

[@LouisFoglia]

@@EsoterikGirl Thanks for watching!

[@gnothseed8135]

I love you Lou

[@norah3761]

Make an update on Sudan!

[@Lumencraft-]

@ 7:24 Then by Kengovi's logic denial is the best medicine LOL!!!!! Oh my gosh. I can not even believe the state of the world sometimes Lou.

[@Lumencraft-]

See @ 8:28 confronting them about the problem just made them want to avoid it. Should have hired a psychiatrist to help the human resources department get in touch with their feelings about the problem instead!!! 🧐 😹 😃 😄

[@yonatanofek4424]

hey Lou and beme. Please include more opinions from current philosophers in your essays. Very Very Interesting. Also, my take on this is that any money received comes with an insinuated expectation for co-operation, and that it is the sole responsibility of the person receiving the money to negate this expectation. So what I'm saying I guess is that this is on the employees.

[@LouisFoglia]

I'm very into talking to philosophers for these stories. Have done it a bunch - for the Alexa piece, for the facial recognition piece, for the drone wars piece, and for one of my favorites: Liars, hypocrites and why none of it matters.

[@MrBaskins2010]

Love the Nike dunk lows on your running models :) always quality content from beme

[@LuckyLifeguard]

very great food for thought!!! thank u for making

[@nedks11]

Whilst it is a fair point that companies shouldn't interfere with someone's personal lifestyle too much; but if someone is very unhealthy, and a bussiness is encoighing increased levels of wellness for someone who otherwise wouldn't, then good right?

[@LouisFoglia]

The issue, for me, is that encouraging healthy behavior isn't free. These wellness programs cost money. Something like 500+ per employee on average. That's 500 less dollars the company has to give me a raise, or better training, or whatever....

[@LikeATreeOnAMountain]

@@LouisFoglia Damn Lou, that's some hardcore libertarian stuff right there.

[@LouisFoglia]

@@LikeATreeOnAMountain well, i did write this comment shortly after interviewing someone from the cato institute...

[@LikeATreeOnAMountain]

@@LouisFoglia Makes sense, it definitely reminds me of Milton Friedman's arguments for a Negative Tax Income.

[@maximel7568]

Hey beme team, your videos are amazing but the thumbnails are letting you down

[@chrisjoondeph4781]

It’s KENAN-Flagler but thanks for the shout out, Lou!

[@harryplendl5824]

Time is the commodity of the universe. Pay me cash, don’t make me stress and I’ll sleep better. Sleep is critical to heath. Everyone wins.

[@franzb69]

nothing wrong with putting employees in a wellness program. it's a good thing. if people can't or won't do it on their own, they should be made to take care of themselves. it's not just their responsbility to themselves but to their family. and if this was japan, it's the individual's responsibility to the company to stay well.

[@blahblahblahblah2837]

That's definitely a heavier step in the 'wage slave' direction. Hows the suicide rate in Japan?

[@rockyoussef]

in my country (morocco) these perks are taxable in some cases

[@dennissweeney11]

Did you guys get a new editor or something

[@holdmybeer]

i dont know but lou annoys me.

[@LouisFoglia]

Page edited this one. She's not the main editor (Michelle is), but Page has done several of our eps in the past. I think she does a great job!

[@adamd.2948]

In a year and a half since this video was made, the workplace could be gone. How the world was going to change.

[@cruiseaddictiontv6435]

Benefits like these don't pay my bills. It's nice they have these wellness programs but like many others, we have a rent or mortgage to pay, loans to pay off, a car payment. That's one issue I felt should have been talked in this story. As well as that most jobs are now part time and that these benefits are usually for full-time employees.

[@user-xn4yu5rn9q]

Ok, you are Lou

[@s.n.9485]

Single payer Healthcare is better for the company and employees.

[@kamrynrattana]

I want my employer to give me a raise first.

[@nmydc6413]

I appreciate the sociological framing in the end a lot. I’d love to see more of that in the future!

[@AshwinAjay]

This some dark shit man !

[@holdmybeer]

my old boss lost a bunch of weight. i think it may have something to do with his cancer... i think he survived though.

