THE HEALTHYHANDBOOKTHE HEALTHYHANDBOOKThe ultimate guide to healthier food and drink in your workplace

Healthy Choices Healthy Futures is a component of the WA Healthy Workers Initiative which is jointly funded by the Western Australian and Australian Governments

THE HEALTHYHANDBOOK

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For more information on the Healthy Choices Healthy Futures program, please contact the WA School Canteen Association Inc:

w: (08) 9264 4999

b: www.hchf.com.au

m: hchf@education.wa.edu.au

Using this handbook 04

Introduction 06

Workplace nutrition 07

Before you get started 08

Workplace food environments 10

Policy and guidelines 15

Catering 18

Onsite outlets 21

Vending machines 24

Workplace facilities 28

Fundraising 32

Review 34

Tools and resources 35

References 36

To navigate The Healthy Handbook with ease, simply click an icon to jump to a particular section.

To return to this navigation page click the icon.

1.3 Structure of The Healthy Handbook

Food environments

1.2 Healthier Workplace WA (HWWA) Plan, Do, Review

The focus of this resource is on changes that can be made to the key food environments, particularly through environmental reform and policy/guidelines.

The Healthy Handbook provides simple steps within each food environment to Plan, Do, Review:

Points to consider before you get started, including methods for collecting baseline data

PLAN

Look out for these icons, which will lead you through the Handbook and provide extra information:

The Healthy Handbook is designed to complement the Healthier Workplace WA ‘Plan, Do, Review’ Guide, which outlines steps to plan, deliver and review your workplace health and wellbeing program.

Objectives and corresponding strategies are important

DO

Evaluation measures, reporting and sustainability

REVIEW

RESOURCES

This icon provides useful tips and important information to consider

TIPS

EVIDENCE

This icon highlights relevant research and case studies to provide background information and evidence to support your healthy food and drink program

The Handbook is supported by additional resources, tools and templates to help you implement strategies in your food environments. These icons indicate that a relevant resource is available at hchf.com.au (green icon) or healthierworkplacewa.com.au (blue icon)

More information on these food and drink categories can be found in the Healthier Food and Drink Guide

In the workplace, healthier (‘green’) choices should be encouraged and promoted widely, while less healthy (‘red’) choices should be discouraged and have limited availability.

Green Items Amber items Red items

Greater nutrient value and are low in saturated fat, added sugar and salt.

Examples include fruits and vegetables, lean meats, low fat dairy products, wholegrains, eggs and legumes.

Some nutritional value but contain moderate amounts of saturated fat, added

sugar and/or salt and can contribute to excess energy intake.

Examples include low-sugar drinks, full fat dairy products and white varieties of

breads and cereals..

Limited nutritional value, are energy dense, high in saturated fat, sugar and salt. For this reason, ‘red’ foods have not been included

in this guide.

Examples include sweet biscuits, confectionery, sugar sweetened drinks

and deep fried foods.

Throughout this Handbook, there are references to 'healthier' food and drink. This definition is based on nutrient criteria which categorise food and drink as either 'green', 'amber' or 'red' based on the following definitions:

Food and drink categorisation

Healthier Food and Drink Guide

Using this Handbook

1.1 The aim

Whether your workplace

wants to, or is in the process

of developing a healthy food

and drink program or looking

to build on an existing one, The

Healthy Handbook provides

information to assist in planning,

delivering and reviewing

your healthy food and drink

objectives and strategies in

order to work towards your

workplace nutrition and wider

Workplace Health Promotion

(WHP) goals.

Although the Handbook

focuses on environmental and

policy approaches to nutrition

in the workplace, it is

important to acknowledge that

they complement individual

approaches (e.g. nutrition

education sessions or one-on-

one consults).

The aim of this Handbook is to provide employers with easy, simple and realistic steps towards creating supportive environments, by influencing the supply of food and drink within the workplace.

Vending machines

Catering

Onsite outlets

Facilities

Fundraising

PLAN, DO, REVIEW

This icon will appear throughout the Handbook to indicate the relevant stage of progress

4 5U S I N G T H I S H A N D B O O KU S I N G T H I S H A N D B O O K

2.1 Health and productivity in Australia

Australia is currently experiencing a significant increase in the burden of chronic disease.

A 2010 report found that 96% of working-age

Australians had at least one chronic disease risk

factor and 72% had multiple risk factors1.

The modifiable risk factors contributing to the

greatest disease burden are tobacco smoking, alcohol misuse, poor diet, physical inactivity and unhealthy weight.

These risk factors contribute to reduced

productivity levels and participation in the

workplace and the community, and place a

huge amount of pressure on the Australian

health system.

Unfortunately, Australian workers are leading

increasingly inactive lifestyles. When combined

with an ageing workforce, high employee

stress levels, the significant overconsumption of

unhealthy foods and a culture of alcohol misuse,

it’s clear to see why the general health and

wellbeing of our working population is a cause

for concern.

Given the well-established relationship between poor health and reduced workplace attendance and performance; the health of

many Australians presents a worrying state

of affairs for the Australian economy. Recent

studies have found that the loss of productivity

due to obesity was estimated to cost the

economy $6.4 billion each year2 and in 2009/10,

the total cost of presenteeism to the Australian

economy was estimated to be $34.1 billion3 .

Workplaces all around Australia are feeling the

impact of the current health of our workforce

through diminished productivity, high stress

levels, poor job satisfaction, increased sickness,

growing absenteeism and high staff turnover.

With half of the world’s population spending at

least one third of their time in the workplace4,

health promotion experts have long recognised

that the workplace setting represents an important opportunity to impact large groups

of individuals and create support systems to

maintain lifestyle changes5. This is echoed by

the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Global

Plan of Action on Workers’ Health 2008 – 20176,

that identifies the workplace as a key setting to

influence health.

Australian Governments have also committed

to reducing the risk and prevalence of chronic

disease in our community utilising the

workplace as a setting through the Healthy

Workers Initiative, originally funded under the

National Partnership Agreement on Preventive

Health (NPAPH)7 and now the WA Department

of Health.

2.2 Workplace health promotion (WHP)

WHP refers to the combined efforts of

employers and workers that encourage and

support healthy lifestyle habits, making healthy

choices at work the easy choices.

The goal of WHP is to build and maintain a workplace environment and culture that supports healthy lifestyle choices.

2.3 Benefits to workers and employers

Business Case for Management

Introduction

Workplace nutrition

Workers spend the majority of their day at work and as a result tend to consume a large proportion of food and drink over the course of the day. A nutritious diet helps to maintain energy levels and concentration, so the ability for workers to select healthy choices is important.

3.1 Goal of workplace nutrition

To improve worker access to nutritious food and drink by increasing the knowledge, choice and availability of healthy food and drink items in the workplace.

3.2 Healthy eating in the workplace

Healthy eating involves enjoying a wide variety of nutritious foods such as fruit and vegetables, wholegrains, reduced fat dairy products and lean meats, as well as limiting intake of foods containing saturated fat, added salt, added sugars and alcohol8.

The Australian Dietary Guidelines recommend adults consume two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables every day. However, 49% of working adults are not meeting the recommended intake of fruit and vegetables9.

Food is increasingly becoming an important workplace tool, which helps to encourage socialisation, aid collaboration, as well as increasing worker health, happiness and morale. This in turn, can have a positive effect on worker retention10. For these reasons it can be in the employers interest to encourage healthy eating in the workplace. This can be achieved through nutrition focused WHP.

3.3 Approaches Approaches that can be used to improve eating and drinking behaviours in the workplace include:

• individual (e.g. nutrition education sessions, cooking demonstrations, one-on-one dietitian consults)

• environmental (e.g. kitchen facilities, healthy options in vending machines/cafes or at catered events)

• policy (e.g. healthy food and drink policy/guidelines).

3.4 Combination of approaches to achieve goals

A guiding principle of WHP is to use a comprehensive, multi-level approach that incorporates a range of interventions and approaches. Utilising a comprehensive approach enables:

• workplaces to influence employees at multiple levels

• each approach to be complementary and not disconnected

• the maximum potential benefit to be achieved.

