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Dubai: It's a fruity business at a private company in Dubai where employees are treated to a portion of exotic fruits and fresh juices throughout the day - absolutely free.
The objective is to encourage healthy eating and provide an opportunity for staff of various departments to interact with each other.
Fruits, such as kiwis, mangoes, watermelons, sweetmelons, grapes, oranges, lychees, papaya, and pineapples, are displayed on large table in one of the office with chefs at hand to help out those who wanted to have a fruity treat.
Emma Baratt, business communications manager (Mena) with Al Futtaim Carillion, said: "We have about 300 staff in the office and all of them are free to ... have the fruits anytime. They can also have the fruits on their desk. "Healthy eating is such an important factor. We do not limit the portion and each staff has the freedom to go and help themselves to a fruit or a glass of juice."
Barrat said she has been receiving encouraging feedback from the staff.
"They are able to find out new things not only about each other but also about various departments. We also provide fresh fruits to our project managers at our various work sites. We have also looked into ways to provide healthy food to our workers in the accommodation and so we have increased their calorie intake," said Barrat.
Saeed Amir, an employee who was helping himself to juicy slices of watermelons, said he finds work environment in the office has tremendously improved ever since company has initiated various programmes for the betterment of the staff.
"I feel very nice when I get to have so many different variety of fresh fruits [and] that too free of cost. I usually prefer to have a plate of sliced watermelons after lunch. I just have one fruit break," he said.
Bianca Wilton, Human Relations Officer - Employee Relations, said that given the rise in food prices, the fruity treat was quite welcomed.
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