[@Nagria2112]

how about getting Healthcare in the usa first before talking about benefits. there are still a huge amount of ppl in the use who don´t have health insurance.

[@ghostnoodle9721]

Our system profits upon poor people buying junk food, getting sick, and going into debt for the rest of their life. This country needs to hit the big red reset button

[@given-namesurname5740]

Countries like Canada have socialized medicine and private health insurance from employers, what's your point?

[@WHALEx3]

It must have been weird to do this as an overweight man

[@tuckerspeltz6423]

Is that fish tank real?

[@3rkid]

Lol anybody in the military knows this concept all too well.

[@TylerCrowl]

If you work a job and they want you to be healthy so they help you be healthy so you work that is fine. You could have my job where if i get sick or am unhealthy they just tell you to screw off and dont pay you. I mean damn, your job is part of your life if they want to help you thats rad. Most jobs in history didnt care if you lost an arm. if you could still work then you would work.

[@SuperShiki666]

INB4 Right to be fat movement

[@tobicitas]

Thanks for the clip from The Office :)

[@danielvandeputte8990]

Super well done report!

[@damiahusna2636]

My boss wants me to stop pretending to be sick.

[@desp8161]

My job just gives me 12% extra in lieu of benefits.

[@BenDurham]

That's potentially almost all sent of via income taxes. If I were you, I'd definitely run the numbers of the benefits vs how much of your 12% is going to straight out to taxes.

[@lazyg123]

This shit sounds rediculous as a Canadian, my employer could care less about how much I eat. Maybe American workplaces should speak out against the high insurance premiums and tell the government to move to a Medicare for all system. Oh wait, that'll never happen.......

[@randyozaeta1026]

Outrage by Peter Coffin go check it out :)

[@mech-E]

Why are people so cynical

[@alekseysoldatenkov5675]

Steak and nap pods remind me of my time at large benevolent tech company that never has data privacy scandals. Personally I think, at least in tech, even though it’s marketed as convenience and culture. In reality, it best serves as a tool of subtle coercion to either create negative externalities or distract from noticing their creation. I definitely feel for those who trade in their conscience for money or quality of life.

[@lockhart1895]

Lou KZbin needs you to lose weight

[@wsj1983]

And we the proletarian wants our bosses to lose their heads.

[@adeleetherton2665]

I had friends that were being hired on to a major Hospital. It was a company that would be working in the Hospital environment. Before they could start, each person was weighed in and would be able to start after signing a contract that said, within 6 months, they would weigh x... or if it was 10 or 20 lbs.. 3 months.. and x amount after a year. If they do not maintain those goals, they would be released from the contract... TALK ABOUT CONTROL LOL

[@terminardo]

howÉËĘver

[@nab-rk4ob]

Corporation as the ruling entity. I often felt that way when I worked thirty years ago. You did what the company wanted or you could just leave. There were 100 people out there that wanted your job, I was in accounting for Pete's sake!

[@mounirsomai7511]

Duh who wants a waste in their company getting fat and emotional... no thanks it says alot about your mental status.

[@MatheusTorezani]

First world problems

[@KingAwesomeOutputs]

They make this in NY but sure get alot of info from NC schools🤔🤔

[@clard52]

Sooooo...? Research triangle schools do a lot of research, who'd have thought.

[@BennyMack]

BEME SUCKS LOLOLOLOL

[@Gersheyz]

Great piece. Anyone else hear the League of Legends: This or That theme running in the background at 10:00?

[@JohnnyUtah269]

Just not the same without Casey and Jack

[@10HW]

I hate this channel, it is way too relevant.

[@LikeATreeOnAMountain]

I'm rather disappointed with Beme on this one. You should stick to objective reporting and leave irresponsible journalism to your parent company CNN. In this video you focused on pushing a narrative critical of wellness programs rather then objectively presenting the evidence and ideas. This video should have gone along the lines of; Overall the evidence indicates that wellness programs are effective, oh and here are some interesting and controversial ideas about the morality implementing them. Instead the average viewer probably left this video believing the evidence is squarely stacked against their effectiveness and filled with only ideas critical of them. By your own admission, the scientific literature supports the effectiveness of these programs: At 2:54 you say "there was significant academic evidence that wellness programs create a stellar return of investment". But of course you didn't link to these articles in the show notes, only those articles that support your narrative.

