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Cooking facilities 'could cut staff illness'

Published On 28 March 2007 at 08:38:53

The owners of Britain's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been urged to ensure they provide employees with the facilities to improve their diet while at work.

Joanne Lunn, a nutrition scientist for the British Nutrition Foundation, said that the lack of faculties - such as fridges and microwaves - in many workplaces meant that too many employees opted for unhealthy takeaway at lunchtime.

"I think what employers could do is provide facilities for their staff to bring food in and store it correctly. Providing plenty of fridge space and a microwave or toaster or something, so that people can bring their own food and prepare their own food in the kitchen at work," Ms Lunn explained.

She added that making sure employees ate a healthy diet at work could also help improve the efficiency of SMEs, explaining: "We know that a healthy diet is important to keeping our bodies functioning properly and we're even beginning to see links between a healthy diet and mental wellbeing."

Ms Lunn added that she would "be surprised" if research in the future did not suggest that poor work diet was causing many workers to take sick days.

Official government figures show that UK businesses, including SMEs, lose 30 million days of work every year through employee ill health caused by their jobs.

In total, two million people in the UK in 2005/6 suffered from an illness either caused or made worse by their work.

 

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