“Employees who eat well and exercise regularly, work on average 143 effective hours a month, compared to 49 effective hours by those less healthy” – Medibank Wellbeing Study

 

Employee productivity is one of the key factors that businesses cite to improve profits and reduce costs. Studies repeatedly show that healthier, less stressed employees are more productive.

When it comes to designing a nutrition program for your employees, it’s important to get feedback from your employees about what they are interested in as this will help boost participation and engagement. It’s also important to have a positive thought process around employee healthy and wellbeing. This involves not seeing it as an “expense”, but rather as a smart investment for both the company and the employees, which is supported by all current data.

Here are 6 effective, low cost nutrition ideas for your employee wellbeing program that you can easily implement:

 

1. Provide healthy office snacks

What employees eat at work has a direct correlation to brain function, mood and thought processing. Unfortunately, we commonly see employers offering low quality snacks like chips, soft drinks and cookies, which are loaded with added sugars, salt and fat. These types of snacks not only derail productivity with energy crashes but can also seriously impact employee health in the long run.

While you don’t necessarily need to eliminate all of these less healthy options straight away, it is essential that you also have healthier options available for your employees. Think along the lines of fresh fruit, nuts, vegetable sticks and dips, wholegrain crackers, protein balls, popcorn and yoghurt.

There are various companies that will deliver healthy snacks and there’s also healthy vending machine options available!

 

2. Educate your employees

With nutrition advice spiraling around every corner, it’s easy for people to get confused or lost on how to go about living a healthier life.

When establishing a healthier eating culture, educate your workplace by inviting experts to educate on various wellbeing topics. The Biting Truth offer innovative and engaging keynotes and interactive workshops.

You may also consider providing healthy recipe ideas, meal plans and fact sheets to your employees to equip them with the tools and resources to make healthier choices.

 

3. Prepare and distribute a list of healthy dining out options

Do your employees regularly order take away from the office?

Making well-informed, healthy take-away choices is a key aspect to maintaining healthy eating habits. Providing your employees with a list of healthier options available to them at local cafes and restaurants, is a simple and effective way to encourage better food choices!

 

4. Run team challenges

A great way to inspire your employees to take action towards improving their eating behaviours is to provide an incentive and create a challenge for employees. As part of our corporate nutrition programs, we run a range of employee challenges that are fun and interactive and get a high level of engagement. In addition to supporting health and wellbeing they also boost team morale. Get in touch to find out more!

 

5. Create a healthy office cookbook

Ask employees to share their favourite healthy recipes. Compile the best ones into a collection and share around the office via a downloadable document or a printed booklet.

This will be a great way to provide ideas and inspiration for creating healthy meals and even generate conversation in the office around healthy eating.

 

6. Hold a nutrition week

Choose one week during the year where you focus specifically on nutrition initiatives. You might look to run a variety of activities such as keynote presentations, cooking classes or private coaching during this time.

 

 

Notes:

  • The Biting Truth are a team of expert dietitians who run corporate nutrition programs. To learn more about our wellbeing offering, or to schedule in a discovery call, email info@thebitingtruth.com
  • Check out The Biting Truth’s full team of employee wellbeing initiatives here.
  • Check out The Biting Truth on Instagram here.