Healthy Staff, Healthy Business

With a workforce stretched to their limits, many UK workers are taking less breaks in an effort to deal with their workload, but is this really productive for businesses?

According to a recent survey by the health insurer Bupa, just 30% of UK workers take a lunch hour. Although many put this down to an increased workload, companies will lose out as productivity decreases. The Bupa report, carried out in March of this year, found that 48% of people surveyed felt their productivity levels plummeted in the afternoon, leading to a loss of around 40 minutes of their day due to this dip.

Without taking a decent break for lunch, employers are more likely to eat lunch at their desks and snack on high sugar snacks to build up energy levels. This is unsustainable and can lead to health problems for your staff, but what can you do to break these increasing unhealthy trends?

Encourage employees to take breaks

It sounds obvious, but encouraging employees to take breaks can have a big impact. In the office environment it is all too easy to follow the example of your peers and work through your break, but if senior staff in the business are encouraging and taking regular breaks themselves, you are more likely to break this trend.

Where possible, identify staff who regularly work long hours without a break and discuss with them why they feel unable to take breaks. Look at call logs on doors if available to identify the people that do not leave the office for lunch and remind them of the importance of regular breaks. Suggest lunchtime walk areas or places of interest near the office, i.e. this walk goes past Westminster Abbey and up past Victoria station and it will take 45 minutes, perfect for lunchtime.

Incorporate benefits packages

The most obvious way to encourage healthier living with your employees is to offer gym and sports club memberships or discounts through online platforms such as My Work Offers, but what about staff who are reluctant to go to gyms?

Luncheon Vouchers and food discounts are a simple way to not only encourage lunch breaks, but also support healthy eating. Breakfast discounts at a local cafe and corporate discounts on production of Luncheon Vouchers at local shops selling healthy foods will encourage employees to look at possible lifestyle changes.

The Luncheon Vouchers we offer are accepted in Holland and Barrett and gym restaurants where food tends to be healthy. If your vouchers include healthy food outlets make sure this is well known in the workplace.

Educate staff

In some cases, employees simply may not be aware of how they can change their eating and exercise habits or the effects on their health. With the communications channels you have in place already, think how they could be used to educate employees. For example, you could allocate part of the intranet to education on healthy eating and suggested high energy low sugar and fat foods or provide payday emails giving advice on staying healthy, including high energy foods and snacks such as dried apricots to eat during the day and when they reach that afternoon lull in energy.

Look at the work environment

Simple changes in the working environment can make a big difference. Providing a kitchen area at work will motivate staff to get away from their desk to make lunch, providing them with an excellent opportunity to take a break.  Free fruit in the kitchen would be an excellent low cost way to encourage healthy eating and give staff an energy boost towards the end of the day.

Involve staff

Remember, it isn’t just about telling staff how they can make lifestyle changes – some of the best ideas can come from employees themselves. Encourage employees to come up with their own suggestions on a healthy eating part of the intranet or run awareness sessions where staff can join and sample food that they might not normally buy or share new recipes.

As the Bupa survey highlighted, an un-rested, unhealthy workforce will be less productive. As an employer, by encouraging healthy living and regular breaks you will be left with a motivated, productive workforce who will help your business run efficiently.