According to the 2023 Britain’s Healthiest Workplace survey by Vitality, UK workers lose an average of 6.1 days a year due to formal absence, with the majority of that due to ill-health. The overall cost of workplace sickness to the UK economy was reckoned to be £138 billion.
Businesses simply can’t afford to lose productivity due to ill health, which should make forming a strategy to improve workforce health a high priority. Healthier employees are more productive and experience less absence through sickness. That’s why we’ve focused this article on two aspects of a healthier workforce – nutrition and fitness.
We believe a healthy body helps a healthy mind. We share some facts and practical tips on nutrition and fitness to help you achieve the benefits in your organisation.
The link between physical and mental health and productivity
The benefits of better physical health are linked to better mental health and in contrast, poor mental health has the greatest impact on poor productivity – often down to the effects of depression, fatigue and burnout. What’s more, according to the Vitality survey, other risk factors such as a poor diet, obesity, musculoskeletal conditions and lack of physical activity increase lost working time by 14%, 54% and 28% respectively.
While these conditions are unlikely to be erased completely, we believe that their damage can be reduced with a greater focus on health and wellbeing – bringing benefits for both employees and organisations.
Promoting better nutrition
Eating a healthy and balanced diet can help us feel better. But awareness of how to do this, as well as the means to access healthy food isn’t always so straightforward. As an employer, you can talk about what makes good diet inside the workplace, as well as providing healthy and nutritious food wherever possible.
What is nutrition?
It’s a term we all know, but what goes into nutrition, especially good nutrition? Nutrition is the food we need for our health and growth, and it comprises macronutrients – such as carbohydrates, fats and protein, and micronutrients, such as vitamins and minerals. According to the NHS, eating a healthy, balanced diet is an important part of maintaining good health, and can help us feel at our best. The NHS Eatwell Guide and nutrition page offers advice on what contributes to good nutrition. It’s a helpful resource that goes beyond the 5 a day guidance that many of us are familiar with.
Delivering better health and nutrition at work
Here are some workplace steps you can take:
Better awareness of healthy nutrition habits: Your workplace restaurant (if you have one) is the ideal platform to serve food that contains more whole grains, fruit and vegetables with more protein and the right balance of fats. These are all things that help us to feel better, according to the Mental Health Foundation. And it’s not just about what you eat, it’s when. Eating regularly and not too late ensures we digest what we eat earlier with the added benefit of burning calories. When raising awareness at work, posters advising healthy eating habits are a good place to start. You might also consider subsidising the costs of or providing free fruit. For more information, please see our article ‘How to live and eat for good digestive health’.
Avoiding bad food habits: Promotion of good nutrition should go in hand with eliminating bad food habits. Common offenders are eating at desks (preventing exercise) and the vending machines that dispense processed food such as snacks high in sugar and saturated fat. Many people just aren’t aware of the levels they contain and may be putting their health at risk if these items are consumed regularly. Shift workers who are on the premises outside of the hours when healthy food might be available are more likely to then opt for the vending machine. This carries risks in terms of the consumption of processed foods higher in saturated fat. For more information, please see our article ‘A healthier approach to processed foods at work’.
Don’t forget hydration: It’s easy to forget the humble glass of water but regular hydration brings a number of valuable benefits. Water helps to convert food and fuel to energy, aids digestion, keeps joints and cartilage lubricated, maintains a healthy blood level and also aids concentration levels. All of which contributes to employee wellbeing and productivity. Our tips for hydration include always having a water bottle at your desk, drinking teas, always drink a glass of water with a meal and in the workplace, ensuring the provision of good quality free drinking water.
Audit your food suppliers: Are there healthier vending options – and, if you have prepared food delivered, have you contacted your supplier to discuss healthier options? Local suppliers may be able to offer fresher food, with fewer food miles and less packaging. You’ll also be supporting local businesses with the goodwill and sense of community this brings.
Promoting better fitness
Fitness at work doesn’t have to mean free yoga or exercise classes – and not everyone may want to be seen working out over their lunch break! While subsidising gym membership and encouraging use of fitness classes can come into a wellbeing strategy, there are other ways that employers can encourage better fitness.
Cycle to Work scheme: There are a number of health and wellbeing reasons to support use of the Government’s Cycle to Work scheme. Cycling brings health benefits such as burning fat whilst also helping to build muscle due to the resistance aspect of the exercise. It also helps to create a more positive feeling of mental health and is an easy routine to fit into the working day. With over 40,000 employees using it, it’s clearly a worthwhile and well supported scheme, so how can you get your organisation involved? Read: How employers can help staff embrace the Cycle to Work Scheme
Outdoor meetings: This is an activity that works best in better weather but it’s increasingly being adopted both for exercise purposes as well as creating better team engagement, especially since organisations have returned to offices. As the name suggests, rather than sitting around a table, get up and out and enjoy the stimulation and freedom of fresh air. Your meetings could well be all the more productive as a result.
Adopt a culture of wellbeing: Promoting better nutrition and fitness has to be combined with actions that show you mean it. For example, creating a culture where everyone is encouraged to take their full breaks and leave their desks will go some way to creating a healthier approach to food and exercise. Likewise, introducing standing desks can reduce sedentary behaviour and promote better posture and movement. Finally, people need to know what’s available to them. So, make sure your policies and support available for fitness and exercise are accessible – and promote them.
In conclusion
A little creativity and better communication can produce a number of healthier behaviours. As an employer, you can run health awareness days, improve the quality of the food served on your premises and offer on-site or reduced cost gym membership. You can also encourage more physical activity with subsidies for bicycles and have outdoor meetings. If all of this is accompanied by a culture that takes employee wellness seriously with actions that support words, your organisation will be healthier in body and mind.
Get our guide
We have produced a presentation on nutrition and hydration with many facts and tips. It’s available to subscribers to our wellbeing service. If you are not signed up to this service and would like to find out more, please contact us on wellbeing@cordellhealth.co.uk
Photo by andrew welch on Unsplash.
