Guest Post by Andrea Holwegner
In this post, Andrea of Health Stand Nutrition explores the relationship between food and productivity and wellbeing inside of organizations.
Optimize Your Benefit Plan for the Best Credible Nutrition Support
In my Dietitian practice, I often find out that one of the key reasons people don’t consult a dietician for a nutrition or food-related health issue is that dietitian services are not covered under their health insurance. Food and nutrition play a central role in a person’s health, productivity, and overall well-being. Poor dietary habits do not only cause problems with an individual’s physical health, poor nutrition also impacts an employee’s work performance:
Reduced cognitive ability
Fatigue
Decreased mental effectiveness
Irritability
Lower energy levels
Reduced ability to think clearly
Decreased ability to perform your job effectively
Higher levels of stress and depression
Decreased productivity
Employer benefit plans that include insurance coverage for dietitian services are important for a healthy and productive workforce.
Diet has a direct impact on employee productivity and workplace performance. It’s not just how much work an employee does, it’s the quality of their work. Studies have shown that factors like low blood sugars and imbalanced meals lead to poor concentration.
But who’s responsibility is it to improve employee nutrition?
Employee Accountability
Research confirms employees want better nutrition. But for people in the workforce, much of their day is spent at work where choices may be limited. Individual responsibility and planning are therefore essential for nutrition initiatives to succeed. Access to credible wellness information and practical healthy eating resources that takes the science of nutrition and translates this into everyday meal planning solutions is key.
Registered Dietitians can help with onsite and online education initiatives and in-person and virtual nutrition counselling in topic areas such as:
Meal planning for home and on the go
Optimizing energy, productivity, and mental health especially during high-stress times
Corporate travel, eating in off-site camps/lodges and eating out
Managing shift work and jobs requiring high stamina and safety
Weight concerns, emotional eating and eating disorders
Women’s health issues due to pregnancy and menopause
Heart health, high cholesterol and high blood pressure
Diabetes and blood sugar concerns
Chronic disease and illness
And more
Unfortunately, many Canadian employer benefit plans do not include dietitian services, making this an additional cost and related stress for employees who want to improve their nutrition and health at home and at work.
Large Study Finds that Workplace Foods Contribute to Unhealthy Eating
Despite their good intentions, many people find that their jobs sabotage their commitment to healthy eating. While at work 30, 35, 40 or more hours each week, employees have limited options to eat healthily and are often tempted by unhealthy food choices at work. A recent study determined that unhealthy foods provided by the workplace contribute to unhealthy eating and
“that nearly a quarter of study participants obtained food from work at least once a week and that the average weekly calories obtained was almost 1,300… Since we found that a lot of the foods obtained by employees were free, employers may also want to consider healthy meeting policies to encourage healthy food options at meetings and social events.”
Vending machines filled with candy bars and sodas, meetings offering free donuts and snacks, and lunch and break rooms with limited food storage and preparation areas can make it difficult for employees to stick to their nutrition goals.
How HR Professionals Can Support Employee Nutrition
As a Registered Dietitian, I advocate taking personal responsibility for your dietary choices. At the same time, we can’t ignore the fact that most people rely on our workplace for income and to provide important benefits, including health insurance. Human Resource professionals are charged with managing employee relations and advocating for workplace changes that benefit both employees and the employer.
When employee health and nutrition are not maximized, employers have higher health benefit costs and experience more employee absenteeism, safety concerns and lost productivity. Studies repeatedly show that healthier, less stressed-out employees are happier, more creative, and ultimately more productive.
Here are 3 things HR professionals can do to support employee nutrition:
1. Start Onsite Workplace Nutrition Initiatives
While your company may have a general workplace wellness program, what about a specific workplace nutrition program? A Registered Dietitian specializing in corporate health and wellness can help identify opportunities to improve the work environment including:
Personal nutrition counselling
Tasty, fun and healthy menu options for meetings and events
Productivity consulting
Workplace diet and lifestyle initiatives such as nutrition challenges, simple healthy recipe shares and more that promote a healthy lifestyle
Research shows that when employers provide support for eating healthier, getting more exercise, and becoming emotionally healthy, employees respond positively with higher productivity.
2. Provide Online Nutrition Initiatives
At Health Stand Nutrition, we provide a variety of employee nutrition services that can be accessed online from any location at flexible times:
Dietitian taught and supported Online Nutrition Course: Pursuit of Healthiness to help your employees improve health, rock meal planning, and move towards their personal best weight (still eating the foods they love).
Virtual Dietitian Nutrition Counselling for preventative health, productivity and help for medical issues
Free Weekly Sound Bites Newsletter for the latest nutrition tips, articles, videos and recipes by the Dietitians on our team
3. Optimize Your Benefit Plan for the Best Credible Nutrition Services
Check your insurance plan and chat with your benefits consultant to ensure your employees have access to the most reliable nutrition expertise. Registered Dietitians (RD’s) are university trained and the only nutrition practitioners that are licensed and regulated (held to ethical standards of practice).
Titles such as Registered Holistic Nutritionist, Certified Nutritional Practitioner, RONP, RNCP, ROHP, RHN, CNP are not the same as a Registered Dietitian and do not indicate the person is a provincially regulated health professional. These are often used by those who have completed much less intensive privately owned training programs that vary in length and rigor.
To ensure your employees have access to regulated nutrition experts check your insurance plan and chat with your benefits provider to ensure Dietitians are listed under your benefit plan. Employees can be sure they are hiring a Registered Dietitian by looking for RD.
Andrea Holwegner is the founder and CEO of Health Stand Nutrition Consulting Inc. established in 2000. She leads a team of experienced Dietitians that help busy employees with meal planning success, weight concerns, eating disorders, digestive issues, sports nutrition, heart health, diabetes and more. She is an online nutrition course creator, professional speaker and regular guest in the media. Andrea is the recipient of an award by the Dietitians of Canada: The Speaking of Food & Healthy Living Award for Excellence in Consumer Education.
Find out how your organization ranks for nutrition by downloading a copy of her Workplace Nutrition Scorecard here: https://www.healthstandnutrition.com/workplacescorecard/
Join Andrea’s free nutrition newsletter that goes out to thousands of people for her latest TV segments and nutrition articles from her award winning blog at www.HealthStandNutrition.com