3.5 Environmental and policy approaches

Although a combination of approaches is best practice for WHP, this Handbook looks specifically at the environmental and policy approaches, which can complement the individual approaches to workplace nutrition.

The goal of these approaches is to create supportive environments where healthy behaviours are encouraged by influencing the supply of food and drink in the workplace.

In short, to make the healthy choice, the easy choice.

76 WO R K P L AC E N U T R I T I O NI N T RO D U C T I O N

McMullen Nolan Group Case Study

Medium-sized business (20-199 workers)

Professional, scientific and technical services

Perth metropolitan area

On the Go workforce Vending machines

• McMullen Nolan Group was interested in improving food storage facilities for their 'on the go'/mobile workers

• The workplace undertook a survey to assess the current situation, identify needs and provide an opportunity for staff to make suggestions regarding food storage preferences

• With the help of a HWWA workplace grant, McMullen Nolan Group was able to trial portable car fridges for staff

• Obtaining feedback and taking staff preferences into account helped to increase the acceptability of the new facilities, which aided both the implementation and sustainability of the initiative.

Before you get started

Step one: Gain management support

Step two Identify a coordinator

Step three: Develop a working group

Step four: Consult with staff

Step five: Assess the current situation

Step six: Identify key workplace food environments

Step seven: Develop a healthier food and drink action plan

Step one: Gain management support• Making sure everyone in the workplace is supportive of your

health and wellbeing program is important. Getting the support of senior managers is especially important as they can commit money and people to the program and in turn, can help make it a success

• If managers support the goals and participate in the program; workers will be more likely to be enthusiastic and motivated to join in

• A great way to gain management support is to provide evidence of the benefits of workplace health and wellbeing. You could develop a written business case proposal or deliver a presentation on the benefits of investing in workplace health, or use existing resources such as HWWA's Business Case for Management.

Business Case for Management

Step two: Identify a coordinator

Identify a key person or multiple people who will be responsible for making the program happen

• In larger organisations the person responsible for workplace health promotion may already be identified and work in Human Resources, Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) or Health and Wellbeing

• In smaller organisations this responsibility may be assumed by a manager or a volunteer who is enthusiastic about health and wellness

• Allocating time and resources to the person in this role will assist them to deliver the program within normal working hours

Step four: Consult with staff

It is important to speak to staff and listen to their wants, needs and concerns about WHP strategies. By engaging staff early on, you create a feeling of ownership and can collect information that will allow you to make better decisions about what approach to take.

Why consult with staff?

• To determine wants, needs, knowledge and attitudes towards workplace health

• To advise staff of changes, promote programs and encourage participation.

Deciding when to communicate with staff can depend on various factors:

• Size or complexity of changes

• Worker attitudes towards change.

• HWWA's resource 'Consulting with Staff' details methods of consultation including example survey questions.

Consulting with Staff

Step five: Assess the current situation

Identify the current situation in your workplace by asking the following key questions:

• What are the barriers and enablers to organisational change?

• Does your workplace have a health and wellbeing committee/working group?

• Does health already play a large role in workplace culture?

• Do health and wellbeing champions exist in your workplace?

• Is there a budget or subsidies available for WHP?

• Is there an existing plan or strategy outlining WHP activities?

• Is there management support for WHP?

You can complete a workplace profile questionnaire which will provide a summary of the key barriers and enablers at your workplace.

Step six: Identify key workplace food environments using the diagram overleaf

• What are key sources of food and drink in your workplace?

• Are there a number of settings within the workplace where workers access food and drink?

Workplace health and wellbeing champions

• A workplace health and wellbeing champion is someone who is passionate about health and wellbeing

• They may volunteer their time to take the lead in encouraging others to make healthy choices

• Champions can be vital in building enthusiasm and motivating other staff to get involved

• There can be multiple champions across business areas

• Workplace champions usually work in conjunction with a coordinator and may form a committee/working group.

The role of workplace health and wellbeing champions

• Helping to spread the message by promoting activities to co-workers and motivate them to get involved

• Coordinating and leading activities for staff e.g. a lunchtime salad club or a walking group

• Listening to staff ideas, issues and concerns and communicating this information back to management

• Having a voice when planning WHP activities

• Increasing the workers sense of ownership.

Step three: Develop a working group

For medium to large organisations, developing a working group is a great way to get support from different levels of your organisation and to encourage participation in the program. Include people from all parts of the organisation for example, building management, OHS and senior staff.

The role of the health and wellbeing coordinator and/or the working group is to:

• identify the most important needs in the organisation by consulting with staff

• find out what resources, facilities and assistance are needed

• identify potential barriers or concerns that may slow progress

• develop an action plan

• organise, prioritise and implement program strategies

• evaluate the program to see if the goals and objectives are being achieved

• find out if workers are participating and are satisfied with the program.

PLAN

8 9B E F O R E YO U G E T S TA RT E DB E F O R E YO U G E T S TA RT E D

Workplace food environments

‘On the go’ workforce

Food and drink consumed by a

mobile or ‘on the road’ workforce.

Self catering

Food and drink brought from home.

Off-site purchase

Food and drink bought from

a local outlet.

Food van

The provision of food and drink by

an external mobile provider.

Informal food supply

The food and drink provided at

staff birthdays or impromptu

workplace functions.

Wo

rker

influ

ence

Oth

er

Onsite café / canteen / kiosk

The canteen, kiosk, or café at the workplace.

Vending machines

The food and drink available

through onsite machine/s.

Workplace facilities

The facilities provided to

workers e.g. microwave,

provision of milk, coffee etc.

Catering

Food and drink provided at

functions and events, including

training courses, meetings and

functions provided by an external

provider or by internal staff.

Wo

rkp

lace

Influ

ence

Wo

rkp

lace

Influ

ence

Fundraising

Food and drink at fundraising or

social club events, and used as gifts or

rewards.

10 11U S I N G T H E S E G U I D E L I N E S U S I N G T H E S E G U I D E L I N E SWORKPLACE FOOD ENVIRONMENTS WORKPLACE FOOD ENVIRONMENTS

Catering: pastries provided at morning

teas

Onsite café/canteen/kiosk: vast array of

deep fried food options

Vending machines: crisps, chocolate bars,

soft drinks

Workplace facilities: kitchen appliances

(e.g. toaster, blender, fridge) to encourage

food preparation

‘On the go’ workforce: access to car

fridges or cooler bags for cold storage

Self-catering: cooking demonstrations;

the sharing of healthy recipe ideas among

staff

Off-site purchase: nutrition education

sessions to encourage the selection of

healthier choices

Food vans: limited range of healthy food

and drink options

Fundraising: chocolate box fundraisers

Informal food supply: birthday cake

culture, communal lolly jar

There are many sources of food and drink within the workplace that can influence (either encourage or discourage) healthy eating in the workplace.

Consider the following examples:

Step seven: Develop a healthier food and drink action plan

• This sounds like a much scarier task than it actually is

• An action plan provides clear direction and clarity about what steps need to be taken in order to achieve the desired outcome

• An action plan can be as simple as a list of dot points to begin with, and once the ideas have developed, your action plan will evolve into something more comprehensive that can be incorporated into your broader WHP plan.

Key components:

Describes the aim of your healthier food and drink plan and what you want to ultimately achieve. For example:

• To create supportive environments where healthy behaviours are encouraged by influencing the supply of food and drink in the workplace.

Goal

Needs to be as specific as possible as objectives stipulate how a goal is to be achieved.

• Consider how objectives can achieve your goal across different levels in the workplace

• Incorporate the key food environments that are relevant to your workplace

• The table overleaf provides example goals and objectives.

