I ran across this article the other day on LinkedIn about “A Once-Rare Office Perk Takes Hold”. It’s about a growing number of companies offering free or discounted food to employees. Interesting read. But I must admit that when I see these articles, I don’t have the same reaction of “Wow! Companies offering free food!” because I worked in industries where a free meal was the norm.
Offering free meals as part of employee perks is definitely a nice thing to do. Especially when employees:
- Make minimum wage or just above it
- Are scheduled wacky hours, where there might not be an option to go out for food
- Don’t have access to an employee breakroom, where they could refrigerate or reheat their meal
- Work in expensive cities where the cost of going out is prohibitive
Organizations that include meals in an employee perks package have to think about what types of food and the nutritional value of the food that they will offer to employees. I can tell you from experience that “menu complaints” were a regular workplace issue. Also, how those meals are going to be prepared (i.e. staff, sanitation, costs, storage, etc.) I recently saw in the newspaper a company’s employee breakroom receive a warning from the health department for sanitation. (Can’t imagine that helps the company’s recruiting and retention efforts.)
So, what do you think? Is free food really the new “must-offer” perk? I hope you’ll take a moment to complete one (or both) of these survey questions.
I think it will be interesting to show these results side-by-side. Again, I hope you’ll take the time to answer and share the poll with your networks. I’ll post the results in a couple of weeks.
Organizations are looking for ways to stand out in the crowd. And free food could be one of those ways. While I don’t know that free food creates employee engagement, it might set a company apart from the competition. I can’t wait to hear what you have to say on this one! Thanks.
Susan says
There are just too many variables to “free food” to really be able to answer this. As a health-conscious consumer, I wouldn’t consider this “perk” to have any value if the free food was processed junk. I would also think it worthless if the person in charge of ordering had no real understanding of nutrition. And what about if the company provided food you wouldn’t touch, and then used it as a means of keeping you tied up through meal breaks because “there’s plenty of free food available”?
Sandwiches, soda, pizza, cookies, candy, granola bars, rancid bulk nuts? No way.
Now, if free food meant there was cafeteria with freshly prepared meals and snacks of a wide variety (say… paleo, vegetarian, vegan, Mediterranean) and with truly a healthy profile, that would be a great “perk” — but only if it did not replace something of equal or greater value.
E O says
The industry is important to consider: free (or greatly reduced) food is expected if you work in restaurants, but not so much for a bank.
Being able to compare the results with the number of respondents by industry would give a better picture.
Rebecca says
I agree that the settings matter.
In our employee morale data we see for example one company that is a clear outlier in their area. They discovered that their migrant workers preferred to save money for their families, and didn’t eat properly at work. That obviously impacts productivity, etc.
They started with free food at their canteen, and the response from their workers in terms of employee satisfaction, retention etc has been amazing. The quality of the food, etc is a big part in how they feel at work. They have people knocking on their door from other manufacturers in the area, saying they want to come work for them instead.
In flash office settings people get used to the idea very quickly and indeed complain about menus, etc. It’s easy to take perks for granted.
Our data show that ad hoc events have a bigger effect. I.e. surprise your people with fresh fruit or other healthy concepts on random days.
Here’s one company that do free Waffle Breakfasts every Friday and measured the impact of the food activity over time http://www.celpax.com/boost-morale-at-work-hr-data (waffles might not qualify as healthy food but hey, pretty yummy!).
This way you know when it’s perk-change-time 🙂
Serving food and sitting down to have a chat about how people feel at work is a great opportunity to learn and enhance company culture
Christine H says
I work in hospitality. Every employee of the hotel gets one free meal during their shift. The meals have to be “nutritious” according to the contract bargaining agreement, though. We have hot food and a salad bar. There is also always an option to just fix yourself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich if none of the hot food is appetizing. It definitely can be done.
Rebecca says
Nice to see the nutritious angle Christine
Sharlyn Lauby says
Thanks for the comment!
Sharlyn Lauby says
Thanks for sharing Christine. My experience was similar. Employees want 1) options, 2) nutritious, and 3) tasty.