The programme – Healthy for Life – will be led by Aramark’s newly-appointed Health and Wellbeing Manager, Candice West, who joins the company from HSBC where she managed employee health and wellbeing.
Healthy for Life will combine both food & nutrition and broader initiatives to provide a comprehensive employee health and wellbeing service across Aramark’s accounts.
Each month Aramark sites will have a new ‘food focus’ with healthy menu items backed by themed customer leaflets, recipe cards and point of sale information. While the first in January, ‘Healthy Eating’, is a generic introduction to food and health, future focuses will include specifics such as ‘Whole Grains’, ‘The Power of Protein’ and ‘Vitamins & Minerals’.
This will be accompanied by a monthly awareness topic, ranging from ‘Heart Health’ and ‘Mental Health Awareness’ through to ‘Sun Smart’ and ‘Back Care and Posture’. In addition to written materials, at larger participating sites the topics will also be communicated through health fairs and guest-speaker visits.
“A robust employee wellbeing programme doesn’t just improve employee health, energy and performance,” said Candice West, “it also brings commercial benefits through increasing staff engagement, helping to attract and retain the best people, and reducing staff absence. What’s more, a proactive and preventative programme can help reduce the cost of reactive measures such as private medical insurance.
“Research among Aramark operators shows that over 80% of our clients are keen to have more health and wellbeing products and services for their employees. Increasingly, our clients are turning to us to either link in with and boost their existing health and wellbeing programmes or, more than that, deliver them in their entirety.
“Healthy for Life is much, much more than a one-off healthy eating promotion of the type you normally see at the start of the year. It’s an ongoing initiative which covers not just food issues such as weight management and nutrition, but also broader wellbeing issues from illness prevention and physical exercise to sound mental health.
“And we’ve backed it all by making ten Healthy for Life commitments to show how Aramark will help enable and encourage our clients to lead healthier lifestyles, while educating them on wellbeing issues and getting them engaged in the healthy living agenda.”