Category E: Lifestyles

• Most companies (12 out of 16) make a commitment to improve the health and wellness of their employees with programs designed to address physical health and nutrition. While most of these programs (10 out of 12) are accessible to all employees, only six companies demonstrated a commitment to improving the health and wellness of groups across the wider food supply chain and not direct employees. In addition, most companies do not seem to monitor the impact of their health and wellness programs. Hindustan Unilever bucks this trend by conducting independent evaluations to capture this information, and goes a step further by monitoring the impact of programs relevant to employees across the food supply chain.
• Four of the 16 companies make public commitments to supporting breastfeeding mothers at work. Coca-Cola India, Hindustan Unilever and Nestlé India have set out their commitment in a formal policy.
• In respect to increasing nutrition literacy, nutrition education, healthy diet-oriented and active lifestyle programs aimed at groups that experience – or are at high risk of experiencing – malnutrition, eight companies publicly commit to sponsor/fund such programs. Mondelez India is the only company to demonstrate that all of its nutrition and health programs exclude product promotion or branding.

ATNI recommends that companies:

• Implement robust impact assessment tools and monitoring mechanisms for their employee health and wellness programs, and expand the coverage of these programs to include groups across the wider food supply chain that are not direct employees.
• Increase transparency in describing how they extend support to breastfeeding mothers at work, and to supporting maternal health as part of their formal company policy in line with, and beyond, Indian regulations.
• Develop their nutrition education, literacy, healthy diet-oriented and/or active lifestyle programs and conduct external and independently monitored program verifications.