Editor-At-large

Eating

IT UP

By Neil Archibald

How many of us are guilty of scoffing a rushed sandwich or grabbing something to eat on the run during the working day, when there might be a canteen, cafeteria or snack-bar on hand to congregate in for nourishment, rest and the chance to catch up with colleagues?

Whatever title is attributed to the place where workers can top up their sustenance levels, which is a legal requirement for employers to provide, the concept has been around for a long time.

The BBC comedy, Dinner Ladies, portrays the works canteen as a place where not just food and drink are dished up but also romance, tittle tattle and the adventures of the somewhat hapless lady from Personnel.

In reality, nowadays this workplace space is often of a bespoke nature being well designed, welcoming and relaxing but with constant consultation needed with all stakeholders to ensure its continued success.

An approach echoed by Marie Arthur, an Account Director with Sodexo, a provider of outsourced facilities management services working with some of Scotland’s major companies, who believes working closely with clients reaps dividends for all involved when providing catering services for staff.

She said: “We adopt a partnership model approach working across clients’ facilities and procurement teams as well as relationships with HR and communications functions also being key.”

Such cross functional working appears to be essential to the successful provision of catering facilities, so taking into account employee requirements, is vital. Sodexo achieves this by conducting biannual surveys covering all aspects of their services and tailoring their offerings accordingly.

Marie commented: “In order to ensure we are meeting customer demand, we do everything from offering tasters of new menus to blind taste testing of coffee beans. All our solutions are customer-centric and we recognise that to be successful, we must have meaningful engagement.”

In practice, this means taking into account different requirements such as healthy eating, a wide range of food allergies and intolerances for some employees as well as catering for the diverse needs of those who are vegetarian and vegan, when offering catering options and dealing with any associated eating and catering requirements.

Sodexo’s approach, for example, ranges from recognising issues linked to religious festivals by incorporating associated dietary requirements for those choosing to fast as well as ensuring choices on offer recognise the need to sustain a healthy and balanced diet.

Many employers that offer food options to their employees develop a link with wellbeing initiatives such as healthy eating campaigns, which Marie works with her clients on.

She said: “We recently introduced a concept called Mindful across 12 sites for a client, which encompasses all aspects of health and wellbeing. While this includes healthy food options, it’s also about promoting home-based healthy eating and wellbeing choices – something which has been intrinsic to our strategy during the current pandemic.”

Linking what staff eat with employee wellbeing, research from Public Health, Scotland shows that a proactive healthy eating workforce has higher levels of productivity, relaxation, concentration and focus. Attention to issues

Linking what staff eat of this kind can also see companies recognised for their efforts such as receiving, for example, a Healthy Working Lives Award conferred by Public Health, Scotland. Providing in-house catering facilities is also catching on with a growing number of small and medium sized enterprises opting to provide this feature for workers. This is where a pragmatic approach in respect to the funding and running of such services must be adopted which, according to the Client Liaison Manager of an Edinburgh-based company offering onsite catering services, demands a certain level of expertise. On condition of anonymity, he said: “A lot of our contracts are now with smaller businesses with between 50 and 100 staff who tend to be provided with a coffee bar style service offering a limited range of products. This has proved successful but which has meant we have had to be creative in terms of ensuring what we are offering is commercially viable.” This is an important point to note as many employers subsidise staff eateries, so taking their eye off the ball in terms of what staff want to line their stomachs with can be an expensive lesson. Something to take account of in this respect is to ensure the environmental impact of what is available in staff restaurants and how staff perceive this. Marie comments: “Particularly on sites where staff are entitled to food as part of their contract, the trend for responsible consumption is important to take account of and has acted as enablers for us to deliver to customer requirements.”

with employee wellbeing, research from Public Health, Scotland shows that a proactive healthy eating workforce has higher levels of productivity, relaxation,

concentration and focus. A company with a slightly alternative approach to feeding its workforce offers the majority of staff the same fare as that enjoyed by customers who visit the organisation’s manufacturing bases.

Johnstons of Elgin, a textile manufacturer for top luxury brands, offers coffee-style shop facilities which staff are encouraged to take advantage of at the firm’s twin sites in Elgin and Hawick.

The employer of 900 offers a range of food and drink freshly prepared at its manufacturing premises and unlike many other onsite catering facilities, the company directly employs staff working in this area of the business.

Simon Cotton, the organisation’s Chief Executive said: “Staff are able to take advantage of a range of food on offer whilst at work and which is made available at a subsided rate. Given the location of our sites, this saves staff time in not having to go off-site for food meaning they can take full advantage of their breaks from work.”

Other, more complex issues for organisations to be aware of looking to feed their staff on company premises need looked into and carefully assessed such as that espoused by the HMRC website for employers that decrees meals taken in a canteen enjoy a total tax exemption but with certain conditions needing to be met first.

All very much food for thought for those outfits keen to ensure the nourishment of their workers is high on the welfare menu but also needing to be aware that anything being dished up needs to be carefully prepared in advance.