Health & Wellness

Declutter Your Way to a Productive Year!

By John Guillemette, C.E.C.
February 7th, 2012

We hear from our clients all the time “How can Sodexo help us achieve success?”  I can finally answer this question with conviction.  I get it.  It’s finally clear.

The answer lies in productivity.  That is, the measure of efficiency in production in the workplace.   Sounds simple, right?

As a start, it is the simple things that can really make the difference. Let’s take clutter for example…isn’t it difficult to be productive with all of the clutter we have in our lives?  If we took simple steps to reduce clutter, wouldn’t we all be more productive? That’s just what we were thinking when planning for 2012 in our corporate café settings. The principles of de-cluttering can work for everyone; consider how we are addressing these three key consumer trends:

1 – “Self Preservation”

Consumers are seeking to regain control over complex agendas, looking after themselves and their employees in an increasingly uncertain world.

“He who fears he shall suffer already suffers what he fears. “ - Michel de Montaigne

Let’s face it, life can be complicated; your dining experience doesn’t need to be.  In 2012 we’re taking an uncomplicated approach to serving our customer’s needs.  In our Moment’ to café settings, we are delivering simplicity throughout  our menus, offering quick and complete meal options, easy to read marketing, and outstanding values that find you; making things easy for you and your wallet.

Its time to de-clutter.

2 – “Life in the fast lane”

Consumers seek strategies for managing lifestyles in an increasingly time-stressed world.

“There is more to life than just increasing its speed.” - Gandhi

As efficient as it may seem, eating “al-desko” is not the only solution.   A balanced meal and a short breather will allow you to stay alert for your entire day.  The philosophy of short breaks to re-energize the mind and body goes a long way in boosting workplace productivity.  We feel so strongly about this, that it’s a focus for our award winning concept be… for the New Year.

3 – “Maximize Life”

There is a renewed quest for experiences among consumers keen to live life to the fullest. 

“Don’t be fooled by the calendar.  There are only as many days in the year as you make use of…” - Charles Richards

In order to Maximize Life, it is critical to create time to do so.  The Mayo Clinic recently published an article showing the effect that clutter has on one’s life.  In short, reducing clutter can significantly improve time management.  Take our consumer-focused MiExperience approach to digital technology.  Sodexo’s MiExperience technology solutions help consumers leverage technology in ways that simplify their experience.  Where technology has the ability to make the consumer experience simpler, faster, or more convenient, we provide solutions that empower consumers with the information they need.  Our mission is to provide our customers with information about their dining decisions and purchases, be it through their computer, connecting via their smart phone, or enjoying a dining experience in one of our managed on-site restaurants.

Lastly, take it from me: the easiest way to de-clutter? Turn that phone off!  Studies suggest that it is the little distractions that lead to lost time.  So help yourself simplify by scheduling time to read and respond to messages, but also to hit the power off button and relax. We’ll all benefit from a more productive you!

John Guillemette is a director of brand management for Sodexo.

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USDA School Meal Standards

By Steve Dunmore
January 25th, 2012

This is an important and historic day for people like me – professionals committed to ensuring that school meals give students the proper nutrition needed to succeed in the classroom.  In case you haven’t already heard, First Lady Michelle Obama formally unveiled the new USDA school lunch standards at a special ceremony earlier today in Virginia.  This marks the first time these standards have been updated in more than 15 years.

As a champion of student well-being and a leader in the fight against childhood obesity, Sodexo supports the USDA’s new nutrition standards for school lunches because they mirror our own commitment to make students healthier.  Not only do we deliver nutritious and delicious meals daily, but we also help educators succeed by creating healthy learning environments in schools that facilitate student achievement through our comprehensive focus on nutrition, environment, community and activity.

Sodexo has never been the kind of company to sit back and wait for change to come and that is certainly the case with these new school lunch standards.  We’ve been proactively working for years to make school meals healthier and therefore, we won’t have to make drastic changes to meet the new standards.

An excellent example of our proactive work is a research and development summit we hosted in California last year.  Sodexo brought together chefs from more than 20 national food manufacturers to work with our chefs in developing a diverse set of healthy, delicious and nutritious meals specifically tailored to students. Sodexo also challenged suppliers to make the foods kids like to eat healthier, a move that improves school nutrition not just at Sodexo-served schools, but for students nationwide.

Our mission and focus aligns closely with the goals of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, and we will be a driving force for implementing these standards nationwide, not only to the 2.8 million students we feed daily but also to the communities in which we serve. We have many more examples of how Sodexo combines our forward-thinking approach with our commitment to creating healthy learning environments to positively impact students, and I look forward to sharing them with you in the weeks ahead.

