STAFF PRODUCTIVITY - 15.01.2018

Healthy eating = healthy business?

Fat man of Europe

Figures published in November 2017 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development show that obesity rates in the UK have doubled in the past 20 years - 63% of British adults are overweight.

The reason is fairly simple: people are eating too much junk food and doing too little exercise. Given that adults consume about a third of their overall calories in the workplace, what they eat at work can have a big impact on their waistlines and potentially how well they work.

Sitting still

The average office provides the perfect environment for staff to pile on the pounds: they sit at their desks all day on computers surrounded by sugary snacks. Some of these are bought at the local Starbucks or Tesco but some are provided free of charge by employers. So what can you do to help them cut back and will it boost your business?

Feeding productivity

In its “Health, Work and Wellbeing” booklet, the conciliation service Acas states: “Healthy and well-motivated employees can have an equally positive impact on the productivity and effectiveness of a business.”

A TUC booklet, “Work and Wellbeing” notes that “workers who eat well and are physically active are healthier and, usually, feel better. There is evidence that people who take more exercise and eat better are less likely to take time off sick.”

Proof in the pudding

These claims are two a penny these days, but as yet there isn’t a huge amount of evidence to back them up. For example, you can assess whether staff lose weight or reduce their body mass index but relating that to increased productivity and fewer sick days etc. is trickier. Public Health England says that successful workplace health and wellbeing programmes such as exercise, healthy eating and stop smoking support have been found to return £2 to £10 for every £1 spent.

Health boost

However, there are some case studies available. Middlesbrough Environment City is a charity. With the help of its 18 staff it developed a health and wellbeing programme including free fresh fruit, supplying bikes, discounted gym schemes and health assessments. Each employee was also given a £100 budget to improve health and wellbeing at work. It was £1,800 well spent - the annual sickness rate per employee fell from 4.25 days to 2.4. That’s more than a month’s worth of extra productivity (1.85 days x 18).

Tip 1. Make sure staff are involved and see what they would be interested in. It’s not worth subsidising a gym membership if those who take up the offer only go for two weeks.

Tip 2. Start with some simple tactics like switching sweet treats to fruit etc. There are plenty of firms that deliver fruit boxes to offices; and you can get 100 pieces of fruit for £35 - the same number of doughnuts could cost you double that. Now is arguably the best time to switch; you can say it’s to keep up the momentum of any “healthy” New Year’s resolutions.