Companies are looking to increase productivity and decrease costs while still attracting the best and brightest employees. Often these diverse goals conflict with each other; however, there is one area that blends them nicely. Look no farther than your food service program.

Serving employees healthy and nutritious food increases morale and retention and can also lower healthcare costs, reduce absenteeism, and increase productivity by managing/preventing chronic disease. Let’s look at these different areas and learn how to increase the bottom line WHILE improving the quality of life for employees.

Absenteeism, or the habitual non-presence of employees at their job, has been shown to increase as employee chronic health conditions and risk factors increase. The U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) measures how poor health increases absenteeism per year:

0-1 chronic health conditions = 2 workdays missed
2-3 chronic health conditions = 4.5 workdays missed
4-5 chronic health conditions = 8.6 workdays missed

For a company with 1,000 employees, this can translate into annual absenteeism rates of:

65 days missed from diabetes
310 days missed from obesity

According to the CDC, healthcare costs for people with chronic disease can be five times higher than those without a chronic condition. Obesity can add $1,429 annually¹ to employee health care costs and diabetes even more. However, for every one-point reduction in someone’s A1c (blood sugar average over the past 2-3 months²), up to $4,100 can be saved in annual healthcare costs for that individual³. Your food service program is one area companies can help employees show real improvement in these numbers.

Food programs can also increase productivity. Having an onsite café or food catered for lunch can save 30-60 minutes per week per employee, according to a 2014 Willis Towers Watson study. For a professional making $100K per year, this translates to $1,250-$2,500 in added annual productivity for the company.

Additionally, onsite food programs are proven to help with employee retention. Wages are key to new hires but not always the only important factor. 80% of workers say they would keep a job with benefits rather than take one that offered more pay and no benefits.⁴ Many of Epicurean Group’s client employees have said that the quality and variety of food offered at our cafés was a significant factor in accepting the job offer.

There are many aspects of developing a healthy, happy, and productive workforce and a healthy, exciting food program tops the list. To inspire your employees, Epicurean Group offers fresh and delicious plant-forward options and opportunities to participate in nutritional education programs and tastings. Taken together, our scratch-cooking cafés cook up healthcare savings, increase productivity and morale, reduce absenteeism, and reduce employee turnover.
If you have questions about implementing or upgrading your employee food service, let us know. We are happy to help in any way we can. To your health!