Why ‘Inclusive’ Workplaces Still Make Fat People Feel Invisible

Many companies have even overhauled their recruitment, hiring, and retention strategies to be more inclusive. In the last two years, job postings for diversity and inclusion positions increased by nearly 20%. Yet it continues to get harder to find good talent. Over half (56%) of employers surveyed by LinkedIn stated they believe they are missing out on talent due to discrimination against people because of their weight. You would think that companies would want to employ strategies to combat weight bias so they can hire the best people. However, larger-bodied people are still overlooked for jobs because people tend to assume that due to our size, we are lazy. A 2017 survey from Fairygodboss found that when 500 hiring professionals were shown a picture of a larger-bodied woman, only 15.6% of them said they would hire her. Twenty percent characterized the woman as lazy. An older study found that biased workers viewed larger-bodied people as less competent. Read more at Fast Company.