5 Ways to Encourage Healthy Snacking

Here are some simple ideas to help your employees make healthier snacking choices.

1. Move any vending machines to quieter parts of the contact centre

It is easy to be tempted by unhealthy options if they are in your line of sight.

Make it easier for your agents to make healthier choices by keeping any vending machines hidden away in quieter parts of the contact centre.

This way, your agents will only seek out a bar of chocolate when they really fancy one – instead of buying something just because they walk by the vending machine every day.

2. Ask teams to take it in turns to bake healthy treats for everyone

Home-made snacks are a great way to encourage healthy eating without trying to force everyone to eat lettuce.

Pitch teams against each other every Friday to bring in the tastiest – and healthiest – treats. For example, banana muffins, coconut cookies and pumpkin cupcakes are all healthier alternatives to chocolate.

Doing this regularly should also encourage agents to think about the healthier decisions they could be making in their day-to-day lives.

3. Offer fruit and nuts “pick and mix” in the breakout room

Dried fruit, nuts and seeds are a great snacking alternative to chocolate and sweets.

You can encourage agents to make the switch by offering fruit and nuts “pick and mix” in the breakout room.

You should be able to pick up big bags of these foods (and containers to put them in) fairly cheaply at your local wholesalers.

4. Put up posters to remind agents to bring in healthy snacks

It is important to plan for the snacks you will need during the day to avoid reaching for a chocolate bar mid-afternoon.

Help your agents to remember the snacks they will need by putting “reminder” posters on the backs of doors on the way out of the building.

You can also share recipe ideas for home-made treats on your company intranet, hand out recipe cards in team meetings, or even bring in a nutritionist to give a free talk, to help keep healthy eating fresh in your agents’ minds.

5. Hand out free fruit to offset the mid-afternoon energy crash

The mid-afternoon energy crash sees many employees typically reaching for a chocolate bar or other sugar fix.

One way to offset this is to hand out free fruit at around 3pm.

Bananas are a great source of slow-release energy which can help keep your agents bright and perky on the phones. Apples, pears and oranges are also great alternatives to chocolate.

What do you do to encourage healthy snacking in your contact centre?

Put your thoughts in an email to Call Centre Helper.