Objectives

DO

Goal

To create supportive environments where healthy behaviours are encouraged by influencing the supply of food and drink in the workplace

Approaches

Individual Environmental Policy

Objectives

Increase the sale of healthier food and drink items in the staff vending machine and by YYYY (insert year)

Increase the number of healthier food options on offer at catered events and by YYYY (insert year)

Increase staff support for healthier food and drink choices in the onsite canteen

Example goals and objectives:

Accessibility

If you want to increase or decrease the popularity of a food item, make it easier or harder to access, respectively

Availability

Modifying what’s available has been shown to change consumers’ choice in a healthier direction

Education

Nutrition education sessions for example can encourage the selection of healthier choices

Food preparation

Promoting healthier cooking methods and improving access to healthier ingredients and facilities can encourage healthier food preparation

Policy

Policy can provide structure, direction and clarity around the food and drink options available and support workers to make healthier choices

Portion size

Given that increasing the portion size of food and drink increases overall comsumption11, use its influence to increase consumption of healthier foods

Positioning

Modest changes to the positioning of foods can influence intake, without having to modify the actual choices on offer. For example, place healthier items in prominent positions

Pricing

Pricing strategies are powerful in influencing product choice. Lowering the price of healthier foods and raising the price of less healthy alternatives can shift purchases towards healthier food options12

Promotion

Promotion has shown to have a small but significant effect on food and drink sales. For example, a menu item’s position within a list can affect selection

For each of your objectives, there are certain strategies you may use in order to achieve your desired outcome

Strategies

Each of these are discussed in more detail in each food environment section. Consider how strategies can achieve your objectives and wider goals, for example:

12 13U S I N G T H E S E G U I D E L I N E S U S I N G T H E S E G U I D E L I N E S

Step six: Identify key workplace food environments (continued)

WORKPLACE FOOD ENVIRONMENTS WORKPLACE FOOD ENVIRONMENTS

• Any resources and tools that may be needed to support the program including materials, time and money. Establishing this at the outset may help to ensure there are no surprises along the way

» Who are the people who will coordinate or run the program?

» Who can assist you in progressing the goal?

» Who has to approve changes to the food environment?

• The data you will collect to evaluate the success of your program

» Make your hard work and effort count and ensure you are able to demonstrate what change you have achieved

» To measure this change, it is crucial to collect baseline data before the program begins (pre-intervention). After 6-12 months, collect data again (post-intervention)

» This will allow you to identify any changes observed in your objectives and therefore determine if the intervention was successful or not.

• A time-frame that clearly outlines when and for how long activities will run

» Where does food environmental change fit within greater organisational priorities?

» When is a suitable time to progress?

» Will the activities run for long enough to see results?

» Collect baseline data

» To collect baseline data, make a list of what's currently on offer in your food environment, including brand names, portion size and price

» This provides an important baseline to measure against once you start making changes

» Your objectives will help determine the type of data you need to collect, for example:

Data Collection

Sales data Supply data Staff survey

Objectives

Increase the sale of healthier food and drink items in the staff vending machine by X%*

Most/least popular items sold

Percentage of ‘green’, ‘amber’, ‘red’ items sold

Self-reported behaviours regarding the purchase and consumption of food and drink

Increase the number of healthier food options on offer at catered events by X%*

Number of different food and drink items available

Percentage of ‘green’, ‘amber’, ‘red’ items on offer

Increase staff support for healthier food and drink choices

Identify needs, wants and/or knowledge regarding WHP, as well as support for:

• WHP activities

• food environment reform.

Policy and guidelines

PLAN

DO

The implementation of policy or guidelines is a useful strategy as they can help to underpin and support overall changes to workplace food environments.

• Policy and guidelines can help to:

» provide structure, direction and clarity around food and drink choices

» support workers to make healthier choices

» communicate the importance of health within workplace culture.

• And can be used either:

» to underpin WHP activities occurring in the workplace, or

» as a strategy to set standards/expectations and support healthy changes.

Difference between policy and guidelines

• Policy – a formal statement/document that outlines governing principles

• Guidelines – a set of recommendations for best practice.

Developing a policy

The Healthier Food and Drink in the Workplace: Policy Template can assist workplaces to develop policy or guidelines. The template is flexible and can be tailored to suit the specific needs of your workplace. It can be used as a stand-alone document but it is recommended that it be used as part of a broader workplace health and wellness program.

Before you start writing it is important to identify if there are any existing policies/guidelines relating to food and drink in workplace. If so you may want to:

• review or revise existing policy

• re-communicate this policy with management and staff.

As you develop your policy, you’ll need to take into account the unique conditions of your workplace, including the nature of existing food and drink environments, food supply contractual agreements and the needs of your workers.

Your policy should include:

• Statement of intent (or a mission statement)

• Objectives – demonstrate how your statement of intent will be achieved

• Strategies – outline the steps that will help you achieve your objectives

• Scope – identify who the policy applies to which may include particular food environments

• Monitoring and review – identify who is responsible for monitoring adherence to the policy and updating/reviewing content.

Examples of these can be found in the ‘Policy Template’.

Policy Template

The table overleaf demonstrates possible policy examples for 'Good', 'Excellent' and 'Best' practice in a variety of food environments in the workplace. Ideally a workplace should aim for the ‘Best practice’ scenario, however this may not be realistic or achievable in all settings. Alternatively, a workplace may introduce policy around ‘Good practice’ at the start of their WHP program and progress to more comprehensive policy as the program matures.

Once goals and objectives have been established, it's important to consider the following:

*Regarding *X%, there are no set rules when it comes to increasing or decreasing healthy vs. unhealthy items. You could start slow (e.g. 10-15%) and once change has been accepted, continue at the same or an enhanced rate.

» Collect post-intervention data

» After changes have been made

» Allow enough time for the changes to be recognised by staff. This amount of time will depend on the complexity of changes and may take weeks or a couple of month

» Ensure you collect the same information that you collected for your baseline data so that you can make comparisons

For more information on evaluation, refer to

REVIEW

14 15WORKPLACE FOOD ENVIRONMENTS POLICY AND GUIDELINES

Good practice Excellent practice Best practice

Policy recommendations

Catering

• Preference is given to catering businesses that offer healthier options.

In addition to the requirements for ‘Good practice’:

• Healthier food and drink choices are requested when ordering from external providers as defined in

In addition to the requirements for ‘Excellent practice’; the standard food and drink choices available include:

• A minimum of [insert percentage, recommended minimum 50%] healthier food and drink choices ('green')

• A maximum of [insert percentage, recommended maximum 20%] less healthy food and drink choices ('red').

Onsite outlets

• The use of healthier ingredients in the preparation of food is encouraged, as defined in

• The use of healthier cooking methods are encouraged as defined in Healthier Cooking Methods

• Specific dietary requirements are catered for

• An allergen checklist is used to assist in identifying common allergens

• Provision of reduced salt sauces and condiments in the dining area/s

• Health and wellbeing information is made available to patrons in the dining area/s.

In addition to the requirements for 'Good practice' and in accordance with Bump the Junk

• The portion size of food and drink is considered

Portion guidelines that incorporate standard serve measures are used as defined in Recommended

serve size appendix

Portion plates are used (where appropriate)

• Consideration is given to the layout of the serving area, which promotes and encourages the selection of healthier items

• Regular promotion of healthier items in the serving and dining area

• Healthier items are competitively priced compared to less healthy items.

In addition to the requirements for ‘Excellent practice’; the standardised menu/s include:

• A minimum of [insert percentage, recommended minimum 50%] healthier food and drinks ('green')

• A maximum of [insert percentage, recommended maximum 20%] less healthy food and drink ('red')

• This applies to all meal options including:

• Breakfast

• Lunch (pre-packaged or cooked)

• Salad bar

• Dinner

• Dessert

• Snack items (pre-packed or cooked).

Vending machines

In accordance with

Healthier Vending Machines

• Healthier products are actively promoted

• Healthier products are displayed at ‘eye level’ to encourage purchase

Pending contractual obligations:

• Preference is given to vending machine suppliers that offer a healthier product list.

In addition to the requirements for ‘Good practice’:

• For every less healthy product, there is a healthier product made available

• Healthier products are competitively priced compared to other less healthy products.

