Are you interested in paying employees to lose weight?

Ever thought of paying for employees to maintain a healthy lifestyle?

Amid the turmoil of Covid-19, Bill Gates was busy Patenting WO/2020/060606. On the 26th March 2020 this patent was officially granted international status.

So, what’s it all about and what does it have to do with employees’ health and well-being?

The abstract of the patent states: Human body activity associated with a task provided to a user may be used in a mining process of a cryptocurrency system. In simple terms, a chip will be inserted into the body that monitors a person’s daily physical activity in return for cryptocurrency. If certain conditions are met, then the person receives certain bonuses that can be spent.

Employers represent an often-overlooked opportunity for advancing workable solutions to combat obesity. Health and well-being have been hot on the Human Resource agenda for many years but perhaps not weight management specifically.

There have been numerous studies undertaken to assess the viability of paying employees to stay healthy. Whilst it is common practise to have employers contribute towards health insurance policies, it is not so common to see incentive programmes which promote health and well-being, including physical activity and an employee’s ability to manage weight.

There are obviously sensitivities regarding discussing an employee’s weight, whether they be either over or under weight. However, with current obesity rates in New Zealand at 30.9% or 1 in 3 adults, I can’t help thinking that maybe Bill is on to something here, albeit on the face of it, this could be quite a controversial initiative.

There is no doubt that artificial intelligence will inevitably play a larger part in our lives.

Are we sure we are ready for this next step?