Organizational contraction and participation in worksite weight control programs: a pilot study

Abstract The hypothesis that overweight workers are more likely to participate in health promotion activities during times of organizational contraction than during other times was tested in a sample of 408 overweight employees selected from the total employee population at the headquarters facility of Control Data Corporation (CDC) in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Organizational contraction was defined as the average percentage loss of workers in the firm for the three months prior to a program offering. Organizational contraction levels were then compared with participation in weight control programs. The results of the logistic regression analysis support the hypothesis that participation in health promotion activities would be greater during periods of high levels of organizational contraction than during lower levels (1.34, p<.01).