Opinion: Workforce nutrition is an essential part of ESG reporting

The concept of organizations reporting on Environment, Social, and Governance, or ESG, activities has its roots in sustainability reporting. It isn’t surprising then that there is a common illusion that the E of ESG is the most important element for organizations to focus on. Yet in the spirit of ensuring S and G do not become the poor cousins, we believe that a clear focus on workforce well-being, and specifically nutrition, is a must-have in ESG reporting. Developing a workforce nutrition program may seem daunting but with solid planning, clear commitment to metrics, and robust reporting, organizations can ensure they are supporting pathways for healthier workers, and ultimately, for stronger and more resilient business results. Development of ESG reporting requirements Organizations have become used to reporting on their progress in understanding and minimizing their environmental impact and mitigation efforts, to ensure their operations can continue to thrive without aggravating the current climate and nature crises. And that is, of course, very important. However, the two other elements of the ESG agenda, social and governance, are areas every well-run organization should focus on. After all, nothing is more important than people, which includes employees, suppliers, and customers. In addition, reporting on transparency and good governance provides all stakeholders with the confidence that a business is being well-managed. This is no longer optional: There are new laws coming into force almost daily, mandating the reporting requirements organizations will need to provide; and industry guidance to embed social and environmental considerations throughout an organization’s value chain. The EU’s new Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive as well as other ESG-related disclosure frameworks such as India’s new Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting cover a wide scope of reporting measures and metrics, including the well-being of workers within the organization and throughout their value chain. This consistency shows a very clear trend: Organizations have to do the right thing and also show the world what they are doing. Delivering on the S in ESG — focus on indicators Employees are at the very center of an organization’s social obligations. From a business perspective, it is obvious that healthy workers are more productive. From a human perspective, we all have a duty to look after each other. That combination is what makes workforce nutrition so important. There is absolutely no question about the positive relationship between healthy lives and healthy businesses. The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, or GAIN, has analyzed the potential effects of workforce nutrition programs on nutrition, health, and business outcomes. Comprehensive and targeted workforce nutrition programs yield improvements in nutrition and health outcomes, especially when embedded into broader employee well-being interventions. Targeted programs for high-risk groups, such as overweight/obese or pre-diabetic employees, also showed positive outcomes for nutrition, health, and business performance. At the most obvious level, that means fewer sick days and better staff and talent retention. It also means people can achieve more when they are at work. That makes a big difference for individuals. Extrapolated across the whole business and industry sector, and even a country, it has the potential to make a significant difference in macroeconomic performance. Yet however enticing the big rewards, the focus has to be at the organization level, which is the aim of ESG reporting. And that leads to the question of how to develop an effective workforce nutrition program and report on the indicators. How to develop an effective workforce nutrition program The first stage is to understand the impacts and dependencies of a business on environmental and social issues. This is the purpose of the ESG materiality assessment. It should involve conversations with a wide range of industry- and company-specific stakeholders, including, for instance, employees, nutrition experts, or local authorities. The second step implies deciding what the organization’s strategy will look like, based on a detailed understanding of how to embed social and nutrition-related considerations within the business model. Should an organization provide healthy food in the canteen? Will that be subsidized? Should the organization provide training on nutrition, to help employees and their families eat better outside work? The culmination, and last step, is about performance. That has to be based on metrics and qualitative indicators that can be reported publicly, both helping the organization understand the impact it is having on its employees and becoming accountable against its commitments. This might seem like a daunting task but there is plenty of help available, starting with the Workforce Nutrition Alliance. It provides numerous tools and training opportunities, including a scorecard for a corporate self-assessment exercise, numerous webinars, studies, and information. It also runs a three-month “Workforce nutrition masterclass”, an online course for human resource and sustainability executives. It is utterly clear that S is an essential part of the ESG mix, and that workforce nutrition has to be a key element of the S activity and reporting.