Free fruit in offices ‘would boost productivity’

Employers should offer more free fruit in offices rather than sugary snacks to boost productivity, lower stress levels and encourage healthy eating, new research has found.

Over 80 per cent of employers offer sugary snacks in meetings, rather than healthy alternatives like berries, new figures from trade body British Summer Fruits (BSF) found.

The research questioned 2,000 employees in the UK who said they would have improved better mood, productivity and stress levels at work if healthier foods were provided by employers.

Corporate nutritionist Kate Cook said the results show that companies are subsidising a sugar-laden diet. “Using sugary food as a reward can create an addictive spiral that wrongly associates sugar with spikes in productivity and hard-work,” she said.

“In my experience, the companies that have the lowest staff turnover are the ones that really invest in their staff wellbeing, particularly giving them access to great food choices.

“Enlightened companies are seeing that introducing fresh fruit into the workplace, such as a punnet of berries for breakfast or for snacking on during meetings, leads to improved concentration, productivity, and a reduction in health problems and work absences.'

One third of companies said they provide sugary snacks as fuel or to celebrate good work, while meeting room snacks tended to be fizzy drinks, sugary biscuits and sweets.

Meanwhile, one in ten employees said they are tempted to over-indulge in every meeting and a third eat only because it is in front of them.

Interestingly, over three quarters of employees said they did not know who to speak to in order to put a healthy eating programme in place.

Although many companies offer wellbeing programmes such as ping-pong tables, massages and even slides in the case of Google’s Silicon Valley office, BSF said its research reveals nutritional initiatives should also be front of mind for businesses.

Offering fresh fruit and other healthier alternatives instead of biscuits is a cheap and easy way for UK business to encourage a healthy, positive and productive workforce, BSF said.