Alabama often languishes near the bottom in rankings for obesity. Mobile County’s obesity rate is even worse than the state’s.

The issue has been a consistent public health headache for coastal Alabama’s largest county, but the Mobile County Commission hopes it has found a unique incentive to get its own workforce to lose weight.

The commission voted Monday to dangle four hours of paid time off to county staffers and workers who can knock off 10 pounds within 10 weeks. They’ll enjoy another four hours off if they maintain the 10 pound weight loss for six months.

“It’s a catalyst to encourage our employees to get healthier and we may be offering additional incentives,” said Commissioner Connie Hudson. “I think the idea is to do what we can to assist employees to help have healthier lives.”

The program is modeled after “Scale Back Alabama,” which started in 2007 with 46 counties, but has expanded to include almost all 67 counties in the past two years. Still, the overall number of participants has fallen to around 18,400 in recent years, after reaching a peak of 41,516.

Donna Jones, the county’s human resource director, said the county’s incentive is available to 1,650 county workers, both full-timers and part-timers. It is entirely voluntary.

The initial weigh-in for participants will take place from March 11-13, with a final weigh-in between May 13-15.

The workers will have until Dec. 31 to take the paid time off.

Jones said the program is a change from a prior weight loss challenge organized more as competition that pitted employees against one another.

“There were some people who would lose weight in unhealthy ways,” said Jones. “We figured that 10 pounds is reasonable. Fortunately, the commission said that they will provide this incentive.”

Sonny Brasfield, executive director with the Association of County Commissions of Alabama, said Mobile County is the first to offer an incentive strictly for weight loss. He said the county would have been unable to do so before the 2016 general election. That year, 72 percent of state voters endorsed a constitutional amendment that allows county commissions more autonomy in crafting personnel policies, among other things.

“This is the first one I’ve seen on obesity, but counties continue to work on safety programs to encourage workers to work together to prevent workplace injuries and longevity programs,” said Brasfield. “We are just seeing the beginning of counties looking at programs like this to improve productivity.”

The state as a whole struggles with obesity. Among adults, Alabama presently ranks as the fifth-most obese state, according to data compiled annually by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

In 2016, Alabama ranked second, behind only Louisiana. By 2018, Mississippi, West Virginia, Oklahoma and Iowa had jumped into the top four spots, with Alabama next in line.

But Alabama’s adult obesity rate didn’t fall during those years: It kept spiking upward, from 35.6 percent in 2016, to 35.7 percent in 2017, to 36.3 percent in 2018.

Broken down further, the data shows Mobile County’s obesity rate at 37 percent.

Hudson said the county’s weight loss incentive could serve as a model for other government entities and the private sector, depending on its participation and success.

And it signals to workers that “we are concerned about them and their health,” she said.

Another weight-loss initiative – known as “Scale Back” -- is already under way at the Mobile County Public Health Department. At part of the program, the agency is offering healthy food options and is promoting employee potlucks that include a salad bar and a homemade trail mix bar.

“Our efforts are mostly focused on employee involvement this year,” said Claris Leigh Perkins, a registered dietitian with the Health Department. She said that there are 132 participants. That’s about 26 percent of the department’s workforce.

“It’s sad that there needs to be an incentive for health,” said Perkins. “In the public sector, it takes more to create a program (such as weigh loss incentives). I think personal time is a great incentive.”