Economic impacts of workplace nutrition on employee productivity

Nutrition as a Means of Increasing Productivity Within a Workplace

Nutrition: Current Dynamics and Economics

With the changing dynamics and demands of the business world it is important to alter the necessities provided to the employees. One of the recent focuses on an important necessity has been the nutritional intake of the employees within the workplace. This is the focus of the paper as we analyze the economical advantages that appropriate nutrition can bring to the overall employee performance in the short and the long run. One relative focus will be on the impact that globalization and technological changes have had on the health of the current and future business employees.

The fact of the matter is that the advanced scientific proofs and technology has developed the human mind in various ways and one such ways is the increased understanding of the importance of nutrition in boosting one's overall performance. Owen and Roberts in their study highlight that the alterations that nutritional changes can bring in the business structure can significantly helping decreasing the dissatisfaction and anxiety or stress levels of the employees while simultaneously improve the overall working environment as many of the nutritional changes, like incorporation of fruits and vegetable in the cafeteria menu which will be explained further on, are linked to positive and pleasant impacts on the personality of individuals. Furthermore, they have linked nutritional changes directly to the decrease in the absenteeism levels, increase in the motivations as well as the long-term production levels of the company.

Another study analyzing the importance that is given to nutrition by American employees showed that nearly 60% of the American employees have been utilizing the legitimate thirty minute time span for their lunch breaks which has been directly linked to decreasing levels of cardiovascular problems and has increased the job satisfaction levels amongst these employees. A related article showed that there were at least another 60% of American population in different districts reported high and regular levels of shortening or missing their lunches on a daily basis while other similar studies have shown that nearly 20-25% of the business employees completely skipped their lunch breaks. Below is a table explaining how the various nutritional inputs instigate certain outputs that further result in different positive outcomes.

INPUT

OUTPUT

Improved nutrition for basic metabolism boost

Higher capability to perform

Better overall Daily Nutritional Intake

Higher Salary and improved packages

Higher Salary

Work Capability increases and curves above the 45 degree angle

Work capability moves above 45 degrees

Overall productivity and employee satisfaction increases

The above table, even though is not supported with hard and mathematically backed evidence or stats, it is still widely to be accepted as true mainly because common sense proclaims that a healthier individual will be mentally and physically stronger to perform at an optimum level over a long period of time. A study conducted by the Council for Responsible Nutrition highlighted that the Health Care Financing Administration in Washington exhibited stats that proved that nutrition was being taken as a serious input in increased productivity as the annual finance allocated to the health care department increased 57% from $247 billion in 1980 to $387 billion within a space of 4 years only. Another study showed that when health care wasn't given its due attention then the loss of the workdays and finances was humungous. The 1982 stats showed a loss of 270,583,000 working days to various diseases and the overall reactionary costs in terms of health insurances and overall decreased productivity was more then the finance allocated to health care that year.

Some of the most efficient and productive nutrition advocate agencies within the United States include: 1) Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), 2) Community Food Resource Center (CFRC), 3) Consumer's Union, Food Research and Action Center (FRAC), 4) American Public Health Association (APHA), 5) International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), 6) American Culinary Federation, 7) International Association of Culinary Professionals, 8) Council for Responsible Nutrition, 9) Food Marketing Institute, 10) International Food Information Council (IFIC), 11) American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC), 12) American Society for Nutritional Sciences (ASNS), 13) Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), 14) International Union of Nutritional Sciences (IUNS), 15) National Council Against Health Fraud, etc.

Below is a table that exhibits some of the stats of poor nutrition rates, the obese and overweight Americans and financial or economical ratios that cost the government annually due to poor nutrition:

Population

Economics

Obese or underfed

One billion and over (rising since 2006)

7-9% of total health care finance allocated here / U.S. $12.7 billion allocated by the business sector to counter

Reactionary financial costs of Cardiovascular Diseases (2002)

Over half a million (with 30% deaths out of the total)

US $392.2 billion

Reactionary financial costs of general illnesses (2002)

Over one billion

US $20-30 billion

Nutritional intake increase by 1% KCAL

2-3% more profit made monthly (accounting for between U.S. $1-5 for every U.S. $1 invested).

The stats given above clearly show that the overall health care costs made can be potentially saved if the overall nutritional plan and structure within businesses improves and continues to improve with the passage of time.

