While the health of your employees has nothing to do with how much they are actually paid, it does directly affect how much they cost the company. An employee with a poor diet, and unhealthy lifestyle can cost a company money by: being more expensive to insure, taking sick days more often, being less productive when they’re in the workplace, and being more likely to quit or be fired.
Reduced Healthcare Costs - Healthy employees cost less to insure because their overall risk factors are considerably lower than those with poor health. This benefits both the company and the individual employee because the available health care premiums are cheaper for both parties.
Reduced Absenteeism - Healthy employees are less likely to call off of work due to illnesses, which means that their work will not need to be covered by others and your overtime allowance will not suffer.
Increased Productivity - Healthy employees are able to achieve a higher level of focus and attention to detail which means that their work will not take as long to complete and will likely not need to be revisited for corrections. While they generally spend more time at work, their time on the job is continuously making the company money.
Increased Employee Retention - Healthy employees are happy employees, and happy employees tend to show loyalty to the companies that have kept them happy and healthy. They are also less likely to be fired due to missed work or deadlines. The reduction in employee turnover allows your company save money by spending less on training new employees.
Assisting employees to lead more healthy and active lives is paramount to saving a company hundreds of thousands of dollars. Since diet accounts for about 80 percent of a person's overall fitness, the most effective way to achieve employee health is through the promotion of healthy eating. Many employees do not feel that they have the time to prepare or eat healthy meals at work, so they go hungry, or load up on sugar laden snacks instead.
To counteract these poor diet choices we suggest that you advocate the practice of weekly meal prep for all of your employees. Weekly meal prep includes taking a few hours out of the day to plan, shop for, and cook an entire week's worth of healthy meals. It will inevitably save your employees time and money while also increasing their overall health which will in turn save your company time, resources, and best of all, money.
How meal preps will positively affect your company:
Reduced Healthcare Costs - Their health will gradually improve from not eating fast food or vending machine snacks for lunch. By indulging in low carb alternatives to their favorite foods, like isopasta, they will achieve greater general health and lower their risk factors, which will lower the company’s health care premiums.
Reduced Absenteeism - With improved health comes a decrease in general illnesses. The less time your employees spend at home and sick, the more time they can spend at work, making the company money.
Increased Productivity - Employees will waste less time at lunch, because they will have healthy food packed for themselves. They will also not become overly hungry and distracted because their snacks will be within arms reach.
Increased Employee Retention - Meal prep leads to more time on and off of the clock for employees to achieve and maintain a healthy work-life balance. Remember a healthy employee is a happy employee, and a happy employee is a loyal employee.
Saving your company money is as easy as investing in your employee’s health and overall well being. Promoting the practice of meal prepping to your employees as a way to not only improve their work life, but also their personal lives guarantees that they find just as much value in the process as your company will.
Lexi Cahill is a Penn State University graduate with a degree in Mass Communications & Media Studies. She is a humanitarian who is enthusiastic about giving back to her local and global community through both monetary donations and community service. She has sponsored a child from Ethiopia through Compassion and volunteered locally at both the Lititz Community Recreational Center (where she was a summer camp counselor for children), and the Lititz Moravian Manor (where she provided companionship to the Alzheimer's patients). Her dedication to helping improve the lives of others is what drives her. She has turned her passions for writing and humanity into a career with Isolator Fitness where she shares her knowledge of nutrition, fitness, and general health through articles published on their website.