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"Walking meetings" and water have replaced boardroom discussions and after-work drinks at one of London's biggest firms.
More than 600 desk-bound Nestlé workers have been ordered to walk miles around their office as the food company tries to prove it has the world's healthiest headquarters. They have been told to leave their desks at lunchtime to walk in the park and avoid eating biscuits in tea breaks.
Nestlé is taking part in a global challenge to find the company whose workers can walk the most in four months. Staff at the firm's HQ in Croydon were given pedometers and pledged to take 14,000 steps a day.
Mark Eggington, 41, a customer services support worker, said: "When we hold meetings we try to fit walking into them, so we go to the park and walk and talk. It's also possible to take customers for a walk instead of sitting down and having a drink and going for a walk at lunchtime instead of eating a sandwich at your desk." Linda Phillips, 50, a corporate communications co-ordinator, said: "Everyone is wearing pedometers and you can hear the clicking as people walk around. There is a real camaraderie. Our office is 22 storeys high and I am challenging myself to take the stairs rather than the lift."
Dr David Batman, Nestlé's head of employee wellness, said: "We are effectively paying people to walk and are legitimising it. During the recession a lot of businesses are cutting back on these programmes and people are worried about leaving the office, but we need these schemes more than ever."
Nestlé UK chief executive Paul Grimwood said: "Every business is looking to improve productivity and efficiency, and the best place to start is with your own people."
The World Health Organisation says a healthy adult should walk at least 10,000 steps a day, a goal many Britons fail to reach, with some taking as few as 900.
Across Britain 5,000 Nestlé staff - a third of the workforce - are taking part in the four-month Global Corporate Challenge, up from 1,000 last year. Dr Batman said: "The challenge has captured our employees' imagination."
Reader views (4)
I think it is a creative scheme for healthy living and better to take the initiative by a company which specialises in food products.
- Vijay K Pillai, UK
great initiative. more companies should follow suit
- Sam, london
All very commendable, but Nestle staff asked to avoid eating biscuits? Er, wouldn't that be rather like Coca-Cola staff being asked to avoid fizzy drinks?
A good idea maybe, but hardly the greatest advert for their products...
- John, London
Nestle putting health first? Is this the same company who have spent 30 years being criticised for their marketing of baby milk in Africa? Perhaps they don't understand irony.
- Bob, Cheam