Vending machine is removed

OR

In addition to the requirements for ‘Excellent practice’; the standard food and drink choices available include:

• A minimum of [insert percentage, recommended minimum 50%] healthier food and drink products are 'green'.

• A maximum of [insert percentage, recommended maximum 20%] less healthy food and drink products are 'red'.

Good practice Excellent practice Best practice

Policy recommendations

Facilities

The following facilities are available to employees in accordance with

Healthier Food and

Drink Facilities

• Storage areas – cold (refrigerator), dry (pantry, cupboard)

• Washing up facilities

• Comfortable eating space (tables, chairs)

• Basic preparation equipment (microwave, toaster, sandwich press, knives, chopping board)

• Hot water provision

• Eating utensils

• Staple ingredients (reduced fat/skim milk, tea/coffee, chilled water).

For workplaces who do not have access to an alternative food supply (i.e. supermarket, cafés, onsite canteen) and in addition to the requirements for ‘Good practice’; the following facilities are considered ‘Excellent practice’:

• Advanced preparation equipment (oven, blender, stove)

• Standard pantry items (ingredients employees can access to prepare breakfast/snack/lunch options).

For workplaces who do have access to an alternative food supply and in addition to the requirements for ‘Good practice’; the following facilities are considered ‘Best practice’:

• Advanced preparation equipment (oven, blender, stove)

• Standard pantry items (ingredients employees can access to prepare breakfast/snack/lunch options).

‘On the Go’ workforce

Provide education and/or supporting resources. Regular education sessions on food selection as well as cooking demonstrations by Diabetes WA

• Provision of Healthier 'On the Go' Meals

and Snacks

In addition to the requirements for ‘Good practice’; the following equipment is available to employees:

• A good quality water bottle to encourage ongoing hydration

• An esky or chiller bag with accompanying ice blocks to encourage safe food storage.

In addition to the requirements for ‘Excellent practice’; the following equipment is standard issue:

• Portable refrigerators for work/fleet vehicles.

Fundraising

Discourage the sale of foods high in fat and sugar (e.g. chocolate) for internal and external fundraising.

Healthier alternatives or non-food fundraisers are used and promoted, as defined in the Healthier

Fundraising: A Guide

In addition to the requirements for ‘Excellent practice’:

• Foods high in fat and sugar (e.g. chocolate) are not used for internal fundraising purposes

• The selling of foods high in fat and sugar (e.g. chocolate) for external organisations are not undertaken.

Gifts and rewards

Discourage the provision of unhealthy foods used as gifts and rewards.

Promote and use healthier alternatives or non-food gifts and rewards such as those in the

Healthier Gifts and Rewards: Alternatives to Wine and Chocolate

Only gifts and rewards that are of a non-food nature will be used, as defined in the

Healthier Gifts and Rewards: Alternatives to Wine and Chocolate

Healthier Catering

Healthier Ingredients

16 17P O L I C Y A N D G U I D E L I N E S P O L I C Y A N D G U I D E L I N E S

Catering

Food environment change

Whether catering is prepared onsite or by an external food service provider, there are opportunities to increase the range of healthier options available to staff.

Before you start introducing changes, it may be important to consider the following:

• General considerations

» How often are events catered for?

» How many people are usually catered for?

» What is the catering budget?

» What type of catering is typically undertaken? e.g. staff purchase or provide food for functions (internal catering) or food is provided by an external service provider (external catering).

• For internal catering

» Who is responsible for selecting, purchasing and preparing food?

» Are there food preparation facilities available and to what degree?

• For external catering

» Do you have existing contracts or relationships with catering providers?

» Flexibility of current supplier and their menus/ingredients/cooking methods

» Alternative suppliers who can provide healthier food and drink options.

• Collect baseline data

» What are the typical items ordered? Note this down as this is important data to compare to, once changes have been made.

Strategies Details Considerations Evidence

Increase the range and availability of healthier food and drink

Increase the number of ‘green’ items and/or decrease the number of ‘red’ items. This could involve increasing/decreasing:

• Number of varieties/flavours

• Number of serve sizes.

Consider the variety of choices on offer, as there are often many more than required.

When decreasing the number of varieties on offer, consider retaining the most popular and removing the least popular.

Consider substituting food and drinks for the healthier alternative. For example providing reduced fat milk for tea/coffee instead of regular milk.

Healthier Catering

Over time, small effects can accumulate to become significant, while still ensuring individuals maintain their control over choice13.

Increase the portion size of healthier food and drink

Increase the portion size of ‘green’ items and decrease the portion size of ‘red’ items.

Can be subtle changes e.g. reducing the size of a muffin from large to mini.

Reducing the portion size of particular items can change their coding, for example 97% fruit juice in serve size >250mL is coded ‘amber’, however ≤250mL is ‘green’.

In a school cafeteria study, decreasing the size of bowls reduced the average cereal serving by 24%14.

Educate staff on healthier food and drink options available at catered events

Communicate new or healthier catering options and/or catering policy to staff via

• internal newsletters

• intranet

• noticeboards

• staff meetings.

Being transparent with staff about changes that are being made may encourage input and improve acceptability.

Environmental modifications such as promotional material has been shown to improve dietary behaviour in European worksites15.

Increase the use of healthier ingredients and cooking methods for catered foods prepared onsite

Healthier Ingredients Healthier Cooking Methods

Are the kitchen facilities adequate for preparing food onsite?

Suggested strategies need to adequately reflect the capacity of the current workplace set up.

Commercially prepared meals (e.g. from restaurants, takeaway outlets) tend to have different nutritional qualities to traditional home-cooked meals and are usually more energy dense16.

To improve the food and drink choices on offer at catered events

Goal

Increase the supply of healthier (‘green’ or ‘amber’) food and drinks at catered events

Increase the number of workers who support healthy choices at catered events

ObjectivesWith some clear goals and objectives defined, it’s time to decide how to best tackle food environment change. Each key food environment has been considered, with suggestions and solutions worked through.

DO

PLAN

Food and drink provided at functions and events, including training courses and meetings provided by an external provider or by internal staff.

A Guide to Ordering Healthier Food and Drink From External Caterers

Healthier Catering: A Guide to Assist Workplaces

18 19C AT E R I N GC AT E R I N G

Medium-sized business (20-199 workers)

Agriculture, forestry and fishing industry

Perth metropolitan area and outer metropolitan area

Catering

Western Australian Meat Industry Authority (WAMIA) Case Study

• WAMIA was interested in improving the catering options available for workers

• Catering guidelines were developed to assist with selecting healthier food and drink options for catered events

• The feedback towards healthier catering options has been extremely positive with staff reporting that they didn't particularly miss the unhealthier options.

Implement healthier food and drink policy/guidelines

Policy/guidelines help to underpin the strategies implemented.

These provide a rationale, which you can refer back to or provide to anyone who questions what you are doing. For more information and examples, refer to the policy section

Decide on the approach you want to take.

Policies are stricter in nature and are often synonymous with rules, regulations and protocols.

Guidelines are usually less robust and seek to encourage or guide behaviours.

To engage catering staff successfully, they need to be able to understand the rationale behind healthier catering17.

Promote the healthier food and drink options available for catered events

Colour code external catering menus according to HCHF food and drink categorisation system to highlight and encourage healthier options.

For internal catering, provide a colour coded list of catering suggestions including pre-packaged items and food and drink prepared at home or in the staff kitchen.

Obtain catering menu/s from external provider/s.

To assist colour coding menu items, refer to the

Healthier Food and Drink Guide

Once menu items are colour coded, consider:

• compiling in a catering file for staff to access

• making them available to staff responsible for ordering catering.

Sales promotions can effect consumption patterns by influencing the purchasing choices of consumers. Effects depend on characteristics of the food product, sales promotion and the consumer18.

Strategies Details Considerations Evidence

For more information on evaluation, refer to

Onsite outlets

Consider the following:

• Relationship with food service staff

» Building and maintaining a relationship with food service staff and/or the food service provider is crucial to ensure food environment change is realistic, achievable and sustainable

• Establishing this relationship will allow you to determine:

» Contractual obligations with food service staff and/or external providers

» Support for food environment change

» Suggestions and feedback for food environment change

» Food preparation methods (including recipes, common ingredients and cooking methods)

• Collect baseline data

» Make a list of what’s currently on offer in your food environment, including brand names, portion size and price

» This provides an important baseline to measure against once you start making changes.

