Women: Want to earn more? Lose weight.

Well, someone had to do it. I’m talking about actually quantifying the relationship between how a woman looks and how much she gets paid.

No one can seriously deny that fat people, especially women, are discriminated against in the workplace. The question was: how much does it cost them in dollars?

Well, researchers Timothy A. Judge and Daniel M. Cable did a little look-see into the issue and came up with some surprising numbers.

First, they found that women who are 25 lbs. below average weight take home an additional $15,572 each year.

Isn’t that amazing?

But get this, they also found out something about men: men who are 25 lbs. below average weight take home $8,437 less each year.

In other words, thin for women is sexy; thin for men is weak. Their pay reflects this bias.

And, of course, this is something we already know: in the workplace attractive people are generally treated better all around, especially women. Now, at least, we can quantify in dollars just how much better (or worse).

No doubt these findings will create controversy, but it’s important in the human resources world to be aware of these types of studies. It’s the only way to stay on top of the fight to combat the biases and prejudices every workplace suffers from.

The full study can be downloaded here.