Body

Importance of Nutrition Awareness

The significance of nutrition within the workplace was perhaps universally recognized when it became one of the fundamentals of the ILO Decent Work structure. The ILO Decent Work structure recognized healthy nutrition intake at the workplace as an important phenomenon of improving the overall health of the individuals as most of the Americans spend a majority of their day and week at their offices. The ILO Decent Work structure was one of the first to adopt the nutritional intervention as one of the important factors that improved the overall communication and interaction between the managers and the employees, it was also one of the factors that significantly influence the production levels of the business and also served as an indispensable element of social protection of workers. This was an aftermath of the significant increase witnessed in the department of illnesses and diseases in the past two decades especially illnesses that are a result of high stress, anxiety, cardiovascular disturbances, high or low blood pressure, obesity, high cholesterol, cancer, low calcium intake, etc.

The importance of high quality nutritional intake has also increased significantly within the American Military. Colonel Gaston Bathalon, an Army nutrition professional, explains that the "Weight issues plague all branches of the military...Thousands of troops are struggling to lose weight, and thousands have been booted out of the service in recent years because they couldn't...One of the biggest worries concerns those not even in uniform yet, however: Nearly 2 out of every 10 men and 4 out of every 10 women of recruiting age weigh too much to be eligible, a record number for that age group...' 'This is quickly becoming a national security issue for us. The pool of recruits is becoming smaller," said Colonel Gaston Bathalon, an Army nutrition specialist.

Use of supplements

One of the ways that nutritional intake is being increased with the U.S. is through the use of supplements which has made a huge market segment for itself especially in the past decade and is only increasing with the passage of time. From a total sales record of U.S. $8.6 billion in 1994, the sales doubled to U.S. $16 billion in the next six years alone. Balluz and colleagues in their study highlight that more then 50% of the American population relies on the use of supplements to make up for their daily nutritional intake. Many of the pharmaceutical companies and their products have been analyzed in many studies and the result showed that the supplements with the highest sales had the following ingredients in different proportions nutrients, herbals, and meal supplements. The nutrient supplements alone recorded an increase from U.S. $3.9 billion to $6.1 billion between 1994 and 2000. This resulted in the growing market for packed foods which by 2000 was recording up to U.S. $20 billion annually and is expected to increase up to at least U.S. $50 billion by the end of 2010. Even though, most nutritionists do not approve the use of supplements as a substitute for real food substances, but the stats of sales especially in the U.S. are not affected by their disapproval. Numerous studies have highlighted reports from American Dietetic Association (ADA), the Dietary Guidelines for Americans Advisory Committee, and the Food and Nutrition Board of the Institute of Medicine that emphasize on the rejection of supplements and the intake of the nutrition in natural food substances.

Supplement use based on the various socio-demographic characteristics of the U.S. population, CSFII 1994-96

Total sample Non-food stamp recipients Food stamp recipients

Variable (n = 9,468) (n = 8,582) (n = 886)

Ethnicity

White

Black

Hispanic

Gender

Female

Male

Age

18-49 years

50 years +

Education

High school

Employment status

Unemployed

Employed

Percentages are weighted. Some percentages may not total to 100 because of rounding.

Obstacles and Solutions to promote Nutrition Awareness in the Workplace

Absenteeism and presenteeism are two of the biggest obstacles for an efficient nutritional knowledge program. Absenteeism is basically the derived from the word absent and donates that an individual has a consistent and recurrent habit or inclination to be absent from work or from a responsibility. Usually the two elements that are regularly linked to high absenteeism are sickness or low motivation levels. It is very important that both these elements are handled and solved differently because currently that is nit the case. Presenteeism is, as the name suggests concerned with the regular attendance of the employees. However the problem here is that the employees show up for work when they are not up to the par physically, mentally, emotionally or motivationally. This can be due to heavy burdens that the individual has in the office or the expectations of the office for employees to show irrespective of how they are feeling. Both have a severe negative impact on the overall production levels of the company. The table below shows the percentages and reasons behind high absenteeism and presenteeism.

Reason behind high Absenteeism or Presenteeism

Percentage per reason (2008)

Chronic Conditions

Mental Stress or Anxiety

Physical Impairment

Heavy Workload

Avoidance to utilize Vacation Time

One of the main points to note here is the last reason where employees want to avoid using up their vacation time-off as their sick days. Hence it is important that the manager keep the philosophies and approaches of their employees in mind when they design the potential control programs and make sure that their employees feel that their work is being valued and is demanded to be at its bests when they are at their best. One of the ways this could be done is through dividing the time-off allowed to employees into their vacation time-off and their sick time-off. A high number of 69% of the employees of various companies have shown high inclinations towards this policy and have recognized it as the reason behind decreased levels of presenteeism.