Strategies Details Considerations Evidence

Increase the availability of healthier food and drink

Increase the number of ‘green’ items and/or decrease the number of ‘red’ items

This could involve increasing decreasing the:

• number of varieties/ flavours

• serve sizes of menu items.

Consider the variety of choices on offer, as there are often many more than required.

When decreasing the number of varieties on offer, consider retaining the best sellers and removing the less popular items.

In a buffet style intervention, participants who could choose from two vegetable options, compared to one, consumed significantly more vegetables19.

Increase the portion size of healthier food and drink

Increase the portion size of ‘green’ items and decrease the portion size of ‘red’ items.

Can be subtle changes for example:

• reducing the size of a soft drink bottle from 600mL to 330mL

• reducing the size of a packet of chips from 50g to 28g.

Increasing portion size increases overall consumption11.

A study found that people who were served soup from ‘bottomless’, refillable bowls ate 73% more soup than those eating from conventional bowls20.

Modify the size of plates, bowls, cups.

For self-serve outlets, consider decreasing the size of plates, bowls and cups to encourage people to reduce their portion sizes.

Having portion plates on display can provide a guide to workers when serving meals.

People tend to pour more into short, wide glasses compared with tall narrow glasses21.

PLAN

REVIEW

To improve the food and drink choices on offer in the onsite café/canteen/kiosk (onsite outlet)

Goal• Increase the sale of healthier (‘green’ or ‘amber’) food and drink in the onsite outlet

• Increase the supply of healthier (‘green’ or ‘amber’) food and drink in the onsite outlet

• Increase the number of workers who support the need for healthy choices in the onsite outlet.

Objectives

DO

The food and drink available at an onsite cafe/canteen/kiosk often presents additional challenges as an additional party is often involved.

20 21C AT E R I N G O N S I T E O U T L E T S

Educate staff on healthier food and drink options and nutrition in general

Communicate healthy eating messages and/or resources to workers via:

• internal newsletters

• intranet

• noticeboards

• email

Utilise resources/information from:

LiveLighter - livelighter.com.au

Ensure promotions are enticing and that healthier menu items capture customers' attention.

Giving healthy food choices a more descriptive name, for example, 'creamy corn' rather than 'corn', increased sales by 27%14.

Make healthier food and drinks more competitively priced

Decrease the price of ‘green’ items and/or increase the price of ‘red’ items.

Financial feasibility and the fear of reduced profits are legitimate concerns.

Small price increases on less healthier food products together with a price reduction for healthier products has shown to be a financially feasible long term strategy to promote healthier food choices.

In a cafeteria intervention, price reductions on fresh fruit and vegetables were shown to increase consumption four-fold25.

Increase the use of healthier ingredients and cooking methods for foods prepared onsite

Healthier Ingredients Healthier Cooking Methods

Simple substitutions can have a significant impact on the nutritional quality of a dish.

Substituting from a high saturated fat vegetable oil (e.g. palm oil) to a largely monounsaturated oil (e.g. canola oil) reduces saturated fat content by 43% and increases monounsaturated fat content by 23%26.

Implement healthier food and drink policy/guidelines

Policy/guidelines helps to underpin the strategies implemented.

They provide a rationale, which you can refer back to or provide to anyone who questions what you are doing.

For more information and examples, refer to the policy section

Decide on the approach you want to take.

Policies are stricter in nature and are often synonymous with rules, regulations and protocols.

Guidelines are usually less robust and seek to encourage or guide behaviours.

Policies provide a directive for various eating practices, including availability, pricing and advertising, with the overall objective of helping to make the healthy food and beverage, the easy choice27.

Strategies Details Considerations Evidence

Increase the accessibility of healthier food and drink

Rearrange the positioning of products so that healthier items are in easily accessible areas and less healthy items are more difficult to access.

The most accessible locations:

• Point of sale (POS)

• Main walkways

• Near the entrance/exit of outlet

• Front/edge locations of buffet

• Eye level of fridges.

We are more likely to consume less if there is substantial effort required to obtain the food/drink22.

Layout of the area around the outlet

Consider how patrons utilise the space.

Is there a way things can be rearranged to support healthy behaviours?

Placing nutritious foods at the beginning of a buffet rather than the middle can increase purchasing rates14.

Using the influence of serving utensils (such as tongs, serving spoons), increase the size of utensils used to serve healthier items such as salads and decrease the size used for less healthy items such as desserts.

Certain utensils will be more functional that others.

In a buffet style intervention, all ingredients in a salad bar were consumed less when served with a pair of tongs compared to a spoon22.

Increasing the size of a serving spoon by 50% increased the amount of ice-cream served by 14.5%21.

Promote the healthier food and drinks on offer in the onsite outlet

Colour code catering menus according to the HCHF food and drink categorisation system to highlight and encourage healthier options.

Rearrange menus so that the healthier items are at the beginning or the end.

When colour coding menu items, refer to the

Healthier Food and Drink Guide

Placing a food item at the beginning or the end of a menu increases its popularity by 20%, compared to placing it in the middle23.

Label products to indicate:

• their ‘traffic light’ rating

• their energy content per serve

• a ‘new’ or ‘healthier choice’.

Signage in the onsite outlet to indicate healthy meal specials or a ‘new’ healthy range.

Signage from other health initiatives in the outlet to encourage healthier choices:

• LiveLighter - livelighter.com.au

• Australian Dietary Guidelines

Ensure promotions can be updated and refreshed.

In a hospital cafeteria intervention in the US, traffic light colour coding was assigned to all food and drink items according to their nutritional value.

After two years, sales of ‘red’ foods had decreased by 4% and ‘red’ drinks decreased by 9%.

Sales of ‘green’ foods had increased by 5% and ‘green’ drinks increased by 8%24.

Strategies Details Considerations Evidence

For more information on evaluation, refer to

REVIEW

Healthier Snacks The Food File

22 23O N S I T E O U T L E T O N S I T E O U T L E T

Vending machines

• Relationship with supplier

» Having a conversation with your supplier helps to establish important information about your workplace’s vending machine/s, and opportunities that may exist to modify what’s on offer. Important to determine:

» Who currently liaises with vending machine supplier?

» Are there contractual obligations?

» Capacity and constraints of current vending machine/s regarding tray size and number of product slots or spaces?

• Collect baseline data

» Make a list of what’s currently on offer in your vending machine/s, including brand name, portion size and price

» This provides an important baseline to measure against once you start making changes.

Vending machines provide a quick and easy solution for those seeking a small or substantial snack, whatever the time of day.

Healthier Vending Machines: An Employer Guide

To improve the food and drink choices on offer in the workplace vending machine

• Increase the sale of healthier (‘green’ or ‘amber’) food and drinks in the vending machine as sales will depend on supply and worker support

• Increase the supply of healthier (‘green’ or ‘amber’) food and drinks in the vending machine by 10-15% by YYYY (insert year)

• Increase the number of workers who support the need for healthy choices in the vending machine.

Goal

Objectives

Strategies Details Considerations Evidence

Increase the availability of healthier food and drinks

Increase the number of ‘green’ items and/or decrease the number of ‘red’ items.

This could involve increasing/decreasing the:

• number of varieties/flavours

• number of different sizes.

Vending machine contracts. Details to discuss with supplier:

• What is the current capacity?

• How many product selections can be displayed?

• Obtain product list of vending machine options

Trial one product or one row at a time, rather than overhauling the whole machine.

In a vending machine intervention, 50% of the items made available were healthier (‘green’ and ‘amber’) choices and priced 10% lower than usual prices. A combination of these interventions increased the sales of healthier items25.

Increase the portion size of healthier food and drink

Increase the portion size of ‘green’ items and decrease the portion size of ‘red’ items.

