Following Michael Scott's Lead

On NBC's The Office, manager Michael Scott set a good example for his employees when he both organized and ran in the Dunder-Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Fun Run Race for the Cure.

Sure Michael ate too much fettucini alfredo, and he didn't drink enough water to get him through the race, but he made the effort.

Employers who want to get their workers to lose weight, stop smoking, and take better care of themselves need to get their managers on board, according to those who study health care trends.

"The really successful employers are the ones that have struck a partnership with their employees," says Michael Miele, president of the Princeton, New Jersey-based Healthcare Analytics division of insurance broker Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. "Managers say 'I'm going to join up with you for Weight Watchers.'"

At Quest Diagnostics Inc., which is profiled in my feature today on policing bad behavior in the workplace, two portly executives entered into a very public weight-loss competition in 2005. The contest became known as the Dave vs. Dave challenge. The loser had to make a charitable donation.

David Norgard, vice president of human resources, won the contest by losing almost 13 percent of his body weight. He beat Dave Zewe, a senior vice president for diagnostic testing operations, who lost 11 percent of his weight.

The contest was a motivator to get employees to sign up for weight-loss programs. Quest salesman and NBC's The Biggest Loser champion Bill Germanakos also talks to company employees about losing weight. And still, almost a third of Quest's employees are obese.

Getting people to lose weight is tricky. That's why companies like Quest are getting their managers to buy in.

"Employers only have so much political capital with their employees," Miele says.