Bigger isn’t better for corporate America these days; an increase in significantly overweight employees is costing companies more than the obvious expenses of obesity-related health problems.

According to a Harvard Medical School study, “obese employees consistently have higher absentee rates, show a higher likelihood of workplace accidents and a lower level of productivity.”

So, faced with a workforce that's expanding in all the wrong ways, corporations are sponsoring wellness programs and partnering with companies like Jenny Craig in the hopes of getting employees to trim company overhead as well as their own waistlines.

IKEA's Scottish stores took an innovative approach to this international problem by offering their workers unlimited free fruit and salads at their cafeterias (but no free meatballs!) That approach might be a wee bit socialist for corporate America, but how many company cafeterias even offer healthy meals to their workers at any price?

Most of us can hardly find time for lunch at all, much less a well-balanced and wholesome one. And as Lime's Health Editor Marisa observed the other day, people who eat in a hurry are more likely to gain weight.

So here's a great resolution for all those corporations who'd like to see their employees shape up: give your workers a boost by giving them a real lunch break. If you've got a cafeteria, make sure it offers healthy, wholesome foods to help your workforce slim down.

What's the current state of your cubicle cuisine? Do you have time to prepare a healthy lunch at home, and enjoy it at work without interruption? Are there healthy fast food options near your office, or do you get stuck wolfing down greasy take-out while drafting that memo that's due by 3 pm?

Photo credit: U.S. Department of Energy – Cafeteria, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho. 1957.