Excellent health in the company

Citizen@Work-Swiss (formerly the European Association for the Promotion of Health, AEPS) once again honored companies in Bern for special achievements in the area of workplace health promotion. The Grands Prix Suisse "Corporate Health", worth a total of 15,000 Swiss francs, are supported by Health Promotion Switzerland, Suva and the Federal Office of Public Health and reward innovative projects that demonstrably lead to improvements in employee health.

Practical measures with considerable effect

The winning project in this year's award is the City of Lausanne's "nutriMenu Lausanne" program. Around 2.5 million meals are served annually in its canteens and cafeterias. As part of the project, those responsible have developed an action plan that focuses more on health and the environment. For example, fruits and vegetables were increasingly grown and harvested in-house. A new nutrition concept was applied in more than 159 school canteens, vocational schools and cafeterias, as well as in 49 production facilities and professional kitchens. The project was closely supported by experts. Among other things, this involved mentoring the responsible chefs and kitchen staff. This advice enabled the chefs to deepen and apply certain topics, such as salt reduction, preparing balanced vegetarian meals or cooking with low-fat cooking methods. Together, the meals could thus be made even more balanced and thus healthier.

Nestlé focuses on workplace health promotion

Nestlé achieved second place with various measures in the area of workplace health promotion. The food company with around 3,500 employees in Vevey focused on improving absence management and strengthening managers. In addition, the focus was on dealing adequately with stress and the resources available, as well as on systematic health promotion with various measures related to physical and mental health.

Employees received special care after returning to work. A medical specialist took care of the affected persons even during their absence and planned their return to work together with them.

In the area of stress management and burnout prevention, employees were surveyed about their current state of mind using the S-Tool from Health Promotion Switzerland. Over 1,000 employees took part. The evaluation of the questions provides valuable input for the continuous improvement of working conditions at Nestlé.

Amag management cooks for the workforce

The third prize winner was Amag. The car importer found that employees were increasingly consuming their ready-made sandwiches, chocolate bars and ready-made bircher muesli, as well as sugary sweet drinks, either directly at the workplace or outside the buildings. At the same time, employees complained about the prices, in some cases the quality of the meals, and the poor atmosphere in the existing bistro. As a measure for improvement, the bistro was remodeled. Subsequently, a health chef was hired and the catering offer was revised together with employees.

Unhealthy, very high-calorie offerings were reduced and replaced with dishes featuring regional and seasonal fresh produce. Last year, each month a member of the management team cooked his or her chef's menu together with the health chef and served it to the staff in the bistro. The winning menu, which was determined by employees, will be included on the menu for one year in 2017. This year, employees also have the opportunity to submit a proposal for a health menu.

Tender 2018

Interested companies and organizations are invited to submit the application dossier by October 2017. The evaluation of the works will be carried out by a jury, which will award prizes worth a total of 15,000 Swiss francs. Further information can be found on the website of citizen@work.

Text: Health Promotion Switzerland