Details to discuss with supplier:

• Are the tray spirals able to be manually manipulated to hold different sized products?

Increasing portion size increases overall consumption12. A cinema study showed that movie-goers ate an average of 45% more popcorn from a large container compared to a medium container20.

Increase the accessibility of healthier food and drink

Change the positioning of the vending machine itself. If the vending machine is full of ‘red’ items, make it less accessible.

Alternatively, if the machine is comprised entirely of healthier items, place it in a visible location with high foot traffic.

Consider how and when the vending machines is used.

In a school cafeteria study, the salad bar was moved away from the wall and put closer to the checkout; nearly tripling the sale of salads 14.

Consider product placement within the machine. Healthier products should be at eye level as 'eye level is buy level'.

Details to discuss with supplier:• can the number of trays (rows) in the

machine be altered?

• are there multiple portion sizes available?

In an effort to encourage customers to purchase plain milk over flavoured milk, the plain varieties were displayed in front of the flavoured options and this encouraged increased purchasing of plain milk14.

Promote the healthier food and drink available in the vending machine

Label products to indicate:

• their ‘traffic light’ rating (e.g. ‘green’ or ‘amber’)

• their energy content per serve

• a ‘new’ or ‘healthier choice’.

Signage near the machine to indicate new/healthier products.

Signage near the machine to encourage healthier choices

• LiveLighter - livelighter.com.au

• Australian Dietary Guidelines

For assistance with colour coding vending machine items, refer to the

Healthier Food and Drink Guide

Labelling may require permission from supplier. Supplier may have stickers to label ‘new’ products.

Label healthier products with ‘green’ stickers.

What type of signage is on the machine/s? Can this be changed to promote healthier items?

In a hospital cafeteria intervention in the US, ‘traffic light’ colour coding was assigned to all food and drink items according to their nutritional value.

After two years, sales of ‘red’ foods had decreased by 4% and ‘red’ drinks decreased by 9%.

Sales of ‘‘green’’ foods had increased by 5% and ‘‘green’’ drinks increased by 8%24.

PLAN DO

Before you get stuck into overhauling your workplace vending machine/s, it is worth asking if there is a need for the vending machine/s at all.

If you are in a location with ready access to food outlets, is there a reason why there needs to be a constant supply of snacks on hand that are high in sugar, salt and fat?

If you have opted to keep the vending machine, it is worth considering the current supplier situation.

24 25V E N D I N G M AC H I N E SV E N D I N G M AC H I N E S

Vix Technologies Case Study

• Prior to review, there were no ‘green’ options in the staff room vending machine with over 70% of the choices being classified as ‘red’

• Due to the nature of the organisation, Vix Technologies had complete control over what was stocked in the machines providing huge potential to improve the offerings

• Since the review, the workplace has introduced healthier items with 37% of choices classified as ‘green’ or ‘amber’

• To aid implementation, Vix have introduced a ‘request’ list to obtain staff feedback and preferences for new/different products. Including staff preferences is crucial to the success of a health and wellbeing initiative.

Medium-sized business (20-199 workers)

Information, media and telecommunications

Perth metropolitan area

Vending machines

Strategies Details Considerations Evidence

Educate staff on healthier food and drink and nutrition in general

Communicate healthy eating messages and/or resources to workers via:

• internal newsletters

• intranet

• noticeboards

• email

Utilise resources/information within from:

LiveLighter - livelighter.com.au

Consider the reactions from staff to change – not everyone will accept change readily, but small changes made gradually over time may be more readily accepted.

Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation theory explains that adoption of a new behaviour/product does not happen simultaneously in a group or population.

There are five established categories: Innovators -> Early Adopters -> Early Majority -> Late majority -> Laggards.

Educational strategies need to reflect these different stages28.

Make healthier food and drink more competitively priced

Decrease the price of ‘green’ items and/or increase the price of ‘red’ items.

Financial feasibility and the fear of reduced profits is a legitimate concern.

Small price increases on less healthier food products together with a price reduction for healthier products has shown to be a financially feasible long term strategy to promote healthful food choices.

In a worksite vending machine intervention in the US, priceson lower fat snacks were reduced by 10%, 25% and 50% compared to the higher fat snacks. Low fat snack consumption increased by 9%, 39% and 93% respectively16.

Details to discuss with supplier:

• Possibility of subsidising healthier products with profits from less healthy products.

Studies show that raising the price of less healthier foods by 10% and reducing the price of healthier items by 25% has demonstrated expected revenues to be within 5%25.

Implement healthier food and drink policy/guidelines

Policy/guidelines helps to underpin the strategies implemented.

They provide a rationale, which you can refer back to or provide to anyone who questions what you are doing.

For more information and examples, refer to the policy section.

Decide on the approach you want to take.

Policies are stricter in nature and are often synonymous with rules, regulations and protocols.

Guidelines are usually less robust and seek to encourage or guide behaviours, but are often seen as a reasonable and friendly approach to food environment change.

Policies provide a directive for various eating practices, including availability, pricing and advertising, with the overall objective of helping to make the healthy food and beverage, the easy choice27.

• Conduct a trial with one machine at one site

» Do not overhaul the whole machine at once

» Trial a couple of new products at a time

» Start with simple, easy changes that are more likely to be accepted.

TIPSFor more information on evaluation, refer to

REVIEW

Healthier Snacks The Food File

26 27V E N D I N G M AC H I N E S V E N D I N G M AC H I N E S

Workplace facilities

• Before you overhaul the whole staff kitchen and invest in new equipment, consider:

» What facilities are currently available?

» Are current facilities well utilised?

» What facilities would further encourage healthy eating behaviours in the workplace?

» Is there a preference for particular facilities – it might be beneficial to conduct a survey to determine worker needs/wants.

• Facilities that encourage healthier behaviours:

» Storage areas – allow for appropriate storage of perishable and non-perishable food items

» Washing up facilities – with any type of food preparation, washing up facilities will be required

» Comfortable eating spaces – this can enhance worker cohesion, provides an alternate meeting space and encourages workers to take a break from work-related tasks

» Hot water provision – including a kettle, urn or instantaneous hot water tap.

Basic preparation equipment – together with adequate storage areas, inexpensive food preparation items allow workers to heat up meals brought from home, reducing the reliance on takeaway options for lunch. Examples include:

» Advanced preparation equipment – for workplaces that have the capacity and demand, more advanced food preparation equipment can be provided to assist workers to make healthier meals and snacks onsite. Examples include:

» Staple ingredients – access to a workplace-provided food supply can assist workers to make healthier choices more easily, or space for staff to store their own ingredients is more common for example, tea, coffee, reduced fat milk and basic condiments

» Standard pantry items – for workplaces who have the capacity and demand, standard food items can be available in food preparation areas to encourage workers to consume healthier meals and snacks for example, basic cereals, fruit.

» microwave

» toaster

» sandwich press/mini oven

» can opener

» sharp knives, chopping board

» cling wrap

The facilities provided to workers will likely influence how and when workers eat. Strategies Details Considerations

Increase availability of facilities that enable healthier food and drink choices

The scope of improving availability is significant and may involve some or all aspects of the following components:

• increasing the amount of cutlery

• purchasing additional appliances

• increasing the frequency of fruit basket deliveries.

• Structural constraints, for example, would an additional fridge fit in the current kitchen space?

• Cost

• Logistical issues – number of power points, do all staff take lunch breaks at the same time?

» Storage areas• Cold – refrigerator

• Dry – pantry, shelf, cupboard.

Is there enough storage space to accommodate all staff members?

» Washing up facilities

Sink or dishwasher with appropriate cleaning utensils and detergents.

Who is responsible for maintaining these facilities?

• unpacking dishwasher

• purchasing detergents

• washing tea towels etc.

» Comfortable eating spaces

Tables, chairs. Do all staff take lunch breaks at the same time or are breaks staggered?

If eating space is outdoors, is the area shaded/undercover?

» Hot water provision Kettle, urn or instantaneous hot water tap.

