Is ‘Nudging’ the Secret to Promoting Wellness In the Workplace?
- By Erin Mittelstaedt
- Reading Time: 2 mins.
Last week, I flew to New York to attend the Society for Hospitality and Foodservice Management’s Critical Issues Conference. I had a great time meeting other food service providers and partners at the one-day event and listening to them share best practices for the industry. One of my favorite sessions was a panel discussion featuring registered dietitians and nutritionists in the corporate dining space. They shared that offices shouldn’t be overly restrictive or limit people’s choices in their cafeterias and break rooms—because food choice matters. Instead, they recommended nudging people in a healthier direction to promote wellness in the workplace.
Wait, What’s Nudging?
Nudging isn’t a new concept. In their 2008 book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein define a nudge as “Any feature of the choice architecture that causes predictable alterations to people’s behavior, without prohibiting alternatives or significantly altering their financial incentives.”In other words, a nudge is a tweak to the environment that can produce predictable behavior and impact people’s choices—without removing choices or changing prices. At home, I nudge myself to eat better by placing healthy snacks front and center in my fridge instead of hiding them away in the back. But the panel shared another interesting example: portion size.
An Easy Way to Nudge
One speaker mentioned that despite a health push at Google, the cafeteria still offers croissants—but they’re smaller. Desserts are served in bite-sized portions. Can you eat more than one? Sure. But thanks to unit bias (the idea that the portion we’re given is the “right” amount) we tend to eat just one portion, whether it’s large or small.
At The FruitGuys, we’ve built unit bias and portion control into our approach to snacking. It’s one reason why we offer single-serving packaged snacks instead of shareable ones. Fruit is naturally portion-controlled, too—although it’s pretty tough to have too much fruit!
More Ways to Promote Wellness In the Workplace
Whether you have a full cafeteria in your office or not, I’m sure there are opportunities to nudge your team in a healthier direction and promote wellness in the workplace. You just have to take the time to look for them. Check out this blog for a few more nudge examples that might inspire you.
Welcome to the Chief Banana newsletter—weekly letters from the desk of The FruitGuys’ CEO. Find more Chief Banana newsletters here. To get Chief Banana in your inbox every week, fill out the “Subscribe to our Newsletter” form on this page.
