Tirzepatide and Work: Survey Findings

A US survey of 518 full-time employees who were starting tirzepatide for obesity management found strong support for employer insurance coverage. Among respondents, 96.5% said employer health plans should cover obesity medicines, and 52.3% said they would consider changing jobs to obtain that benefit^[1]. Those figures describe the views of people who had already chosen treatment. They do not show that coverage improves retention, productivity or health.

This is baseline evidence. The PERCEPTIONS survey was not a randomized trial or a before-and-after treatment analysis, and its work-impairment results were measured near treatment initiation. They should not be read as benefits produced by tirzepatide^[1].

Who completed the survey

Researchers recruited adults in the United States through clinical sites and specialist recruitment agencies from June to November 2025. Eligible participants worked full time, had obesity or overweight with at least one related complication, and were within eight weeks of their first dose of tirzepatide for obesity management. The study excluded people with type 2 diabetes, previous bariatric surgery or earlier tirzepatide use^[1].

The group had a mean age of 46 years and mean BMI of 38.4 kg/m². Women made up 78.2% of respondents, 69.5% identified as White and 57.9% described their jobs as sedentary. This sample is useful for understanding one treatment-seeking group, but it is not representative of every US employee with obesity^[1]. Our tirzepatide evidence overview separates surveys like this from controlled efficacy trials.

What employees said about coverage

Most respondents, 80.9%, reported employer-provided health insurance. Within that insured subgroup, 55.9% said their plan covered an obesity medicine, 37.7% said it did not and 6.4% were unsure. The denominator matters. The 55.9% figure applies to 419 people with employer insurance, not to all 518 respondents^[1].

Coverage also ranked highly as a workplace benefit. In the full sample, 81.7% said obesity-medicine coverage did or would increase job satisfaction, while 78.5% said it might increase their likelihood of staying with their employer. Half placed the benefit in their top five, and 34.4% ranked it first. Paid time off, however, was the most frequently top-ranked benefit overall^[1]. These are preferences recorded on a survey, not measured employment outcomes.

The work-impairment figures are baseline measures

On the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment questionnaire, respondents reported mean overall work impairment of 32.4% and activity impairment of 43.0%. Impairment while working was 31.3%, compared with 3.6% of work time missed. The authors therefore described presenteeism as the larger component of reported work impairment^[1].

Timing blocks that conclusion. Participants completed the baseline survey within eight weeks of starting tirzepatide, and the paper does not compare those scores with an untreated group or with later follow-up. It cannot tell us whether tirzepatide treatment improved work performance, reduced absence or changed activity impairment. Longitudinal results would need to show how scores changed and account for who remained in the study.

Wellness-program results need the same care

About one-third of respondents said their employer offered a weight-related wellness program. Among the 110 people who had used one, 47 reported losing weight before tirzepatide initiation. Of those 47, five said they maintained the loss and 42 said they regained weight^[1]. The small, selected subgroup and self-reported history do not support a general claim that workplace programs fail.

The survey also did not compare wellness programs with obesity medicines. Its results describe earlier experiences among people who went on to start tirzepatide. They cannot establish which approach works better, whether combining them changes outcomes or whether a specific insurance requirement helps patients.

What the study cannot answer

Everyone surveyed was receiving Zepbound at data capture, which may have shaped favorable views of coverage. Answers were self-reported and may be affected by recall or social-desirability bias. The sample was mostly female and White. The study was sponsored by Eli Lilly, and several authors were Lilly employees and shareholders^[1]. Selection matters. These facts do not invalidate the responses, but they belong beside any policy interpretation.

The current US tirzepatide prescribing information defines Zepbound's approved uses and safety information^[2]. It does not say that the medicine improves job satisfaction or employee retention. Employers and insurers would need evidence on clinical outcomes, actual treatment persistence and costs before treating this survey as a business case.

How to read the finding

PERCEPTIONS shows that obesity-medicine coverage mattered to this group of full-time employees at the point they began tirzepatide. It also records substantial baseline work and activity impairment. The next useful evidence is longitudinal: whether those measures change, whether insurance continuity predicts persistence and whether stated job preferences become observed behavior. Until then, this is a survey of expectations and burden, not proof of a workplace return from treatment^[1]. The planned follow-up matters because baseline opinions cannot show whether treatment access later changed health, work capacity or employment decisions.

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