Updated on December 30, 2024 by Ruth
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Looking to enhance your company’s wellness initiatives and promote healthier habits among your employees? Consider providing access to fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables. Offering these nutritious options can significantly impact the well-being of your team. Here are three creative ways to support your employees’ health and wellness.
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Host a farmers market
Provide a farmers market once a month at your business. Work with a local farm or farms to provide seasonal and fresh produce that your employees can select. The farm delivers the produce, you set it out on tables, and then let the employees select. If you have more than one shift, be sure to save produce for second or third shift workers!
This can be monthly, quarterly, for a season (once a month for 4 months), or whatever schedule fits you.
Employers who do this find that this quickly ranks as one of the top three benefits for employees. In addition to being able to select what they want, employees appreciate fresh, local, sustainable fruits and vegetables from a family farm.
Provide a Community Supported Agriculture program
Offer a CSA to the employees from a local farm. If your budget permits, provide a certain number of small shares to the employees once a month at no cost. You can also subsidize the cost of a CSA by providing 25%-50% of the cost of the share. The farmer will deliver the shares to your office on a designated day, you set the shares out on tables, and the employees will take them home.
Employers have found that employees look forward to pick up days, start sharing recipes, and commit to eating better. Food is a great way to bring people together.
Have fresh fruit available as daily snacks
Work with your local farm to provide you with seasonal fresh fruit that the employees can pick up as snacks in the morning or afternoon. Apples, pears, berries, etc., make for easy, portable snacks and a more nutritional source of energy than processed foods. When it’s quick to access, it is much easier to eat better food.
Employees can look forward to having a healthy treat and no sugar crash of their metabolism in the afternoon.
Share recipes with the employees
Help your employees figure out how to use this fresh produce. Many younger people don’t have extensive cooking skills, so a little help goes a long way. Your local farm source probably can help you with this, as their customers are also looking for help with recipes.
Consistency is key
As with anything else that you do in your business, it is important to maintain consistency. It may take a month or two for word to spread about the fresh produce, but the word will spread! Once your employees taste how good the fruits and vegetables are, they will be ready to keep on eating well.
Conclusion
Incorporating creative wellness initiatives can have a profound impact on your employees’ health and overall well-being. Whether it’s providing access to fresh, locally grown produce, implementing fun fitness challenges, or fostering a supportive environment, these initiatives can inspire positive lifestyle changes that benefit both individuals and the company as a whole. By prioritizing employee wellness, you’re not only investing in their health but also in a happier, more productive workforce.
If you are close to our farm near Wilmington, Delaware, please come visit. We grow in all four seasons, so we are open year round. If not, please find a farm near you and explore the joys of eating fresh and local.
Happy eating!
~ Ruth
Additional resources
SquareFoot: Your Office Snack Pantry Is Killing Productivity. Here’s How to Fix It.
INFOGRAPHIC: How Food Improves Workplace Culture And Community
