DSM, Unilever and Google offer nutrition expertise in case study collection
The Workforce Nutrition Alliance Case Study Booklet, aims to share tips on boosting workforce nutrition via nutritious meals at work and supporting nutrition education.
Created in collaboration between The Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), the publication also includes case studies from Ajinomoto and Quorn Foods.
Other firms contributed to the resource include Eat Well Global, Griffith Foods, Indofood, Kao, and ofi and the Olam Group.
“Over the last 12 months, we have seen more companies join us on our journey, a journey focused on enhancing workforce nutrition programmes and cementing this action through a positive commitment to improve workforce nutrition at work,” says Wai-Chan Chan, Managing Director at The Consumer Goods Forum.
“As with everything the CGF does, our focus has to be on driving actions and sharing knowledge, and this is a great example of the impact we can have when we work together on these key topics."
DSM case study
The case study offered by DSM concerns the promotion of a balanced diet, especially during the pandemic, where employees may struggle to achieve an adequate micronutrient intake.
The introduction of its #optimizeyourimmunity campaigns aimed to address this by providing free access to micronutrients for all employees and their families.
Further efforts were made with the introduction of region-specific meals that included ‘meat, vegetables, staple food, coarse cereals, fruits, low-fat yogurt and drinks’, meeting daily nutritional goals.
“Nutrition programmes in the workplace, including the access to and understanding of good nutrition, are core to our purpose at DSM,” explains Diane Moody, Global Lead Organizational Development, Culture and Change at Royal DSM.
“They demonstrate our commitment to the health and wellbeing of all of our employees.”
Meanwhile, over at Unilever, the corporation’s Healthier U initiative, works to increase awareness among its workforce of healthier eating principles and to improve the nutritional quality of the food offered at its work sites.
The voluntary programme offered to all Unilever employees also extends to a health risk assessment, clinical evaluation and lab tests that help define an individual health risk score.
Depending on this health risk score, the employee is invited to participate in the programme, highlighting issues of adult obesity; diabetes; and reduce raised blood pressure.
Unilever efforts
“As a global business, Unilever is committed to taking a holistic approach to support our employees to improve their health and wellbeing, focusing on nutrition, physical activity and mental health,” says Diana Han, Chief Medical Officer at Unilever.
“By joining the Workforce Nutrition Alliance, we now have access to key tools and resources, like the Scorecard, which have allowed us to see where we need to make menu changes in our cafeterias and we are already seeing the benefits.”
Lawrence Haddad, Executive Director at GAIN adds, “We believe the 'business case' for change is strong.
“With workers spending, on average, one third of their lives at work, the workplace is an optimal point of intervention to contribute to improved health and wellbeing of individuals, their families and society at large,” he adds.
“We are now calling on more organisations to join this movement."