Steve Dunmore is the president of Sodexo Education – Schools.

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5 Steps To Building Employee Engagement In 2012

By Jennifer Tekin
January 10th, 2012

Research has shown that positive employee engagement is linked to the health and wellbeing of employees. Proactive policies and strong leadership both play a role in employee engagement. Here are five pointers which can help strengthen and build your employee engagement in the coming year.

1.) Communicate Clearly.  Share your expectations with your employees. Employees want to be a part of the company’s future.  Provide examples of exemplary behaviors and guiding them toward what goals should be accomplished this year will help them prepare for the near-term and long-term goals.

2.) Be Transparent. Share company information and be open to employee questions will build trust in the company and unite moral values with an individual.  This creates a sense of worth for the employee that will carry over through their dedication to your mission.

3.) Encourage Innovations & Personal Growth. Be open to feedback and take action as a result of the feedback.  Employees may see a better way to perform a task, address a client issue or manage a new process. Similarly, provide opportunities for additional learning – cross training, and coaching that will support personal development and build trust and commitment.

4.) Build Teamwork by Giving Recognition.  When the goals and aspirations of the organization and of individual teams or groups are reflected in the criteria for personal recognition everyone succeeds. 

5.) Celebrate Diversity. Every day the composition of our workforce becomes more diverse, and with it brings different preferences and needs with each generation, ethnicity and gender.  Asking for and listening to your employees’ input is important to help you shape your recognition programs, and the rewards you offer.  By delivering recognition and rewards that are meaningful to each individual, you will maximize their contribution.

Jennifer Tekin is a Senior Marketing Manager for Sodexo Motivation Solutions.

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Sodexo Chef Turned Teacher

By Kelly Raw
January 3rd, 2012

Quantity Food Production is a course that students at Texas Christian University in the Department of Nutritional Sciences are required to complete before graduating.  Traditionally, this class is taught in the classroom, with built-in lab time in the kitchen.  However, in 2005 the Sodexo management team came up with a great idea to deliver more value to the school, as well as the students of TCU. 

This dream to partner with the University became a reality in Fall of 2006, when Sodexo began to play a key role in the Quantity Food Production class.  The Department of Nutritional Sciences agreed that the class would continue to be run by an instructor, and that Sodexo would teach the class one day a week in the classroom, and provide the students with weekly hands-on experience in the kitchen.  By working in the kitchen with the Sodexo team, students were able to experience firsthand what it was like to prepare food for an audience of high quantity.  The students of the Quantity Food Production class worked right along our Executive Chef and employees to gain the skills and knowledge that they would one day need to work in the field of nutrition. 

Teacher & Exec Chef Charlie Guajardo shares tips with his students on cooking for large groups. For more photographs, click on the picture above.

In the classroom, students have access to Sodexo’s Food Management System (FMS), and are able to build their very own recipes that will be prepared in the school’s kitchen, and then externally, for rest of the student body to enjoy later in the semester.  The General Manager, Marketing Manager and the Executive Chef all take part in teaching the classroom portion of the class.  While in the classroom, students learn about scaling recipes, building menus, handling special diet needs and how the operation is run.

This partnership between Sodexo and the TCU Department of Nutritional Sciences has been going for five years now, and we hope that it will continue for many more.

Kelly Raw is a marketing manager for Sodexo’s Campus Services Division.

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Do Holiday Gifts Improve Employee Morale?

By Sodexo USA
November 28th, 2011

According to a recent study, the answer is yes, but many times half the reward comes in the actual process of the positive experience rather than the outcome. A strong strategy to winning over those hardworking employees combines sentiment and choice.

There is no doubt that employee recognition has a big impact on employee morale and psychological well-being - especially when it is sincere, meaningful and combined with a tangible reward. According to a new research study from Staples Advantage, seventy five percent of employees surveyed said receiving holiday gifts from their employers improved their morale, while 60 percent said it made them like their companies more. Thirty-four percent said it improved their productivity.

This holiday take the opportunity to bring together your team and invite senior staff to recognize each employee’s contributions over the past year and thank them for their dedication and work. There are many ways to show appreciation – tickets to a show or movie, dinner out (or in), and gift cards can be a meaningful way which gives them the power to create a memory. Sodexo’s multi-retail reward cards, such as the Memorable Moments and Dining Esteem Pass, allow employees to choose what to do with their family or how to treat themselves to something special…

They might want to wear the ‘coolest’ fashions this winter from leading department stores, or re-decorate with the inspiration from nationwide home & décor retailers. They may just want to take it easy and be pampered at the spa or enjoy a new look at the salon before family comes to town.

