BCBusiness.Ca oCtoBer 2014 BCBusiness 83
For an ambitious man like Labou, the
journey to success—expense accounts
and the exhilaration of bettering the
competition—was sweet. Success was
even sweeter. After one halcyon selling
year, Manulife sent Labou to the com-
pany's world conference, which was
held on a cruise ship, putting him up in
a $25,000-a-week state room with a but-
ler, living room, dining room, separate
bedroom, dressing room and a 20-foot
balcony. "It was amazing," Labou says.
The rewards seem worth it in the
moment, but over the long term the
health statistics indicate otherwise.
According to Vancouver health econo-
mist Dr. Hans Krueger—who studied the
link between certain lifestyle choices
and health costs in his 2012 report, The
Economic Benefits of Risk Factor Reduc-
tion in British Columbia—for B.C. men,
things like smoking, excess weight and
inactivity cost $864 million a year in
direct costs, including hospital stays,
physicians' time and drugs. The indi-
rect costs—premature mortality and
the consequential wage losses as well
as short- and long-term disability—cost
another $1.97 billion. And it will only get
worse: by 2031, the implications of these
lifestyle behaviours will rise to $3.52 bil-
lion a year for men, Krueger says.
The question is: do businesses and
the corporate world shoulder any
responsibility for men becoming over-
weight from eating the wrong foods and
getting insufficient exercise? Or should
we blame society? Most would point fin-
gers at the individual himself. Labou has
another take: all three share responsibil-
ity. "It's not like anyone says you can't
be healthy if you want. You don't have to
go out and drink wine; you could drink
soda water and no one would blink an
eye. Well, some people would. It's part
of the culture and you kind of go with it."
Certainly it's an issue that causes
disability insurance providers and
WORK LESS, PLAY LESS
Dr. Larry Goldenberg says his
patients are often oblivious to
the consequences of their work-
hard, play-hard lifestyles.
