Who doesn’t love some cake when celebrating a birthday?

Chocolate, carrot, meringue, coffee, banana… most of us have a sweet tooth and find it very hard to resist indulging if it is put right in front of our noses.

At work, it is quite common for people to bring cake in to celebrate a colleague’s birthday, but should employers be thinking about putting an end to this in order to promote a healthier workplace?

Is this office tradition actually making our national obesity problem worse? Is it contributing towards poor oral health?

New guidance produced by Business in the Community and Public Health England has suggested that conversations need to occur to see how special events are celebrated at work, in particular whether there are other healthier options or ‘cake days’ can be shared.

In the last few years, the importance of employee health and wellbeing has been recognised by employers. More emphasis is being placed on providing free fruit and vegetables, encouraging people to walk or bike to work, providing discounted gym membership or group exercise classes and offering awareness seminars or workshops, for example on nutrition, sleep, smoking cessation or stress.  All of these types of initiatives aim to help employees be more productive at work and less likely to take time off work.

But is the way to a healthier workforce to ban people from eating cake on a colleague’s birthday? Probably not. Not everyone wants to be told what to eat or how much they should exercise and it’s not likely to stop people from reaching out and grabbing biscuits, chocolate bars and crisps or get up and be more active.

However, it is a good idea to promote moderation in the workplace, to help support employees with their health, encourage people to get away from desk at lunch and have a walk, give them access to a healthier food and drink options and provide incentives for people to exercise.

Employers definitely have a role in making employees think more about their health and the consequences if they don’t. If you would like to discuss employee wellbeing in your organisation further, contact us.

Find what you were looking for?

Our FREE resources library contains over 200 searchable blogs, guides and templates focused around Employment Law and Health & Safety issues that employers face on a day-to-day basis.

Get your FREE download

We combine the service quality of a law firm with the certainty of fixed-fee services to provide expert, solutions-focused Employment LawHR and Health & Safety support tailored to employers.

Call us on 0345 226 8393.

Get your FREE download

We combine the service quality of a law firm with the certainty of fixed-fee services to provide expert, solutions-focused Employment LawHR and Health & Safety support tailored to employers.

Call us on 0345 226 8393.

Get your FREE consultation

Submit your details and one of our team will be in touch.

Activate your free trial

The rota module has been built on our brand new technology platform, so you’ll need to create a new account that you can then integrate with your existing Youmanage/PeopleNest account.

Follow these steps to activate your trial

  1. Log in to your existing Youmanage/PeopleNest account
  2. Navigate to admin mode
  3. In the menu, navigate to Integrations > Marketplace
  4. On the ‘PeopleNest – Rota Module’ line, click ‘configure’
  5. Create your new account – because we’ve built the new Rota Module on our brand new PeopleNest platform, you’ll need to create an account. Make sure you use the same email address as your admin account in Youmanage (can use Microsoft/Google authentication)
  6. Sign-in using your new login details
  7. Read the message about the integration and click continue if you are happy to proceed
  8. It takes a few minutes for your employees to start pulling through, then you’re ready to go!

Book a consultation

One of our team will be in touch as soon as possible. If we miss you, we’ll send over a Calendly invite so you can choose a more convenient time and date for a callback. 

Get your FREE consultation

Submit your details and one of our team will be in touch.

Search...

Get your FREE consultation

Submit your details and one of our team will be in touch.

Get your FREE consultation

Submit your details and one of our team will be in touch.

Before you go…

We can help with that HR problem or health and safety query. If you’re an employer, leave your details below and our team will call you back.

Register your interest

Submit your details and one of our team will be in touch.

Get your FREE consultation

Submit your details and one of our team will be in touch.

Download your FREE guide

Submit your details below.

Request a callback

Submit your details and one of our team will be in touch.

Need some help?

Call our team now on:

0345 226 8393

Request a Callback

Submit your details and one of our team will be in touch.

Request a Callback
Hi, how can we help?
Click the button below to chat to an expert.