While you may be surprised at what a little gesture like this can do your and employee’s psychological health and well-being, the appeal of giving a reward such as an Esteem Pass is that as the employee chooses,  they will remember what you did for them and the work they contributed to achieve it.

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Carrying the Weight of the World on Your Shoulders

By Leslee McGovern, MS, RD, LDN
October 25th, 2011

Employee wellness is a top of mind in so many ways — it’s talked about by HR professionals, dietitians like me, even risk management. It’s increasingly becoming a boardroom issue and a main topic of concern for corporate executives. As the national director of wellness for Sodexo’s corporate client segment, I have the privilege to get involved at the root level of this issue through my work with the National Business Group on Health (NBGH) and the Institute on Innovation in Workforce Wellbeing (IIWW). As a group, it’s an exciting time to dive in and tackle this topic of holistic health at work.

Our committee recently spent some time together at General Mills headquarters in Minnesota to examine the benchmarks that are being analyzed and the progress being made in important initiatives like best practices in biometrics testing and outcome-based incentives. This work is really going to change the way we look at workforce wellbeing for years to come.

As a group, we actively involve large employers like Sodexo, American Express and Coca-Cola Enterprises in thought leadership, problem solving and the identification and development of best approaches to motivate employee/family engagement in improving health and well-being – all with measurable results. We were excited about the progress that has been made recently getting seventy eight companies to finish the Wellness Impact Scorecard (WISCORE). This important benchmarking allows us to understand healthy behaviors and participation rates as well as the potential drivers of success toward workplace wellbeing. The reports from WISCORE allow us to examine where the population falls in nutrition, physical activity and other habits. The results are astounding.

Even more astounding are the findings from our Biometrics Testing webinars study. On average, biometric testing results are uncovering at least one chronic disease in 20%-30% of EEs ages 20-29; and at least one disease in 35%-43% of those ages 40-49. With these results in the general workplace, it’s proof that we are not doing enough by way of prevention and are now living with the results of more disease and higher healthcare costs.

Our institute has the weight of the world on its shoulders. When you hear benchmarks like this, how can you not feel a calling to get involved? National Business Group on Health believes it’s important to benchmark the good things going on in the workplace wellness space. Sharing best practices energizes our debates and helps drive national policy. There are many ways to participate.  Visit the website to see how you can get involved.

Leslee is the national director of wellness for Sodexo’s corporate client segment and serves on the Board of Directors for the National Business Group on Health Institute on Innovation in Workforce Wellbeing.

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Blog: A Walk to Remember

By Kevin Shea
September 27th, 2011

Fall is upon us, and as we experience a change of seasons and a change in mood, we celebrate the bounty that fall harvest brings. For me, as a culinarian, I think of the traditions, flavors and smells we often associate with the season. This year though, as I think about fall, I also think of a bittersweet end to a year without my colleague and friend, Ted Majchrzak.

A walk to remember former Sodexo colleague Ted Majchrzak

Losing a colleague is not something you think about every day, but it was a reality for our marketing and culinary team when we suddenly lost a teammate last November. A seemingly senseless passing is never easy to understand, but this was extremely difficult to process; after all, we had just spent time with Ted at our annual team meeting, which happens each fall. Though he was about to have a routine heart procedure, he was full of life, engaged and energized. As we said goodbye, we thought he would be fine.

Due to complications, our 2010 annual meeting would be the last time we would see Ted, and instead, we would be spending the coming weeks remembering, honoring, and healing. As we approach the one year mark of Ted’s untimely passing at age 42, and our team plans this year’s annual meeting, we can’t help but reflect.

We are, after all, a group that defines wellness for our operators. We plan menus and programs that meet the requirements of eating healthy, but food choice isn’t the only thing to consider. We have also taken another look at risk factors like stress, work-life balance, activity level, and even heredity. Educating employees about eating right and exercising is important, but we also need to focus on holistic and mental health too.

With a free-spirited love of life, contagious laugh and deep love for his family and cooking, wellness was a pivotal part of Ted’s life and career. With that, our team aims to not only honor Ted, but remember him with a memorial walk at our annual meeting this year.  As I reflect and remember my friend, I know this walk will help heal our team in many ways, but we can also do some ‘good’ and help fight heart disease. We have created a virtual memorial and fundraising drive in collaboration with the American Heart Association in Orlando, where Ted lived. Join our team, help us honor Ted, or any loved one who’s passing we mourn. It’s a new day; help us celebrate life with a walk to remember.

