Workers will get health rewards
Mon 25 Feb 2008
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Workers in one retail outlet could be offered improved healthcare benefits if they eat nutritious food, the Financial Times has reported. Chief executive of Safeway, Steve Burd is keen to introduce a scheme, which monitors employees' shopping habits and offers healthy workers discounted health insurance. He explained the programme follows a model similar to the car insurance business, whereby drivers who make no claims receive cheaper premiums. "Healthy behaviour gets rewarded, less healthy behaviours should bear their fair share," he told the paper. The scheme would extend the monitoring of employees, some of whom already receive benefits for taking part in fitness checks. The initiative is a progression of the supermarket's FoodFlex service, an online tool for customers to watch what they eat based on sales data from their loyalty cards. The initiative is voluntary and Mr Burd said he was aware that "some people would say you're kind of intruding". Health secretary Alan Johnson called on business recently to promote a healthy work-life balance for staff, saying that "supporting a healthy work-life balance is essential to recruiting and
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