How much does obesity cost UK employers?

Published UK research puts the cost of excess weight at roughly £4,340 a year per overweight employee and £5,000 to £7,000 per employee with obesity, through absence and, much more, presenteeism. This calculator applies those figures to your headcount for a board-ready estimate.

What is presenteeism and why does it matter?

Presenteeism is people coming to work while unwell and underperforming. For health-related costs it is far larger than formal sick days, often around 85% of the total, which is why it dominates the figure but rarely shows up on a report.

Are these figures my actual costs?

No. They are population-level estimates from public UK research applied to your headcount, for planning and business-case purposes, not a measurement of your specific workforce.

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What is excess weight costing your workforce?

Turn your headcount into a board-ready figure in seconds, split into the sick days you see and the presenteeism you don't, plus what a small improvement could recover.

The short answer

Published UK research puts the cost of excess weight at roughly £4,340 a year per overweight employee and £5,000 to £7,000 per employee with obesity. Most of that is not sick days. Presenteeism, people at work but underperforming, is usually around 85% of the total, which is why it dominates the figure and almost never appears on a report.

Per-employee costs from Goettler, Grosse & Sonntag, Productivity loss due to overweight and obesity: a systematic review of indirect costs, BMJ Open 2017. These are population estimates applied to your headcount, not a measurement of your workforce. Last reviewed 25 July 2026.

Number of employees

Sector

Average salary

% overweight

% obese

The weight figures default to the national average (around 64% of UK adults are overweight or obese). Adjust them if you know your own.

Excess weight could be costing your 250-person workforce around

£808,800

a year, about £3,235 per employee, or 9.2% of payroll.

Presenteeism (the hidden cost)

£687,480

People at work but unwell and underperforming. The larger share.

Absenteeism (sick days)

£121,320

The part you usually see on a report.

It's recoverable. Even a small shift helps. Moving just 1% of your workforce out of the obese band could save around £15,250 a year.

See how a supported Healthcount programme works for office and professional services.

Request a pilot

These are population-level estimates based on published UK research (Goettler 2017; Frontier Economics and Nesta 2025; Vitality), not a measurement of your actual workforce. For information and planning only. Last reviewed June 2026.

Where the numbers come from

The estimate uses published UK research on the per-employee cost of overweight and obesity (Goettler and colleagues, 2017), the national split between absence and presenteeism (Vitality's Britain's Healthiest Workplace), and the value of even a small reduction in obesity across a workforce (Frontier Economics and Nesta, 2025). It applies those figures to the headcount you enter.

The point isn't the exact pound figure, it's the order of magnitude, and that the hidden cost (presenteeism) is the big one. That's usually enough to start a serious conversation about a supported programme.

Want to do something about it?

Healthcount runs supported weight and metabolic-health programmes for employers. See how it works for employers or request a pilot.