The proof is in the pudding, they say. So let us put our chef hats on and make you a nice bowl of the sweet, sweet dessert. 

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Or should we? 

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Thinking about work productivity rarely includes connecting eating healthy and exercising regularly with a high level of workplace performance. 

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Yes, it’s true that introducing employee work tracking software into company culture leads to a better worker discipline, but your body needs to be able to sustain constant mental and physical challenges for that to work.

By the same token, if you are a boss or business owner who cares about the staff’s well-being, you are probably invested in their leading a balanced, healthy lifestyle. But is that even your business? 

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It definitely is! 

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Not in the sense that you should peek in their refrigerator to see if it’s stocked up with vegetables and granola bars or chicken wings and slushies - even if it’s in the office, but especially if it’s not. Remote worker tracking shouldn’t extend that far. 

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Healthy Eaters Make for Healthy Workers

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At the very least, employees’ bad eating habits are known to create risks for the company in terms of a large number of sick days and high health insurance costs. 

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But more importantly, they can also decrease the overall performance - one unhealthy eater at a time. 

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A study by the Population Health Management journal states that poor eating and exercising habits have repercussions on more than just workers’ waistlines - their productivity levels aren’t enviable in most cases. 

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The WHO also reports that “adequate nutrition can raise the level of productivity by 20% on average”. 

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Note that this kind of employee productivity monitoring is very important for all types of professions. Even though your first thoughts might be of blue-collar workers whenever the significance of eating healthy in a workplace setting is discussed, office employees cannot be excluded from consideration either. 

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Yet another study has proven that good eating habits are crucial for greater cognitive functioning. Eating a non-nutritious breakfast or skipping one leads to behavioral problems and lessened cognitive abilities while working. 

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In fact, our partners at ZeroCater have researched this topic a bit and came up with some rather fascinating numbers. Their infographic displays just how much employee health impacts not only their productivity but affects the company operations as well. 

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It seems that all points from this infographic make perfect sense in terms of worker tracking. It’s inevitable that your productivity is suffering if you don’t provide enough stimulus. 

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Why Is Healthy Eating Important for Productivity

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Just as your car needs premium fuel to run smoothly or your coffee maker needs to be cleaned regularly to avoid clogging up, so do your body and mind in order to function properly. 

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Without getting too medical or technical, let’s examine what happens to your body depending on your eating habits. 

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When you eat, part of the nutrients is broken down into sugars (glucose) as it enters the bloodstream. Our bodies actually like sugars because that is what feeds the brain and gives us energy for daily activities. 

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If you’ve ever had a tough time staying focused in the office while hungry or just generally feeling your work productivity diminishing, you’ve been running low on glucose. And this is why it’s important to start your day with breakfast. But not just any kind. 

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Keep in mind that different food groups are processed at a different rate by our bodies. Carb-rich foods like pasta, bread, cereal, and sugary drinks release glucose quickly which you feel as an energy burst followed by a slump shortly afterward. 

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On the other hand, high-fat meals (usually fried dishes) like cheeseburgers, fries, steaks provide a more sustainable level of energy, but processing is a difficult task on our digestive system. With this food, oxygen levels in our brain are lowered which makes us groggy and sleepy. 

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Companies that actively monitor employee computer activity have noticed a certain level of working slump related to this. Hence, both food types are not really work-conducive - it would be bad to fall asleep at your desk because you overate. 

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Of course, taking power naps is also good for increasing productivity levels, but unless you live in Spain, taking a siesta in the office is probably out of your reach. 

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Maybe that would be a good point in favor of choosing to work remotely? Think about it!

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Why Do We Eat Badly?

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The question remains - if we know the effect different foods have on us, why do we eat badly? 

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If we can muster up the strength to stay focused and work in the office during a hot summer day (and it’s not attendance monitoring), why is it that most of us are having a hard time resisting a bucket of French fries and mozzarella sticks for lunch? 

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It’s a combination of reasons, actually. 

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At lunchtime, we are usually at our lowest point both in terms of energy level and self-control. That influences our food choice significantly - read: it’s much easier to succumb to bad choices. 

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Also, as a rule, unhealthy food is cheaper and more available than healthy options, which makes it easier and faster to get to in the limited amount of time we have to eat lunch. 

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This, of course, is not the case for people who work from home and whose remote time working is not monitored by their companies. 

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And, don’t forget peer pressure! There is always that one person who is seriously trying to eat healthy when everyone else is not - which is why they fail to do so sooner or later. Whether you find it hard to stand out from the crowd or because you can’t resist a slice of pizza when offered, it’s hard to be the only one who wants to eat healthy in the office.

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How to Start Eating Right

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So, how to break the habit?

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First, you can make lunch plans before getting hungry. If you are ordering food for the entire staff, don’t wait for noon - talk about what you all are going to get in the morning when people are still full from breakfast. 

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Second, if you are keeping snacks in the office kitchen, try to switch to healthy options - granola bars, cereal, fresh or dried fruit, nuts, fresh juice. As you’re making the switch, keep this kind of eatables in your eyesight instead of donuts and bear claws. 

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Third, try to eat in smaller portions as opposed to having one big mid-day feast. You won’t be woozy in front of your work time tracker afterward and you can probably snack and perform some of your tasks like catching up on correspondence. 

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 Exercise Is Crucial

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While good nutrition is important for white-collar workers as much as it is for people doing manual labor, a good exercising regimen holds more value for desk-jockeys. 

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Why?

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Since one of the biggest causes of office ailments is the sedentary lifestyle, a healthy diet doesn’t seem to be enough for mentally well-nourished staff members. For those who don’t strain most of their muscles in order to perform work-related tasks, regular body exercise is as important as good hygiene. 

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Don’t worry, nobody in their right mind is going to order you to run to the office and then measure how productive you are. Even if you work from home, that’s not how remote employee tracking works. 

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However, light physical activity before work has been proven beneficial for maintaining mental agility and a high level of work performance. Simple things like riding a bike to the office, parking on the other side of the parking lot and walking the rest of the way, or walking around the office while returning phone calls - all of them can bring a positive change in the way you handle your workload and contribute to overall employee productivity. 

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In that sense, why not encourage staff to become more physically active? Your company can offer free gym or spa treatments and organize team-building events in nature. The entire office can participate in public races or marathons as a team as well. You can also sponsor local sports teams and get people into sporting events that way too. 

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There are a lot of possibilities if you are really interested in investing in your employees’ well-being and a more healthy future. That way, it makes more sense to monitor computer activities of your workers. 

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No matter how you choose to influence your staff as a manager or business owner, always have in mind that you can’t force a certain type of behavior on them. The best you can do is lead by example - both in terms of good eating habits and physical activity. 

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So, start eating right first and the rest will follow. Start running slowly and the rest will catch up with you eventually. 

This article was originally written on February 28th, 2017 by Gina Ora. It was updated on June 18th, 2020 by Aleksandra Djordjevic.