BY VICTOR ADAR
It is tough to offer affordable and innovative balances between staff’s well being and the company’s profitability especially where there are many specific management structures that is a mix of both junior and lower level managers. People generally have a predilection to something; some love meat others are plain vegetarians. Or, some would talk about dry fries, or wet fries. Well, meal choices are always endless, and some are affordable as others are quite expensive. But how do you find the right combination with a price tag that would work for all?
Sodexo Kenya might just be providing the much-needed solution now targeting Kenyan employers with digital lunch scheme that’s aimed at boosting staff productivity. At the moment, more than 60 companies across major Kenyan cities have embraced the firm’s innovative digital lunch scheme for their staff in a low cost arrangement hailed as pivotal in boosting staff productivity, retention and companies’ profitability.
According to Neil Ribeiro, the CEO of Sodexo Kenya, technology advances like this one are making life easy. Staff appreciation, Mr. Ribeiro argues, doesn’t have to be an expensive affair.
“We settled on digital lunch vouchers because food is a very important component in the labour market yet it is often ignored. Food helps drive productivity and motivation and ultimately a company’s bottom line. Numerous studies have shown that there is a world of difference between companies that offer their staff lunch and those that don’t. We have also proven it here in Kenya,” he said.
Riding on the amendment to the Finance Act 2014 that exempts from taxation food offered to employees for up to Sh48, 000 every year, the equivalent of Sh4, 000 a month, Sodexo, which is a benefits and rewards firm, has developed an application in an effort to serve a new generation of consumers.
Employees who enroll for the service, labeled “M-Kula”, are able to save up to Sh14, 000 each year attributable to tax exemptions. M- Kula is available on IOS and Android platforms, allows customers to pay for meals delivered to the office, and provides a unique opportunity for organizations to embrace a new tax free incentive to their staff thereby increasing employee engagement and motivation. To bolster the reach and convenience, Sodexo (the brand behind the fresh app) has partnered with over 200 food outlets including stalls, Jumia Food, Java, Debonairs, Nyama Mama among others.
Upon signing for the service, a company is given an account with details of the employer, and the amount each employee is entitled to in meal allowance per day. Once the order is confirmed and payment made, the electronic voucher is disbursed to the employees who can then go to any of the over 230 restaurants that accept M-Kula services, order and pay in the same way customers purchase goods and services through Mpesa.
While business opportunities shift with behavior circles and new trends, how to boost performance at work or in life is a begging question. Probably there are remedies. Try to picture hot seasons. Ice cream and cold beverage sellers make fortunes during those times. During the rainy seasons though, umbrellas turn in profits as compared to goods like bananas or pineapples.
Studies have shown that afternoon productivity is 25% less than in the morning. On the other hand, a 2015 Sodexo Kenya survey indicated that 63% of workers who were not motivated in their jobs attributed it to being unappreciated in the workplace with another 52% blaming lack of, or wrong benefits.
The impact of lunch provision on staff’s productivity has been documented in Kenya. When KenPoly Manufacturers Ltd started providing lunch, productivity went up by between 7 and 12%. Three months after introducing lunch for staff, Subati Flowers recorded a drop in absenteeism from 9% to 4%. The average number of days off also dropped from 2.8 days per sickness to 1.2 days of sick out.
Inspired by the burgeoning uptake of the service, Sodexo Kenya is now planning to scale it across the country while entering into more strategic partnership.
“There is an impressive motivation among employers in Kenya who have seen business sense by realizing that it takes more than a pay cheque to keep the Kenyan workforce happy. With an estimated three million employed Kenyans, less than 1% are fed by their employers and so we see a lot of opportunity in the coming years,” Ribeiro said adding that the company also runs M-Tuza, a multi-store digital voucher for rewards to employees and clients.
Acceptable at over 300 locations, including clothes and shoe shops, gyms, spa and hair salons among others, the service allows companies to appreciate employees and clients by giving them an array of products to choose from while ensuring seamless purchasing and distribution process.
