With the rise of remote work, employee wellness garnered renewed attention from companies big and small. In this article, we share four tips for companies looking to include food perks in their employee wellness plans.
What is a wellness plan?
The goal of an employee wellness plan is to reduce stress and ultimately increase happiness and overall productivity. Most programs take a holistic approach, encompassing a variety of aspects including mental and physical health. Usually, these plans include a competitive paid time off policy and health insurance package, including access to mental health help.
In addition to the basics, your wellness plan may also incorporate fun benefits that support your company culture. Many companies include perks like stress management classes, a gym membership, and a meal plan. One study found that employees who are provided food at work see a 20% increase in overall happiness and satisfaction with their jobs. If you’re interested in building out a food program, here are four tips to consider.
#1: Build out a robust food program
A food program should be a core pillar of your employee wellness plan, complete with a thoughtful strategy. You should build out your meal perks with your unique goals in mind. If the majority of your company is remote, your food program might seek to boost connection amongst staff. If you’re in an industry with busy seasons or overtime, your meal program might focus on feeding team members during peak times. It’s important to clearly document what your food program looks like and communicate this to your team.
#2: Focus on health
Physical health is a key component of any wellness plan. Your food program can go beyond providing meals to include additional benefits like access to a nutritionist. This could be free 1:1 sessions or recurring informational sessions offered to the company. Additionally, you can facilitate connections by allowing your team to share healthy recipes and meals to order from their favorite local restaurants.
#3: Offer recurring meal perks for work lunches
Meal perks can be a powerful tool to recruit new employees and retain existing ones. Many companies are boosting employee morale by offering recurring meal budgets. This could be a weekly stipend so staff can order their favorite meal wherever they’re working. For those in the office, this might be company-provided individually boxed catering or group orders.
#4: Host culture-building team events
Since a wellness plan should support your company culture, it’s important to include fun, team-building events and activities. Meals have always played an important role at these events, so they should certainly be included. Your events should focus on wellness, such as team yoga, a healthy cooking class, or an informational lunch and learn with a guest speaker.
Building a cost-effective meal program
While most companies want to offer best-in-class wellness programs for their employees, budget is always an important factor. With a corporate ordering solution like Grubhub, you’re offered budget controls to fit your business needs. One way to maximize your budget is by setting an ordering window. This is typically used for team-wide events like a lunch and learn. You can offer a $20 budget and set an ordering window so your employees can only order during the time of the event. This does allow your team to pre-order food to be delivered during this window so it arrives just in time for the activity. If staff want to go over the $20 budget, they can simply use their own credit card to pay for the overage. It’s free to sign up for a Grubhub Corporate Account, and you’ll only pay for the meals that are actually ordered by your team, making meals a cost-effective addition to your wellness plan.
Interested in more information about using a Grubhub Corporate Account as a part of your wellness program?
