What You Need To Know About Food To Feed Employee Productivity

Are you content at work? In a survey conducted by ORC International, Peapod.com, a leading online grocer in the United States, indicates that when free bites, coffee, and drinks are available in the workplace employees are much happier. By now, everyone knows that tech workers in Silicon Valley such as Netflix, Google and Facebook get treated to round-the-clock free food. It’s fairly common that free company meals are widely regarded as a nice incentive, and companies can never go wrong with free food.

As a means of motivating and controlling full-time office employees, it may just be the little things that make a huge difference. According to the findings carried out by ezCater, a business catering service in the United States, not only can providing good kitchen perks boost employee productivity and morale, but it can also attract and retain talents. Ipso facto, this article will underline the positive influences free food encompasses several aspects of business such as morale, culture, and productivity.

Food Sets The Tone For The Day

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and it often gets overlooked by employees and employers early in the AM. As with most bonuses, it shows appreciation and value to workers, but providing breakfast also escalates productivity by fueling energy levels and reducing food-fetching outside the office. It allows employees to kick off the day on the right foot and improves attendance because it gives them one less problem to worry about during rush hour, whether it is cooking or making stops before work.

While not the usual modus operandi that sits at the top of our head, the key to unlock a more efficient company could be through the stomachs of your employees. What’s great here is companies can dictate the tone of the day for their workers by opting for healthy options rather than a quick fix for fast food breakfast and vending machine snacks, or skipping breakfast altogether, which could lead to a productivity bomb that could hinder focus.

Healthy choices with glucose are highly advantageous to productivity because studies have shown that feeding glucose to the brain as the first meal of the day enhances memory, increases concentration and engenders an upturn in the mood. As a reward, it gives an instant positive kick to your staff’s morale that rings to their alertness and interest in tasks.

Food Creates Better Workplace Culture

Food gatherings are a great opportunity for different departments in an organisation to bond. Based on a study, food forms a consequential positive relationship between work performance and eating as a team. Professor Brian Wansink, director of Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab, conducted a study on a group of firefighters in a bustling American city. Of all the different firehouses, the firefighters from the firehouse that ate together were better at their jobs, more enthusiastic about their regimes and their colleagues.

As a matter of fact, the notion ‘a team that eats together, stays together’ spontaneously upgrades workplace satisfaction and cooperative behaviour. Eating together during mealtime in the pantry allows workers to break the ice between departments, build a stronger connection and encourage collaboration among team members to engage in conversations beyond work and connect on a personal level. By dining together, it also gives space for members to feel familiar in an informal atmosphere, which can help generate and impart ideas comfortably.

Additionally, providing meals at work is especially important to attract and retain younger talents. Gone are the days of working for a paycheck, because millennials are pushing for a change of work-life balance, and having in-office treats would attract their attention. Many workplaces don’t pay their staff by the hour, let alone overtime. Thus, free food can work wonders and give them an incentive.

Invest in Food for a Sweeter ROI

While the workplace has seen new changes in recent times such as flexible working hours, flexible working stations, or special employee packages that incorporate discount on travel, complimentary gym access and free meals are on top of every (modern day) job seeker’s list. Business owners ought not to lose sight of the impact each has on productivity levels to the business in its entirety. If you’re an employer, it should be in your interest to invest in work benefits that actually increase staff productivity, boost workforce happiness and loyalty in the workplace, and help retain top talent.

Offering free food and drinks in the office is an effort that will help boost productivity, as employees will be able to spend more time on work rather than head out for snack runs, or meals. Then again in saying that, you don’t want to encourage irregular eating patterns among employees; otherwise they’ll be tired and distracted, suffer headache, memory loss and confusion, and they will be unable to perform at their optimum level. In the face of meeting deadlines, putting off lunch or skipping it overtime may lead to chronic health issues. Thousands of day-offs are lost to long term health problems, such as stress and anxiety.

When food is already covered, not only can workers save time and money getting food, but they can also allocate such commodities for other expenses or needs. This is especially true for working mothers who would appreciate having a work-life balance, as they could use the extra time to create their kid’s breakfast at home in the morning. When their kids do not get sufficient nutrition, these mothers will in-turn have to take leaves to care for them. As such, other sources suggest ensuring kids are getting added nutrition, like a wholesome glass of Similac Gain Plus.  

Besides, senior employees in the range of 50-59 years old can also benefit from workplace meals with a quality diet. Studies have shown that it enhances cognitive ability, numeracy and motor skills equivalent to the level that is as young as a 34-year-old. In a letter penned by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin to shareholders before the company’s initial public offering in 2004, they vowed not to be “penny-wise and pound-foolish” by cutting back on employee benefits, as they believe could help promote company’s health and productivity for the long-haul.

In the grand scheme of things, free food can encourage workplace satisfaction, regular eating habits, improve overall health and morale, staff retention, employee productivity and cognitive performance, reduce employee absenteeism, as well as attract and retain top personnel. For more information on the common characteristics of a great workplace, click here for further reading.