Towards healthy and sustainable workplace food environments in small and medium-sized enterprises

Summary

Since many adults spend much of their day at work, the workplace food environment is key to promoting healthy diets. While research has mostly focused on large organisations, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which make up 99% of businesses, are less well studied. This thesis examined SME food environments in general and in the transport sector in particular. The research revealed significant variations in food environments across different types of SMEs; Those with a worksite restaurant or at least 50 employees were more likely to offer healthy food options and have food policies, while SMEs with a worksite restaurant and predominantly on-site work showed stronger social norms around healthy, sustainable eating. Overall, however, the thesis found that healthy and sustainable food environments receive little attention in Dutch SMEs. Barriers include the challenge of balancing profitability with the costs of investing in healthy diets, the belief that food choices are mainly an individual’s responsibility, and the lack of workplace food environment policies or guidelines at national or international levels. In transport SMEs, long periods on the road (common for truck drivers) were linked to consuming fewer fruits and vegetables and more snacks and sugary drinks. Working with 53 stakeholders, the

thesis mapped the system keeping motorway food unhealthy and identified practical actions to create better options for drivers. These findings show that creating healthier workplace food environments in SMEs requires coordinated, multi-level action, while recognising that effective strategies must be tailored to the characteristics of different SME types.