According to the Department of Labor's (DOL) statistics for fiscal year of 2007, only 57% of private industry workers overall, had access to sick leave, as a result a number of employees come to work simply to avoid a loss of pay," noted one employee.

HSE in one of their studies highlighted various reason that account for loss of workings for employees which are illustrated in the table below:

Reason behind loss of working days

Working days lost and number of population suffering due to reasons mentioned

Work load induced illness

Above 500,000 people

High work induced Stress

More then 5 million people

Depression and anxiety

12.8 million working days lost (2003/4)

Stress Costs

Us $370 million annually

Yet another research conducted on how poor nutrition and obesity impact the workplace environment and employee turnover and input was calculated by the International Labor Office (ILO). Below is a table that illustrates the results of the study:

Nutrition levels

Productivity Percentage

Underfed or unhealthy nourishment

Reduces work productivity by 20%

Lack of Iron in the body (70% of the U.S. population)

Reduces work productivity by 30%

Decreased Sugar levels

Reduces work productivity by 20%

Below is a graph that shows the obesity levels of different generations within the United States.

All of the above obstacles can be countered by following a few basic nutritional and educational steps: 1) Attaining proper sleep which means getting at least eight hours of sleep and doing so at appropriate times i.e. early to bed, early to rise phenomenon; 2) Taking a protein and calcium heavy breakfast and lunch while avoiding fatty foods; 3) Having Serotonin-heavy foods during the day to keep one's energy level up like pretzels; 4) Exercising early as that will increase the blood flow; 5) taking time out for a moderate to low vigorous pastime activity if one exercises and if one doesn't exercise then engaging in a highly vigorous pastime activity e.g. taking up a sport like boxing; 6) walking on a regular basis;7) having a high daily intake of proteins, fiber, calcium, vitamins AB and C, and iron.

Menu

Perhaps the best and most nutritional menu for a company could include some or all of the following food items (note: this is food for health, not food for taste):

Beverages:

Fresh Mineral Water

Skimmed Milk

Coffee

Fresh vegetable and/or fruit juices

Pomegranate juice as a replacement for soft drinks.

Cinnamon as a sprinkler on coffee, tea or cereals to fight off blood pressure, high sugar and high cholesterol.

Breakfast:

Turmeric as a sprinkler on scramble/boiled eggs or salads.

Snacks:

Cereals

Cheese Bread rolls or whole grain bread slices

Canned Sardines for an appropriate intake of calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese as well as a full complement of B. vitamins to eat with the mixed salad or separately in a sandwich.

Canned or fresh fruits in their raw form, or in the form of juice or salads.

Packed Beets in their raw form or with milk because they are a rich source of foliate and natural red pigments that prevents cancer.

Frozen blueberries combined with crushed almonds to be taken with milk or yogurt.

Lunch or dinner:

Mixed Salads that include cabbages, lettuces, radishes, carrots, pineapples, lemon sprinkling, pumpkin seeds, Swiss chards, capsicums and other green vegetables.

Packaged prunes to eat raw or baked or with salads.

A pasta, vegetable, tuna or salmon with fat-free or low fat dressing

Whole grain breads, whole grain wheat, multi-grain, rye.

Dessert:

Fresh or dried fruits.

Vending Machines:

Packaged cereals.

Packaged dry fruits.

Packaged granola bars and other nutrition-high energy bars.

Summary and Conclusion

It is an established fact that, unless the employees feel valued, the overall production of any company cannot flourish. One of the most recent emphases had been laid on how high quality nutritional intake can influence employee satisfaction and overall production can be increased thereof. The logic behind increases in the focus on improved nutritional intake and the altering health care strategies is because of the rising disease concerns that have drastically increased in the last two to three decades. Hence, the recent efforts to improve the health care policies have been health education at a mass level especially in the workplace where most Americans spend a majority of their day and week. It is believed by many, even though hard core and statistical evidence is missing, that health awareness and knowledge will help the individual and Health promotion programs therefore offer opportunities to educate individuals about how they can remain healthy and active which will help the business as active or healthy individuals are bound to have more positive input as opposed to under fed or dull individuals which can be an aftermath of poor diet or nutrition intake. The increase in health awareness has also been shown to have significant and direct impacts on the internal environment of businesses i.e. It can decrease absenteeism and presenteeism levels, increase profits, increase interaction, increase competitiveness, etc.