Would you lose weight for a bonus in your salary? Well, if you’re an employee of city-based online broking company Zerodha, it might just mean some extra cash at the end of the month. To mark World Health Day recently, co-founder and CEO of the company Nithin Kamath announced that any Zerodha employee with a body mass index (BMI) of less than 25 will get half a month’s pay as bonus.
While this initiative may have started from a good place, the idea has backfired with many outraged at linking body weight and salary.
Take, for instance, Sumitra, a Bengaluru-based art historian, who feels it’s unfair to incentivise someone’s BMI. “I am on the heavier side and have some chronic health issues. But when it comes to fitness, I know I score much better than most because I consistently work out. Now, why is my personal lifestyle linked to my professional work?,” wonders Sumitra, adding, “First of all, saying that your BMI is going to give you your bonus, automatically means that you don’t want fat people to get bonuses. My basic contention is what does my girth have to do with my performance?”
City-based Chitra Balachandran, who is currently residing in Mumbai, asserts that one should not compare their weight loss journey with anyone else. “The moment you start competing with someone else, it can affect you mentally,” she says.
Although the idea has got much flak, Kristian Ebenezer, a fitness coach, says Indians usually have a BMI of under 25. “According to the Indian lifestyle, 25 is the right number,” says Ebenezer, adding that if someone’s BMI is 45 and wants to bring it down to 25, the duration required is dependent on the kind of exercise, but three months is good enough time. Several attempts were made to reach Kamath who was unavailable.
How it started
Nithin Kamath, co-founder of Zerodha shared, “We are running a fun health program. Anyone on our team with BMI < 25 gets half a month’s salary as bonus. The avg BMI of our team is 25.3 & if we can get to < 24 by Aug, everyone gets another ½ month as a bonus. It’d be fun to compete with other companies. The lowest average BMI or the largest change in average BMI wins. Maybe a health tech company can run the initiative. (sic)”
How it turned out
After the backlash, Kamath clarified, “We have experimented with a bunch of ideas since Covid & WFH to help the team think about their health. Sitting is the new smoking, & the idea has been to nudge everyone to move. Killing all work chats post 6pm & weekends have probably had the best ROI. Last year we let everyone on the team set health goals & ran a lottery amongst those who met their goals for `10lks. Was successful, but the participation wasn’t broad-based. This is just an added bonus over and above all other bonuses & incentives that everyone on the team earns. Just like that B10lk prize pool for the lottery we ran last year to pick one person amongst everyone who met their health goals (sic).