Is Ozempic shaping the workplace?

In an uncertain job market, being hot is now a job requirement, and with weight loss drugs, the pressure to look good has increased. Photo by Aprott/Getty Images/Postmedia files

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“Ozempic Santa,” wrote Elon Musk on X last Christmas, posting a photo of himself, looking svelte, dressed in a red-and-white costume by a twinkling tree. “Technically, Mounjaro, but that doesn’t have the same ring to it,” the wannabe trillionaire added.

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Ta-da moments such as this have become more common as people shed pounds with GLP-1 weight-loss jabs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro, which suppress appetite. In the United Kingdom, around 1.4 million people bought them from private pharmacies in the year to April, according to Iqvia, the clinical research provider, though recent reports put the figure higher. About 12 per cent of Americans have used them, says research group Rand.

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Perhaps you are determined to eat less in the new year, feeling a mince-pie-induced tightness of your waistband? Many are fiddling their body mass index on online pharmacy sites to qualify for medicines, or microdosing to shift a few pounds. This behaviour is prompting fears of harmful side effects, shortages and the creation of a two-tier society of jab-haves and have-nots, exacerbated by recent price rises. A Vogue article underscored the FOMO with the headline: “Is Everybody Secretly Microdosing Ozempic Without You?”

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In the past year, I have been stunned by a new professional phenomenon: shrinking contacts. I turn up to a meeting, interview, or lunch, only to discover the lawyer or academic is startlingly leaner than when we last met. It raises the thorny etiquette question: whether to mention or remain silent. Only a few years ago, it would have been straightforward. Nothing at all, or a straight: “You look well.” Back then, the body positivity movement emphasized health at any size, not slenderness. So much so that, in 2018, diet company Weight Watchers rebranded as the enigmatic WW, intended to denote wellness, before realizing it had undermined decades of branding and reverted to its name.

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But the language and culture have shifted dramatically. Skinny is back in fashion — to the extent that the Advertising Standards Authority has ruled on adverts showing super-skinny models by retailers including Marks and Spencer.

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Some dieters confess straight away to being “on the pen” — others mutter about a new fitness regime, or say nothing. For now, I will continue to highlight their healthy glow, which covers all bases.

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Drugs are affecting the already-shortened and sober business lunch. Several restaurateurs have told me they are tweaking their menus. Watching someone push their food around can put a dining companion off their dinner, though it can be a blessing when the prandial interruption to the working day is cut short.

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Some employers hope the impact of weight-loss drugs will be more significant. In the United States, 43 per cent of large companies (of 5,000 or more workers) cover GLP-1 drugs in their health insurance plans, up from 28 per cent the year before, according to KFF, the U.S. health researcher. In the U.K., Vitality this year became the first to offer a contribution to jabs. Such offers are not about looks, of course, but about calculations to make staff more productive and reduce time lost to sickness.