» Basic preparation equipment

• Can opener

• Chopping board

• Cutlery, cups, plates

• Microwave

• Mini oven

• Sandwich press

• Sharp knives

• Toaster

Prioritise equipment that is well-utilised by staff.

Depending on workplace size, capacity and size of kitchen area, multiple appliances may be required.

» Staple ingredients

• Tea, coffee, Milo

• Reduced fat or skim milk

• Chilled water

• Basic condiments.

• Cost

• Supplier

• Replenishment frequency.

To support and encourage healthier eating and drinking behaviours through the use of workplace facilities

Goal

Increase the number of workers who prepare healthy meals and snacks onsite

Objectives

Resource: Healthier Food and Drink Facilities

PLAN

DO

» blender » oven » stove

28 29WO R K P L AC E FAC I L I T I E SWO R K P L AC E FAC I L I T I E S

Strategies Details Considerations

» Advanced preparation equipment

• Blender

• Oven

• Stove.

For workplaces who have limited access to an alternative food supply (due to geographical location or the nature of certain industries etc.) such as supermarkets or cafés, there is a greater need to provide comprehensive facilities to workers to enable them to make healthy food choices.

Provision of these additional facilities is heavily dependent on capacity, workplace size and management support.

For standard pantry items, workplaces may choose to fully or partially subsidise these.

It is important to ensure your workplace has the facilities to safely store these food items.

» Standard pantry items

Consider items that can be provided to encourage onsite food preparation for: Breakfast

• Fruit snack packs

• Liquid breakfast (e.g. UpandGo)

• Cereals

• Reduced fat milk, yoghurt

• Instant oats.

Light lunches

• Wholemeal/wholegrain bread, wraps, rolls

• Sandwich toppings such as reduced fat cheese, tuna, baked beans, tinned corn, spreads.

See ‘Healthier Snacks’ for more ideas.

Healthier Snacks

Educate staff on how facilities can enable healthier food preparation

Cooking demonstrations can help to inspire and encourage staff.

Provision of simple recipes that can be prepared with available equipment/ingredients. Use a reputable provider i.e. Diabetes WA. Use credible sources such as LiveLighter - livelighter.com.au

Implement healthier food and drink policy/guidelines

Policy/guidelines help to underpin the strategies implemented.

These approaches provide a rationale, which are able to be referred to or provided to anyone who queries what is being implemented.

For more information and examples, refer to the policy section

Decide on the approach you want to take.

Policies are stricter in nature and are often synonymous with rules, regulations and protocols.

Guidelines are usually less robust and seek to encourage or guide behaviours.

Whelans Case Study

• Whelans has an impressive kitchen and eating facilities available for staff to use, including a fridge, sandwich maker, oven and storage facilities

• This is complemented by the availability of some basic food items, which are subsidised and available, due to the limited availability of food options in the surrounding area

• The HCHF team provided recommendations of healthier items that could be offered to staff in individual portions

• An improved and increased range of healthier items were introduced to staff and could be accessed throughout the working day:

» Cheese/tuna and biscuit packs

» Popcorn and pretzels (13-25g serves)

» Fruit’n’nut mix (30g serves)

» Fruit tubs (140g)

• The changes provided increased choice, and this was especially important since the office is relatively isolated from places to purchase food

• In addition, the move to healthier items complemented the wider health and wellbeing initiatives on offer at Whelans and helped to send a more consistent message to staff.

Medium-sized business (20-199 workers)

Professional, scientific and technical services

Perth metropolitan area

Workplace facilities

For more information on evaluation, refer to

REVIEW

30 31WO R K P L AC E FAC I L I T I E SWO R K P L AC E FAC I L I T I E S

Fundraising

With many workplaces adopting healthy food and drink policies and implementing health and wellbeing programs, unhealthy fundraising can send a mixed and confusing message to workers.

Consistency of messages in the workplace is key, and the provision of healthy fundraising items and events is another way to promote health and wellbeing in your workplace.

Before you make changes to existing fundraising efforts, it can be important to consider:

• what is currently used to fundraise?

• is fundraising for internal (e.g. social club) or external (e.g. charity) purposes?

• what healthy fundraising options are available?

• is there an existing healthy food and drink policy in the workplace?

Fundraising in the workplace refers to food and drink at fundraising or social club events, and when used as gifts or rewards.

Strategies Details Considerations

Increase the availability of healthier fundraising items

Substitute less healthy fundraising items for healthier alternatives.

Examples of healthier fundraising items can be found in

Healthy Fundraising: A Guide

Or simply decrease the number of unhealthy fundraising items.

Consider what the fundraiser is for:

• Does it benefit the workplace specifically?

• Is it for an external cause?

Increase accessibility to healthier fundraising items

Position healthier fundraising items in locations with a high volume of traffic and less healthy fundraisers in locations with less traffic.

Implement healthier food and drink policy/guidelines

Policy/guidelines help to underpin the strategies implemented.

They provide a rationale, which you can refer back to or provide to anyone who questions what you are doing.

For more information and examples, refer to the policy section

Decide on the approach you want to take.

Policies are stricter in nature and are often synonymous with rules, regulations and protocols.

Guidelines are usually less robust and seek to encourage or guide behaviours.

To encourage healthier food options and/or non-food alternatives for fundraising in the workplace

Goal

• Increase the supply of healthier (‘green’ or ‘amber’) food options and/or non-food fundraising alternatives

• Increase the number of workers who support healthier food fundraisers and/or non-food fundraising alternatives

Objectives

Healthier Fundraising: A Guide

‘Healthier Fundraising: A Guide’ provides creative alternatives to the standard chocolate fundraisers to assist in the planning process. Alternatives include healthier food options, as well as non-food items and events.

Medium-sized business (20-199 workers)

Professional, scientific and technical services

Perth metropolitan area

Fundraising

Whelans Case Study

• With a comprehensive health and wellbeing plan already in place, Whelan's management wanted to ensure that fundraising activities were not sending mixed messages to staff

• With the help of HCHF, management reduced the number of chocolate fundraising boxes from seven to four and in some cases, switched to smaller portion sizes

• The changes were pitched as complementing the wider health and wellbeing program and feedback from staff has been overwhelmingly positive.

PLAN

DO

For more information on evaluation, refer to

REVIEW

32 33F U N D R A I S I N G F U N D R A I S I N G

Review

Evaluate your program

Evaluation is an important part of determining the success of any health and wellbeing program. It allows you to:

• collect information on what is and isn’t working

• determine how the program can be improved in the future

• be accountable for money/resources/time invested

• collect evidence to justify future activities.

The approach you use to evaluate can be simple or comprehensive, depending on range of factors including the complexity of your WHP program.

Simple

• Anecdotal feedback from workers (e.g. informal conversations)

• Suggestion/feedback box

• Changes to the workplace that have been implemented as a result of WHP activities:

» New policy/guidelines

» Additional facilities

» Different menu/product range.

More comprehensive

• Collect the same type of data that was collected for baseline so that a comparison can be made

• Compare baseline and post intervention data

• Highlight any differences in:

» needs, wants, knowledge or attitudes of workers

» behaviours (eating or purchasing)

» the sale of food or drink items (proportion of ‘green’, ‘amber’, ‘red’)

» the supply of food and drink items (proportion of ‘green’, ‘amber’, ‘red’).

Use this review process to see what is and isn’t working.

Tools and resourcesExpand on what is successful

• Vending machines – extend healthier range to another row

• Onsite outlet – roll out similar strategy on additional sites

• Catering – implement catering guidelines to complement new catering selections.

Make changes if unsuccessful

• Trial different products/meal options/fundraising items.

Report back

Report back to your committee/working group on the changes you made, if they were successful and plans for the future.

Share this information with management, employees, food service staff and/or external provider etc.

Sustainability

The nature of this type of initiative (environmental reform) is inherently sustainable, especially if a healthier food and drink policy exists.

