Companies are fast realizing the importance of providing on-campus benefits and perks to keep their resources for longer durations. One such benefit is food coupons that give employees access to free or discounted meals. They ensure that employees get nutritious food at an affordable price, which aligns well with the corporate focus on employee wellness. With better access to meals with food coupons, companies can achieve better productivity from employees. The meal coupons are also a potent tool to attract employees to come back into the offices.
Food coupons, however, have multiple benefits for employees, and in this blog article, we will discuss them in detail.
Benefits of Food Coupons
Convenient option to get meals
For working professionals, it is a challenge to prepare their meals and be at work on time. Because of this most of them skip lunch or breakfast altogether or settle for quick fixes, which are unhealthy. Food coupons can help address this problem by facilitating free or subsidized meals to the employees. Employees can pick a nourishing meal for themselves, which doesn’t burn a hole in their pocket.
Tax benefits with food coupons
Meal vouchers allow employees to reduce their tax liability. As per the Income Tax Act, employers can provide their workforce with non-taxable food coupons, which can be used to purchase food and non-alcoholic beverages. The exemption, however, is capped at Rs 50 per meal. It means in a month you can save up to Rs 2,200 (considering 2 meals a day for 22 working days), which comes to Rs 26,400 annually.
Improves productivity at work
As much as it seems strange, it is now a proven fact that eating your food at the workplace helps improve productivity. When you eat together with your team, it boosts employee morale, inclusiveness, and overall engagement at work. As per a Cornell University study, teams that eat meals together foster camaraderie, which positively impacts their performance. It essentially means that with food coupons, you have access to discounted food and a chance to improve your productivity.
Establishes healthy eating habits
When employees eat out regularly, they end up choosing low-cost meals over healthy options to avoid splurging money on food. It significantly affects their health owing to the unhygienic and adulterated cooking practices. Employees can avoid risking their health by using food coupons to purchase nourishing meals from reputed eateries.
Better financial management
With food coupons, you get a spending cap on meals. It means, when you cross this limit, your food expenses are then taxable as per the IT regulations. While this might seem unfair, it will allow you to manage your food budget and avoid splurging money. Optimizing the monthly food allowance, you get allows you to improve your budgeting skills and financial management.
Food coupons vs Meal cards
Food coupons are typically paper-based meal vouchers, which you can use at grocery stores, restaurants, and other food outlets. Meal cards, on the other hand, are prepaid cards that restrict payments to food and non-alcoholic beverage purchases.
If you look beyond the benefits of food coupons, you will understand the hassle of managing these vouchers. For starters, paper-based coupons can get damaged or lost easily. Additionally, they are accepted at only select stores, which makes them futile. Meal cards, however, work just like a debit or credit card and are widely accepted.
Maximize advantage of food allowance with Zaggle SAVE
Food coupons have been around for quite some time and were a popular choice for availing tax savings on meal allowance. However, in the digitalized ecosystem, food coupons can be replaced by a more convenient and safe option – meal cards. Zaggle SAVE is an employee benefits card solution that allows companies to extend the benefits of food vouchers through a frictionless process. SAVE is a multi-benefits card, which means employers can offer other tax rebate schemes like fuel allowance using the same card. Employees can easily manage their funds through a mobile app, which can be used to track usage and generate reports.
Learn more about Zaggle SAVE here.
