SECTION 1 -

The following chart shows the relationship between infrastructure investment and the extent
of the resulting food subsidy per employee, and demonstrates the efficiency of vouchers:
Source: Ch. Wanjek, Food at Work, Workplace Solutions for Malnutrition, Obesity
and Chronic Diseases, International Labor Office, Geneva, 2005, p. 53.
Vouchers also reduce the level of risk faced by companies in the areas of health and nutrition
and helps avoid management problems associated with the often complex legal requirements
applying to company dining facilities. 20 By combining flexibility and security, the voucher is the best
suited to companies with new structures and production methods.
o A relationship that benefits all parties
Meal and food vouchers, and all employee benefits products in general, create a relationship
that benefits all parties involved – the companies that provide the benefits, the employees who use
the services, the affiliates who receive the vouchers as means of payment and the governments that
subsidize them.
Because they offer so many social benefits, as well as an efficient means of distributing
public assistance, employee benefit products receive government subsidies in the form of tax and/or
social security charge exemptions.
Meal and food vouchers provide a way for employers to offer additional compensation and
benefit from partially or full tax deductions on their contributions to the vouchers. In France, the
portion of the face value of meal vouchers paid by employers is not subject to social security
contributions or income tax within limits set out in the legislation. Meal vouchers also increase
20
“Meal Vouchers – A tool serving the interests of the social pact in Europe”, ICOSI, 2003.
27