Employees with Balanced Diets Have 10 Times More Energy

Medical News Today
Jan. 2009

Encouraging healthy eating habits through your wellness program may lead to increased productivity levels amongst employees. A recent workplace wellness study, conducted by ComPsych Corporation, revealed only 5 percent of employees with unbalanced diets had high levels of energy, while 50 percent of workers with balanced diets had high energy.

"Energy is a key factor in productivity," said Dr. Rich ard A. Chaifetz, chairman and CEO of ComPsych, the world's largest provider of employee assistance programs. "Lack of energy is also one of the most common health-related complaints we hear from employees." Given the c on n ect i on b et w e en balanced diets and energy, organizations that promote healthy food - as part of a comprehensive wellness program - can expect to see payoff in terms of productivity and performance."

To measure the impact of personal wellness and lifestyle choices of employees' workplace effectiveness, ComPsych surveyed more than 1,000 employees across the U.S. from employers of all sizes and industries.

Additional findings from the 2008 Health and Productivity Index revealed:

• Of employees with healthy diets, 73% reported having high levels of productivity , compared to 24% of employees with poor dietary habits.
  
  
• 51% of ideal weight employees had high morale, while less than half that amount - 25% - of very overweight employees had high morale levels.
  
  
• 57% of healthy weight employees reported high levels of productivity, while only 27% of very overweight employees reported being highly productive.

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