The quickest way to anyone’s heart is through their stomach, and that includes your office staff. There are few things more demoralizing than a bare fridge, its plastic shelves long wiped clean of any form of sustenance. It will soon lead to an entire office of people making a forlorn journey from their desks to the kitchen and back, and then resigning themselves to dejectedly scrolling through pictures of food on their computer until they can sneak out for an early lunch. For the simple sake of productivity, you should always have snacks on hand. But if our grim scenario did not incense you to hop in the car and head to Costco to load up on jerky, here are three reasons to keep those loyal employees fed.
1. A fed office is a motivated office.
It’s really, really difficult to work when your stomach is growling and all you can think about is sinking your teeth into a savory, cheesy toasted sandwich. There is an old theory that we all have to recite from Psych 101 that relates to a pyramid and a guy named Maslow that says if you’re hungry, you’re less inclined to care about things like the respect of others or the need to solve problems. It also says a lot more and, we’re sure, is mired in criticism but for the purposes of this blog post let’s just accept the theory at face value and agree that when an office is thinking about food, they are less inclined to be thinking about sales and paperwork. Satisfy their baser needs, and they’ll be able to focus on work.
2. A well-stocked kitchen boosts morale.
There really is just something about a kitchen full of food and drinks that makes people happy. The office kitchen has been known as a place for gathering and socialization for generations, but if only the cold, bitter emptiness of an unused refrigerator awaits your employees, they’ll have no reason to step foot into the kitchen. That ruins an integral piece of office culture, and turns your office into a building full of strangers that are paid by the same person. Throw some snacks into the kitchen, turn on the coffee pot, and socialize with your office.
3. You can help keep them healthy!
Now, we realize that our lovely stock photo for today’s post is a chocolate donut resting on a computer. We recommend against both of those things – sugar and fried dough are good for neither you nor a computer. Plus that’s a great way to get ants. But you, as the provider of the office snacks, can help boost overall health by investing more in fresh fruits and vegetables than in candy and chips. The MyCorp office made the switchover a few weeks ago and, after some initial apprehension, everyone has adjusted and is perfectly happy with crunching down on an apple rather than through a bag of Lay’s.
Well fed staff members are happy staff members, and when you run a small business it is vitally important to keep all of your employees happy. Just remember to accommodate any food allergies or intolerances, and judge the overall wants of the group. After all we still have a small candy dish sitting in the front of our office because, honestly, we couldn’t give up all of our vices. The office kitchen should be a source of comfort, and as long as it is open and stocked you can bet on a building full of happy employees.