- CBHS Corporate Health
- How can your workplace influence nutrition?
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How can your workplace influence nutrition?
A healthy workplace is about more than a bowl of fruit on the kitchen counter. Although, fruit is a great place to start. Employers are in a unique position to positively influence their staff’s eating habits and awareness of healthy eating. We spend a large chunk of our time at work, and of course, this means we need to eat several times during these hours. Did you know that the food choices you and your organisation’s staff are making have a direct impact on productivity? How can you tap into the potential that’s just waiting to be unlocked?
As a nation, we’re collectively pretty poor at eating well. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has shown that only 26% of adults ate sufficient serves of fruit (2 or more serves a day), and 4% of adults ate sufficient serves of vegetables (5-6+ serves a day). On top of this, almost half of adults don’t limit their consumption of free sugars to the recommended less than 10% of total energy intake. We’re also a fan of our sugary drinks, with 36.2% of people consuming sugar sweetened drinks at least once per week.
All this poor diet does have an impact on our performance at work, but at what cost? WorkScore’s 2019 Wellbeing report finds that employees with a healthy diet report they are more able to deal with problems and are more positive. A positive attitude and better problem-solving skills are vital in fostering culture, morale and productivity in a workplace. Positive employees are also more likely to act as advocates for your organisation. Research also shows that healthy workers are more productive at work than unhealthy workers. They also take less periods of short-term absenteeism, which means they’re contributing more. We also know that, as a society, disease burden would be reduced if all Australians were in a healthy weight range. This includes diabetes incidences down by 53% and heart disease by 25%. Both chronic diseases are likely to be represented within your workplace population.
Let’s go back to that fruit bowl. Weaving healthy options into the fabric of your organisation along with ongoing education around nutrition will set your staff up for success. Here are a few tips on how to get started…
- Encourage a culture where people feel supported to stop for breaks and leave their work area to eat.
- Ensure at least half of the food and drinks offered at meetings and functions are heathier choices.
- Consider providing free or subsidised fresh fruit and vegetables and advanced staple pantry items (ingredients employees can use to prepare breakfast/snack/light lunch options)
- Display healthy eating information in appropriate places in the workplace
- Ensure there are sufficient kitchen facilities for food storage and preparation e.g. microwave, cutlery, crockery.
- Scout the local cafes for healthy food choices and promote the options to staff.
Talk to us about even more ways to implement your workplace nutrition program.
Example in action: Soup-er cops
As part of a wider workplace health program to increase healthy eating and activity levels overall, Tasmania Police introduced the Soup Program. This was particularly relevant for officers who work after-hours shifts, where greasy takeaways are the only available option. Officers were given the option of selecting microwaveable soup ready meals. The program led to an increase in officers bringing their own soup and meals from home. The pilot was seen to be a success and was rolled out across all stations in Tasmania.
Getting started is easy
Are you keen to learn more about improving the nutrition of your people? We’ve got the know-how on workplace health and wellbeing programs that work. Get in touch today with CBHS Corporate Health for a no-obligation workplace needs assessment.
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