Kevin Shea is the director of marketing and culinary services for Sodexo.

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Making Kids Favorites Healthy

By Lisa Feldman
August 24th, 2011

To learn more about Sodexo's work in improving student well-being, click on the above photograph of Lisa and her son!

When I first walked out of Roth Hall at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, N.Y. holding my culinary arts degree in my hands, you can bet that I didn’t see the position of director of culinary services for Sodexo Education-Schools in my future.  I mean, who graduates from one of the top culinary schools in the country and wants to be the school lunch lady, right? 

Last May, just over 20 years later, I found myself standing at a podium at the CIA’s Greystone Campus in St. Helena, Calif., kicking off Sodexo’s first ever K-12 Culinary Research and Development Conference.  In the audience were chefs from more than 20 national food manufacturers as well as many of our own chefs and dietitians from Sodexo-served school districts, where we provide more than 2.5 million meals every day.

Our goal was to work together to create a diverse set of healthy, delicious and nutritious recipes specifically designed with kids in mind.  As a team, we wanted to develop dishes that begin to introduce global flavors to our tiny customers while also offering healthier versions of other regional favorites. 

At the very core of our mission was a desire to increase our dependency on whole grains for texture and flavor while continuing to decrease the fat, sugar, and salt in the meals we serve.  Together we created amazing dishes like Fantastic Stuffed Mushrooms, Maple Granola Crusted Sweet Potatoes, Mediterranean Lentil Soup, and Moroccan Apricot Chicken.

At the three-day conference, our chefs and our manufacturing partners made a commitment to each other to make the food kids like to eat healthier.  We were not dealing with little no-name manufacturers that no one has ever heard of, but household names like General Mills, Kellogg’s, Uncle Ben’s, and Dole.  These are school food suppliers with the power and, more importantly, the desire to improve school nutrition not only for Sodexo-served schools, but students nationwide. 

At the end of the conference, I took a red-eye flight home so that I could be there to pick up my 2-year-old son Max from daycare.  As I carted him, squirming, into our van, he started digging into my laptop bag and came out with a bag of crackers that I had “appropriated” from one of our vendors.  With a delighted look on his face, he said, “Ooh, you brought me a present! Open it, open it!”  And open it I did, happy in the knowledge that he was eating something that was whole grain, low in sugar, fat, and sodium, and, as far as Max was concerned, made just for him.

Being the school lunch lady is awesome!

Lisa Feldman is a Certified Research Chef and a director of culinary services for Sodexo Education-Schools

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Are You in a Mixed-Diet Relationship?

By Kim O’Donnel
July 12th, 2011

Kim O’Donnel is a chef, longtime journalist and author of The Meat Lover’s Meatless Cookbook.

Three percent of Americans call themselves vegetarian, with an additional 1 percent deeming themselves vegan (no dairy, eggs, and for some, honey and yeast). These numbers come from a 2009 survey conducted by the Vegetarian Resource Group, a Baltimore, Md. based nonprofit.

That leaves 96 percent of us who still enjoy eating meat down to the bones to the tune of about 200 pounds per person per year. 

The numbers may lead you to presume there are the meat folks & there are the veg folks — two separate camps that don’t (or won’t) talk to each other. Just five years ago, you would have been right.  I remember in the early days of my monthly vegetarian chats on washingtonpost.com (which got started in 2001) a certain “us versus them” mind set, not to mention a fair amount of name calling. But crumb by crumb, the terms we use to define what we eat for dinner have blurred — and changed — and we’re changing our tune at the table.   Although coined in the ‘90s, the word “flexitarian” (i.e. part-time vegetarian) was deemed by The American Dialect Society as the most useful word in 2003, less than 10 years ago. 

Last fall, while traveling with my book, The Meat Lover’s Meatless Cookbook, I got to see yet another piece of the meat conversation — the growing phenomenon that I like to call the “mixed-diet relationship.”

Gone is the Thanksgiving feast with the one lone outcast who opts out of the turkey; now we’re truly eating in mixed company — and at the same time, trying to figure out how to make it work. I can’t tell you how many stories I heard along the following theme:  Valerie the Vegetarian falls in love with Mister I-Can’t-Live-Without-My-Sausages, and together they must figure out what to do at the dinner table.  I also heard from Mom & Pop Omnivore, whose teenaged son woke up one day and decided to trade in his favorite barbecued ribs for a grilled portabella burger.  These scenarios are increasingly becoming the new normal.

