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Investing in workplace nutrition and employees’ well-being: still a concern for companies with the increase of teleworking?

Virtual webinar: Register now

According to the International Labour Organization, workers who have access to adequate nutrition can be up to 20% more productive and less prone to accidents. Having a diet that provides all the recommended nutrients is indeed a necessity for workers that might often rely on workplace canteens or alternative benefits (as meal vouchers) to achieve this target. Therefore, investing in workplace nutrition is a high return on investment for the employer and can increase workers’ health, work attendance, morale, efficiency, and productivity.

However, with the quick and massive adoption of teleworking to stop the spread of the COVID-19, the huge majority of workers could not access to workplace facilities anymore, forcing them to adapt and have lunch from home with consequences on nutrition habits and quality of life. Comfort food has been a refuge for some people during isolation and 41% of French people said they had a hard time trying not to snack during the pandemic. An Italian study showed that increased emotional eating was predicted by higher depression, anxiety, quality of personal relationships, and quality of life, while the increase of bingeing was predicted by higher stress.

The current widespread of teleworking to face the sanitary crisis opens the door to a more sustainable implementation of remote work practices when things will come back to normal.

With this in mind, this Policies & Practices’ session will explore the following questions:

• The link between nutrition and physical state, psychosocial risks and work productivity, and how teleworking may affect these relationships;
• Impacts of the current crisis on workers’ eating habits and how teleworking practices may change nutrition modes;
• The need for companies to support workers’ access to food during the working day and to other benefits easing their life, even in remote working conditions.

To address these questions, we will welcome :

	Alex Agius Saliba Member of the European Parliament (S&D, Malta)
	Manal Azzi Senior Specialist on Occupational Safety and Health International Labour Organization
	Christopher Wanjek Freelance health and science writer, author of “Food At Work: Workplace Solutions for Malnutrition, Obesity and Chronic Diseases”