However you may want to:

• establish a written agreement with the vending machine supplier/catering company

• ensure negotiations/discussions with the supplier remain transparent and that more than one employee (perhaps the committee/group of champions) is aware of the progress to date

• promote the successful changes that have been made

• Consider expressing your results, for example:

» Vending machines: downsizing from a regular-sized (50g) packet of chips to a snack-sized (28g) packet of chips can save you 438kJ, the equivalent amount of energy required to walk up a flight of stairs for 9 minutes

» Catering: choosing a fruit cup (120g) instead of a chocolate bar (53g) can save you 656kJ of energy (14 minutes stair climbing), 8.9g of fat, 68mg of salt and 14.9g of sugar!*

• have a promotional day where staff are encouraged to trial new (healthier) food and drink options

• provide free samples of healthy products for staff to try

• launch healthier range to coincide with other nutrition-focused initiatives – either internal activities (e.g. nutrition education sessions) or external promotions (Fruit n Veg Week, Australia’s Healthy Weight Week, National Diabetes Awareness Week or National Nutrition Week).

It is evident that the workplace presents an opportunity to positively influence what staff at your workplace consume. There are a myriad of strategies that can be implemented that take into account your unique workplace context and that can contribute to your workforce being happier, healthier and more productive.

Healthier Workplace WA Plan Do Review Guide

Healthier Food and Drink Guide

Healthier Workplace WA Business Case for Management

Workplace food environments

Healthier Food and Drink in the Workplace: Policy Template

A Guide to Ordering Healthier Food and Drink From External Caterers

Healthier Ingredients

Healthier Cooking Methods

Bump the Junk

Healthier Vending Machines: An Employer Guide

Healthier ‘On the Go’ Meals and Snacks

Healthier Fundraising: A Guide

Healthier Gift s & Rewards: Alternatives to Wine & Chocolate

Healthier Catering: A Guide to Assist Workplaces

Case Study - Western Australian Meat Industry Authority

The Food File

Healthier Snacks

Case Study - Vix Technologies

Healthier Food and Drink Facilities

Case Study - Whelans

*[Exercise required is based on a male (85kg, 175cm, 35 years old) using conversations from http:// www.calorieking.com.au/tools/ exercise_time.php]

34 35T O O L S A N D R E S O U RC E SR E V I E W

References1Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2010). Risk factors and participation in work. Cat. no. PHE 122. Canberra: AIHW

2Medibank Private (2010). Obesity in Australia: financial impacts and cost benefits of intervention. Medibank Private, Australia. Viewed at: http://www.medibank.com.au/Client/Documents/Pdfs/Obesity_Report_2010.pdf. 3Medibank Private (2011). Sick at Work: The cost of presenteeism to your business and the economy. Medibank Private, Australia. Viewed at http://www.medibank.com.au/Client/Documents/Pdfs/sick_at_work.pdf. 4Pridgeon, A., and Whitehead, K. (2013). A qualitative study to investigate the drivers and barriers to healthy eating in two public sector workplaces. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, 26, 85-95 5Glasgow, R, E, Terborg, J, R, Hollis, J, F, Severson, H, H, Boles, S, M. (1995). Take heart: results from the initial phase of a worksite wellness program. American Journal of Public Health, 85, 2:209-16 6World Health Organisation. (2007). Workers’ health: global plan of action. Available from http://www.who.int/ipcs/features/workers_health.pdf. (accessed August 7, 2014) 7Council of Australian Governments (2008), National Partnership Agreement on Preventive Health. Accessed March 7 2012 at http://www.coag.gov.au/intergov_agreements/federal_financial_relations/docs/national_partnership/national_partnership_on_preventive_health.rtf

15 Vyth, E, L, Van Der Meer, E, W, C, Seidell, J, C, Steenhuis, I, H, M. 2011. A nutrition labelling intervention in worksite cafeterias: an implementation evaluation across two large catering companies in the Netherlands. Health Promotion International, 27, 2: 230-7. 16 Brindal, E (2010). ‘Exploring fast food consumption behaviours and social influence’. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia. 17 Eves, A, Corney, M, Kipps, M, Lumbers, M, Price, M, Noble, C. (1996). The nutritional implications of food choices from catering outlets. Nutrition and Food Science, 96, 5, 26-29. 18 Hawkes, C (2009). ‘Sales promotions and food consumption’. Nutrition Reviews, vol 67, no. 6, pp333-42 19 Bucher, T van der Horst, K and Siegrist, M (2010), ‘Improvement of meal composition by vegetable variety’, Public Health Nutrition, vol. 14, no. 8, pp. 1357-1363 20 Wansink, B and Kim, J (2005), ‘Bad Popcorn in Big Buckets: Portion Size can Influence Intake as Much as Taste’, Journal of Nutrition Education and Behaviour, vol. 37, no.5, pp. 242-245 21 Wansink, B van Ittersum, K and Painter, JE (2006), ‘Ice Cream Illusions: Bowls, Spoons, and Self-Served Portion Sizes’, American Journal of Preventative Medicine, vol. 31, no. 3, pp. 240-243 22 Rozin, P Scott, S Dingley, M Urbanek, JK and Jiang, H (2011), ‘Nudge to nobesity I: Minor changes in accessibility decrease food intake’, Judgement and Decision Making, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 323-332

23 Dayan, E and Bar-Hillel, M (2011) ‘Nudge to nobesity II: Menu positions influence food orders’, Judgement and Decision Making, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 333-342 24 MacVean, M (2014), ‘Traffic light’ food labels changed buying habits, study finds’, Los Angeles Times. Available from: <http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sn-traffic-lightfood-labels-20140107,0,1571694.story#axzz2ppdBQD00>[January 2014] 25 French, SA (2003), ‘Pricing Effects on Food Choices’, The Journal of Nutrition, vol. 133, no. 3 pp.841-843 26 Heart Foundation. (2010) ‘The 3 Step Guide: A guide for the Australian Foodservice Industry on reducing trans and saturated fats’. Available from: http://www.heartfoundation.org.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/3-HOIKit-StepGuide_2010_Web.pdf.(Accessed January 2015) 27 Fung, C, McIsaac, J, D, Kuhle, S, Kirk, S, F, L, Veugelers, P, J. (2013). ‘The impact of a population-level school food and nutrition policy on dietary intake and body weights of Canadian children’. Prev Med.vol. 57, no. 6, pp. 934-40. 28 Boston University School of Public Health (2013). ‘Diffusion of Innovation Theory’. Behavioral Change Models. Available from: http://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/SB/SB721-Models/SB721-Models4.html. (Accessed January 2015)

8National Health and Medical Research Council (2013) Australian Dietary Guidelines. Canberra: National Health and Medical Research Council. 9AIHW analysis of ABS National Health Survey 2004–05 and 2007–08 (Reissue) Confidentialised Unit Record File. Available from http://www.aihw.gov.au/diabetes/risk-factors/#table3 10Lewin, K 2013, ‘The Tastiest Corporate Gift’, Unwork. Available from: http://www.unwork.com/wp/2013/08/13/477/ [January 2014]. 11 Wansink, B (2004), ‘Environmental Factors that Increase the Food Intake and Consumption Volume of Unknowing Consumers’, 2004, Annual Review of Nutrition, vol. 24, pp. 455-479 12 Andreyeva, T Long, MW & Brownell, KD (2010). ‘The Impact of Food Prices on Consumption: A systematic Review of Research on the price Elasticity of Demand for Food’, American Journal of Public Health, vol. 100, no. 2, pp. 216-222 13 van Kleef, E Otten, K and van Trijp, HCM (2012), ‘Healthy snacks at the checkout counter: A lab and field study on the impact of shelf arrangement and assortment structure on consumer choices’, BioMed Central, vol. 12, no. 1072, pp. 1-10 14 Wansink, B, Just, D, R, McKendry, J. (2010). ‘Lunch Line Redesign’. New York Times. Available from: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/10/21/opinion/20101021_Oplunch.html [October 2010]

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For more information on any of the topics in this Handbook or on the Healthy Choices Healthy Futures program please contact the WA School Canteen Association Inc:

w: (08) 9264 4999 m: hchf@education.wa.edu.au

b: www.hchf.com.au