Nestlé’s mission is to be the world’s foremost food, nutrition, health and wellness company. To achieve this, we need a workforce that is healthy, knowledgeable about nutrition and engaged. Our over-arching approach is ‘Transforming well-being into an organisation-wide initiative’.
The three strands of activity are:
- Increased physical activity Nutrition Mental Resilience
- A governance structure was created – led by Nestlé’s Group Chief Medical Officer / Head of Employee Wellness and supported by three Executive Board members: HR, Wellness and Corporate Affairs Directors.
- An External Advisory Group - comprised of external experts on nutrition and exercise plus a National Union Officer – will challenge, support and advise our ongoing programme.
Activities
In the first year of the programme, our attention has been focused on the ‘Increased physical activity’ and ‘Nutrition’ pillars.
In the first activity pillar we wanted to make exercise easier for employees. The solution found was participation in the Global Corporate Challenge (GCC), a unique walking scheme, which helps employees become more active by encouraging them to walk a target of 10,000 steps per day. In 2008, 1,176 (22%) of Nestlé UK’s employees participated and all walked over 12,000 steps daily – 350% more than previously.
On the nutrition side, we reviewed our catering contracts stipulating minimum nutrition standards; we are revitalising our in-house catering to offer employees tasty, nutritionally balanced meals and snacks and we are empowering employees to make better nutritional choices, through the provision of nutrition information (GDA’s).
We have also provided employees with access to an external health screening service run by the Nuffield Healthcare Group and the business is funding 50% of the costs. Employees’ families also have access to the service at a discounted rate.
Achievements
Nestlé UK had 21 teams in the top 1% of global teams in the GCC competition. Nestlé’s top team was 3rd place in the global ranking and they each averaged 28,000 steps a day.
Evidence from our in-house restaurants, suggests that employees are increasingly opting for the healthy choices on offer and are actively using GDA information to make healthier choices.
Awards
Winners of BBC Challenge Award 2006 for the most improved employer.
Signatories of the Business in the Community commitment to board level reporting on Employee Wellness.
Short-listed for the Health Work and Well Being category of the National Business Awards (winners announced late 2008).