The mixed diet is in keeping with some recent market research about the public health campaign Meatless Monday, which Sodexo is now offering in its hospital cafes, as well as at Toyota Motor Sales Inc. and the Department of the Interior. Meatless Monday first got its start in 2003 to help Americans reduce their saturated fat intake by 15 percent.
In 2007, Meatless Monday was virtually unknown. Today, it has become a global phenomenon, from school cafeterias in Baltimore to government offices in Belgium, from Aspen to Tel Aviv, from Oprah to Sodexo.

Just six months ago, market research conducted by FGI Research showed that 30 percent of Americans are aware of Meatless Monday.  The latest data is in — and that awareness has spiked to 50 percent.

Meat, whether or not you eat it, has become one of the big conversations we’re having today.  And we’re coming to the conversation from a multitude of vantage points including health, environment, animal welfare, food safety, agriculture, personal finance, ethics, politics, and religion.  If you’re among the four percent of Americans that doesn’t eat meat, there’s a darn good chance someone you love does.   We are truly a nation in transition at the table, where the divide over meat is shrinking and more of us are making room for plants on the plate.

Kim O’Donnel is a chef, longtime journalist and author of The Meat Lover’s Meatless Cookbook. Her latest project is Family Kitchen, a twice-monthly column that appears in USA Today. You can find more information on Kim and her writing at http://kimodonnel.com

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Fostering a Culture of Innovation Utilizing Space

By Rachel Permuth-Levine. PhD & Kevin Rettle
June 22nd, 2011

There are many ways to cultivate innovation in the workplace – but generally there is not a strong argument that these strategies should focus on human capital solutions.  However, employee job satisfaction and engagement is a key business imperative that has long reaching effects both to the employee and the business.  There is a growing body of research and practice that tells us we cannot ignore environmental influences in shaping employee behavior in the workplace AND the enablers needed to foster their ability to innovate (Stegmeier, 2008).

Recruiting and retaining top talent means that you need to have more attractive work spaces that have the creature comforts of home.  Additionally, as baby boomers prepare to exit the workforce, the younger generations have expectations about the workplace conforming more to their needs for flexibility and knowledge transfer from the older generations (Ball and Gotsill, 2010). Employees have been shown to spend more time on the employer campus when they have comfortable lounging spaces, small amenities like kitchenettes and onsite concierge services, and fitness facilities.  Lounges with business centers, tvs, and reading areas allow employees to decompress and relax in a dedicated space. 

Creating spaces that allow for impromptu meetings or gatherings.  The notion of water cooler conversations and innovation is based on fact (Steelcase, 2011)!   Design and build employee break rooms, coffee stations, and vending in locations where members from different departments can intersect and meet. When communal break rooms are strategically located, the organization increased interaction and collaboration across multi-disciplinary teams.

Include plants whenever possible in communal and individual spaces.  Leslie Reed, Marketing Offer Manager for Sodexo Facilities Management Solutions in the United Kingdom tells us that ”We know that different types of horticulture can have a calming effect on employees.  The research has shown that plants in the built environment have the potential to decrease stress and improve employee productivity.”

Communicate your strategy around space design and what you wish to achieve! Don’t be afraid to tell your employees what you are trying to do to increase innovation and collaboration.  Develop messaging to encourage collaboration, to take strategic breaks, to network with colleagues from other departments, and generally improve employee well being.   Signage for your break rooms can include the title of the room itself plus inspirational messaging to reward employees who bring new ideas to management and their teams.

Each of these strategies that facilities mangers, real estate executives, architects, and change management professionals can employ to create a happier and more productive workforce focused on recruitment, creating open, collaborative environments, bringing the outside in, and communication.  Each of these strategies correlates to a positive workplace experience, employee engagement and eventually your organizations’ bottom line.

REFERENCES:

Ball, K., and Gotsill, G. (2010). Surviving the Baby Boomer Exodus: Capturing Knowledge for Gen X and Y Employees.

Steelcase. (2011). “Is your workplace ready?” www.360.steelcase.com 

Stegmeier, D. (2008) Innovations in Office Design: The Critical Influence Approach to Effective Work Environments. By Wiley Press.

Rachel Permuth-Levine, PhD, is the senior director of Human Capital Solutions, toLive, and Kevin Rettle is the director of marketing, Sodexo Facilities Management Solutions

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