The success of your business will largely depend on your workforce. Therefore, it is required to keep them happy, healthy and satisfied. If you want to build workplace culture and develop a proactive team of employees who will consider them to be a contributing part of your business, providing good and healthy food at the workplace is elementary. There are different studies conducted that have shown that when workers have access to healthy office snacks, they consider it to be a bonus to their job in a better way.
- Healthy food provision will also mean reduced sick time, absentees as workers will be excited to come to work, prove to be more productive as healthy food will reduce the chances of falling ill due to a cold or the flu.
- When you bring on the apples and bananas, it will ensure better work environment, better health among the employees and a happier team. It is the common sense: when you eat well, you feel good and when you feel good, you will be happy. Eventually, a happy team will stick around and will work more.
When you equip your team with quality snacks, you will be able to notice a significant difference in their attitudes to cultivate a better work culture. Survey results show that about 67% of full-time employees having access to free and healthy food in their offices are extremely happy with their current work. This is significant a high percentage that leads to a more productive team.
Food and productivity
Numbers never lie and therefore here are a few stats and figures that will help you to relate food stats with your productivity results.
- Happiness amongst employees leads to a hike of 12% in productivity. On the other hand, a workplace having unhappy workers proves to be 10% less productive.
- It is also seen that those workers who eat healthy food throughout the day in office are 25% more likely to have a higher job performance.
- When you consider loss of productivity and increased risk in unhealthy eating the number shows about 66%, which once again is a very high percentage detrimental for any working environment.
Therefore, the stats lead to a significant equation: healthy food = brain fuel. Healthy food will prevent the employees from hitting the afternoon slump, dizziness, sleepiness, less energized and a need for pick-me-up. Add to that if the employees have reached their 3 cups of coffee quota what will you gravitate toward. It is the satisfying snack such as an energy bite or a protein bar that will help them recharge their brain and body cells.
Food types will enhance focus
Since happy and healthy employees will be more productive you must work towards keeping your selection of snacks for work healthy. For this, you will need to count the chemical in the snacks and not the calories only. If you find that the ingredients of the food products are filled with chemicals and all sorts of preservatives, you will be better off if you do not buy these for your team. On the contrary, you should stick to fresh and organic fruits and vegetables, yogurt, nuts, and granola bars. These will be healthy, satisfying to eat and keep your team energized.
- Along with a better work culture, good foods at workplace will also boosts focus as there will be no energy crashes during office hours that are usually a result of those sugar-filled foods and candy.
- Taking breaks throughout the day in office is every essential in order to retain the focus. However, unhealthy foods with low calorific value will force the team members to leave office every now and then to grab a pick-me-up and lunch. This will prove to be less productive as it will eat up valuable time away from the office.
- Good food will balance protein, carbohydrates and fats. A selection of bars, mixes of nuts, dark chocolate and dried berries are ideal choices to keep your team laser-focused on their jobs in hand and highly energized.
- Having adequate supply of good and highly energizing food will leave the employees frustrated with the limited options they usually get in the coffee shops and fast-food outlets. If they have such options for free that really cannot be beat. Running to such a store especially when the worker has too much work to do or if it is raining outside will be prevented with the free and varied options available within the office.
- Just as healthy office snacks will save the day, it will show appreciation as well. According to a wellness study report published in the journal Population Health Management, 57% of employers say that food-based perks make them feel appreciated and more valued. Free healthy snacks made available around the workplace lets the team members know that the office cares about them and their well-being, hard work and healthy lifestyle.
Therefore, with delicious and nutrient-rich foods available in the workplace will benefit everyone. This may seem to be a little thing but when it comes to workplace environment, culture, boost to the productivity and happiness level. Such little things matters the most. It is more like an extended vacation time when you provide healthy snack options daily to your workers.
To sum up
As it is you will have to give a lot of perks to your employees to retain the best talents and get the best out of them and amongst all employee perks, very few things will match and will be as simply satisfying as a daily quota of free foods and drinks.
If it is healthy and free from chemicals and preservatives then it will be a double bonus for your workers. In short, providing free food in the most effective way to achieve business success in a delicious and nutritious way! Therefore, make sure you upgrade your office kitchen with healthy office snacks and coffee, nutritious and delicious foods, high tech beverage equipment to see a happier working team and an improved and competitive work culture.