All companies are interested in increasing employee productivity. Moreover, today it is known that the key to high productivity is not a long working day, but labor efficiency and effectiveness. Many organizations focus on measures such as economic incentives, adequate feedback, and employee support, but forget about one of the main factors of influence – employee health with healthy eating.
A study published in 2012 in the Journal of the Population Health Management, indicates that an unhealthy lifestyle and bad habits of employees greatly reduce their productivity. In particular, a study of more than 20,000 Americans revealed:
The productivity of workers who eat improperly is 66% lower than those who regularly eat cereal products, fruits, and vegetables.
The productivity of employees with low physical activity is 50% lower than that of employees who are constantly involved in sports.
Smokers are 28% more likely to experience a drop in labor productivity than non-smokers.
Moreover, the study found that those who do not believe that their work environment can help maintain physical and emotional health are more likely to have lower levels of productivity compared to colleagues who hold the opposite point of view.
Eating healthy has a huge impact on how well we perform our tasks
The previous results are not surprising, given how important healthy eating is to maintaining normal brain function. After all, what we eat has a huge impact on how well we perform our tasks. This is due to the need of the brain for a constant supply of glucose for normal functioning.
Thus, food rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, such as fruits, vegetables, and cereal products, makes us work with maximum efficiency. And regular exercise not only gives more energy but also affects brain activity, increasing productivity. In fact, the simple act of missing lunch or a training session due to urgent work has a negative impact on the employee’s long-term productivity.
While increasing attention is being paid to the level of staff satisfaction and innovative technologies aimed at increasing labor productivity, company managers definitely need to invest in the healthy eating of employees. It can be free gym memberships, fresh fruit in the public domain instead of cookies, or any other health measures.
One thing is clear: the lack of proper attention to the health of staff leads not only to an increase in health care costs but also to a decrease in overall labor productivity.
Why does nutrition or eating healthy have such a big impact on performance?
- First, a hungry person is simply physically unable to perform a Job that requires bodily or mental effort.
- Secondly, it is very difficult for a hungry person to concentrate on Job – the body all the time sends one single signal to the brain about the need for an early meal.
- Thirdly, hunger interferes with productive collective work, since, as practice shows, workers without lunch become irritated, react aggressively to external stimuli, and do not tolerate dissent. In other words, there can be no talk of productive work on a common project on an empty stomach.
The advantages of ordering a business lunch
The advantages of ordering a business lunch determine the huge popularity of such a service in many restaurants of the city on the Neva. First of all, such business lunches are complex balanced lunches in which there is a full set of vitamins and minerals necessary for health and well-being.
Secondly, a special combination of dishes allows you to achieve the fastest and easiest digestibility, so that the employee is ready to work fruitfully immediately after lunch, without waiting for heavy food to be digested (as is the case with fast food).
Thirdly, business lunch is delivered to the right place at the specified address, so you do not waste valuable time on a trip to a restaurant. All this together leads to the great popularity of business lunches with delivery among business people.
How do they solve the problem of nutrition in the workplace abroad?
In 2008, the World Health Organization proposed to implement health campaigns at work, primarily the proposal concerns large organizations. All such campaigns are built on similar principles: employees who lead a healthy eating lifestyle are provided with benefits – opportunities for improving health, including sponsored events, for example, trips to the supermarket (consultation, which products are useful), physical examinations; subscriptions to sports sections are offered.
Such programs worked in the USA and Europe. For example, in Belgium, after a certain time of the program, participants from the group reported a significantly higher reduction in the calorie content of their diet, as well as that they began to consume less fat compared to participants who were not included in this event.
The ratio of employees who joined the program was radically reorganized. First of all, fast food products were deleted from it: pizza, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, sandwiches. The basis began to be dishes from vegetables, fruits, nuts. In addition, animal products that participants were used to were replaced with light versions, in which the content of saturated animal fat is lower: red meat was replaced with white meat of chicken; butter – for vegetable, etc.
The share of orders for ready meals with delivery has increased
To stimulate the entrepreneurial spirit and rally employees, many executives order food directly from work.
Orders are very often delivered to the office. Food for work is ordered with equal frequency by men and women.
Employees find it more convenient to order food over the Internet – this is what people in the big cities do.
Companies seem to be trying to provide everyone with their own lunch and are even willing to allocate funds for employee nutrition, but they’re not doing it right. The most popular dish to order in the office today is pizza.
This dish can be dangerous to your health because it does not contain the most favorable combination of ingredients.
First of all, they are fast carbohydrates – they are found in wheat flour, from which they make the base of the pizza.
Secondly, they are salt and saturated animal fats – they are part of meat, bacon, butter, which are frequent components of a popular dish. The combination of fats and fast carbohydrates slows down the metabolism and can lead to an increase in “bad” cholesterol levels. In addition, regular consumption of “dry food” inevitably leads to digestive problems.
A healthier option is sushi. But they are ordered half as often as pizza. Ossetian pies, skewers, and cakes are also very popular, as they also contain an excess of animal fat, quick carbohydrates, sugar, and salt.
First of all, these are fast carbohydrates – they are found in wheat flour, from which they prepare the basis for pizza. Secondly, it is salt and saturated animal fats – they are part of meat, bacon, butter, which are frequent components of a popular dish. The combination of fat and fast carbohydrates slows down the metabolism and can lead to an increase in the level of “bad” cholesterol. In addition, regular “dry food” inevitably leads to digestive problems.
There is a healthier option – sushi. But they are ordered half as often as pizza. Ossetian pies, kebabs, and cakes are also very popular, which also contain excess animal fat, fast carbohydrates, sugar, and salt.