[@LouisFoglia]

The same authors of that meta-analysis authored the JAMA clinical trial demonstrating that wellness programs don't make people healthier, more productive, or saves money on healthcare costs. They conducted that JAMA study because they thought the literature that informed their prior meta-analysis was inadequate and not rigorous enough. The JAMA study supports rigorous research from the National Board of Economic Research and Rand Corp. In other words, the 2010 meta-analysis has been overshadowed by far superior research and INDEED I do hope that the average viewer "left this video believing the evidence is squarely stacked against their effectiveness." Nonetheless - we note the name, date, authors of, and title of the meta-analysis on screen. IMO, its not a big deal at all that we don't include the link in the sources as well. It feels like you're fishing for a criticism so you can say something negative about CNN. I am open to criticism. This feels like a reach.

[@LouisFoglia]

Also - if I wanted to skew the piece, wouldn't I just omit the meta-analysis all together....

[@LikeATreeOnAMountain]

@@LouisFoglia It’s awesome of you to reply. My swipe at CNN, and all the major news presenters, is that at best they simply parrot talking points and contribute nothing to the discourse. What I like BEME News is that y'all inject interesting ideas into the discourse. But my issue with this video is that in science a conclusion is not drawn from a single data point or set. Instead the entire body of literature is considered. If a new publication reports a different result, it doesn't invalidate the rest of the body of literature, it simply moves the needle. Even if the same author publishes completely different result a decade later, and purports that the procedure was more rigorous then before, it does not invalidate all other results. Failing to consider the broader body of literature is cherry-picking. Reading through the literature, I honestly don't know how anyone could say conclusively state that these programs are ineffective. Heck, even in your video, the details are mixed. Yet the overall tone of your video, as exampled by 4:00, and even your reply to my comment, is that these programs are conclusively ineffective. This comes off as being done intentionally to support the narrative that these programs are simply "an opportunity for employers to exercise increasing control over their employees" None of what I'm saying is meant as a personal attack, it is however meant as a strong assertion of disagreement with what seems to be a newly evolving editorial direction for this news program. Look, at the end of the day I think the truth is a niche market too small to support any big players. And many people like myself look to the smaller news operations in hopes that they will be able to fill that niche. Sustainably selling truth as their product instead of pushing emotionally gratifying narratives in the boom or bust business of upping viewer counts.

[@LikeATreeOnAMountain]

@@LouisFoglia No, but let me first say my response is a purely an academic look at a tactic of persuasion, though I do think it's a valid tactic to employ. So why no. Well the tactic is not to deny all merits of the other side, but rather to acknowledge some before presenting your own. First, this presents the persuader as a neutral arbiter, and second, it allows them to frame the relative weight of each side. An admittedly simplistic example; Saying “That side has this one good point, while this side has these four good points. With such weight behind it, the second side is clearly the correct one.” Is I think much more persuasive then simply saying “This side has these four good points. This side is clearly the correct one."

[@LouisFoglia]

@@LikeATreeOnAMountain thanks for the response. I think the piece is a little more even handed than you make it out to be. I include in it the broad rationale for workplace wellness (including the meta analysis). There's a paraphrase of an academic expressing skepticism of the JAMA results. I have JAMA authors saying their results might change over time. And I have Dr. Linnan defending workplace wellness. On balance, I think the evidence shows that we should look at workplace wellness with skepticism, but I do give space to those that support them. Its also important to note that these pieces are explicitly labeled as "analysis."

[@jaytree]

Vox " this guy needs to loose weight. " This guy " ima right a story " Vox " do it. Here is some soylent, now go walk to all your interviews." This guy " i have a car." Beme aka cnn " we pay u and your health insurance "

[@dadonutslvl90]

240 view gang

[@WHALEx3]

weird i had 146