Why It's Good
You’ve seen it happen. Maybe you’ve done it yourself. 11.45 a.m: Just a little bit longer and you’ll get that report completed. When you come up for air, it’s 1.30 and you’re hungry, but you don’t want to stop yet. Next thing you know, you’ve got the 3 o’clock crazies, where no vending machine or junky snacks are safe from the mindless, auto-feeding hand.
At this moment, you are making yourself unhappy and costing your business money. Peer-reviewed studies consistently demonstrate that being in a state of low blood sugar not only shortens your attention span; it slows your ability to process information. (Go ahead, we’ll wait if you want to go back and re-read that sentence again. Just, please step away from the doughnut. It will not save you.)
The Benefits
Studies have shown pretty consistently that when you provide healthy food for your employees, their quality of life improves in many ways – among them:
- they will have more energy and perform their jobs better;
- they’ll feel better about their jobs and their company;
- your own reputation as an employer who has their employee’s best interests at heart gets even better;
- visitors to your workplace and meeting-goers will feel more welcome as they notice you’ve done something special – not the usual muffin-and-coffee when they arrive at the conference room;
- employers have even started listing fresh fruit as a benefit on job postings!
Having fresh fruit in a highly visible, accessible place has a halo effect – it may encourage people to choose healthy foods at other times of day as well.
The Money.
A recent national study finds that for every corporate dollar invested in health promotion and disease prevention, business will gain a return ranging anywhere from $1.75 to $6.85 – that figure is based on reduced employee turnover, sick days and medical claims related to unhealthy living such as being overweight.
The Takeaway.
Invest in nutrition and reap a harvest of better morale and increased productivity. You’ll also reduce sick days and accidents. Over time, you help combat the growing epidemic of an overfed and undernourished society. After all, most of us spend as much as half our waking hours at work (some of you are spending even more and you know who you are)!
The Facts.
The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) in 2004 found that medical expenditures related to obesity were $75 billion dollars.
Closer to home (and you’ve probably seen this statistic on the evening news whenever JAMA or NEJM announces a new study on the topic) two-thirds of American adults are overweight, and more than 30% are obese. (In case you’re wondering, the kids aren’t much better off: 15% are overweight, and that figure is climbing steadily.)
Here’s what it costs (and the most recent figures we were able to get were from TK; all the trends point to continuing increase):
- 51.6 billion in direct medical costs
- 3.9 billion in lost productivity
- 39.2 million lost work days
- 239 million restricted-activity days
- 89.5 million sick days
- 626 million physician visits.
The cost of CV disease in this country in 2002 was $329.2 Billion
Think it doesn’t cost you? Think again: obesity costs businesses $12.7 billion a year in insurance, paid sick leave, and other payments related to obesity.
$99.2 Billion…That’s the figure one study (wolf and colditz 1998) attributed to obesity...and those are 1995 figures!
56% of adults consume less than 5 daily servings of fruit and vegetables, even though most know they should eat 5-9 servings every day.
Is there a better time than now to start a fruit program in your office?
