Food Card: What It Is, How It Works and the Advantages of Va
Want to know what a food card is and how it works? Then you’ve come to the right place. In this article, you’ll learn all about this benefit and the legal aspects of the VA. Follow along!
The food card is one of the benefits most valued by employees and many companies have already included it in their strategy for attracting and retaining talent, as it provides an extremely useful financial advantage for the employee through additional value for their food and that of their family.
What is a food card?
Also known as a food voucher or VA, it is a benefit made available by the company for employees to buy food in establishments that have agreements with the benefit operator. At first, the aim was to offer an extra financial contribution for the purchase of food at home, but the voucher is now commonly accepted in ready meals shops.
How does the food voucher work?
The food card works like a regular bank card, with a personal and non-transferable password, where purchases can be made through machines that have agreements with the food card operator. The company deposits the amount each month and the employee has access to this prepaid balance to pay for their food, which can be controlled using the card’s app.
It is important to note that, unlike credit and debit bank cards, it is not possible to convert this balance into cash through ATM withdrawals, as the amount must be used exclusively to buy food. Likewise, the company cannot pay the benefit in cash or deposit it in the employee’s account, ensuring that it is only used for food purposes.
If the amount is not used in full, the unused portion accumulates with the new payment the following month.
What does the food voucher cost the company?
As this is an optional benefit, the company can set the amount earmarked for this purpose according to the available budget, except in cases where the unions negotiate and set the minimum amount for the category.
However, according to Law No. 5,452/1943, in its article 458, the value of the food voucher, if deducted from the employee, must not exceed 20% of the contractual salary.
PAT and food card
The Workers’ Food Program (PAT) is a government policy that has been in force in the country for over 45 years. Its aim is to ensure that employees have access to quality food during their working day.
In the beginning, companies that joined PAT were obliged to provide meals at the workplace and pay for the infrastructure needed to produce and consume the meals. However, the rules have become more flexible and the company can now provide employees with a monthly basic food basket or a financial subsidy exclusively for this purpose, such as meal vouchers and food vouchers.
In return, companies that sign up to the PAT can deduct the costs of the food program from their income tax, which serves as an incentive to join this initiative.
The possibility of offering food vouchers and meal vouchers in partnership with the PAT arose from the updating of labor laws in 2017. In this way, employees would have more autonomy to decide how to spend their benefits.
Food card and flexible benefits
The food card is one of the benefits most valued by employees, as it really does represent an important financial advantage for their daily lives – especially when you consider the rise in food prices in recent years. For this reason, choosing to offer it to your team can be an essential strategy for retaining talent and consolidating the company’s image as an employer brand.
In this sense, the flexible benefits card can be an excellent differentiator, since this feature makes it possible to offer not only food vouchers, but also meal vouchers, culture, mobility, education, among others, on just one card. This is undoubtedly a much more practical solution for employees, who can control their benefits in one place, and also for HR, which can manage all payments from a single platform.