Want your employees back in the office? Offer them free drinks
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As we all know, the Covid pandemic forced many office or onsite employees to work from home. To no one’s surprise, the majority of employees enjoyed working from home and preferred to do so even after lockdowns ended. In this post-Covid world, businesses want their employees back in the office/onsite and are permitting hybrid work but are still finding it hard to entice their employees back to the office.
A new survey reveals that the best way to encourage employees to work from the office rather than from home is to offer free beverages.
Although the survey was conducted OnePoll on behalf of multi-beverage system manufacturer Flavia, which provides machines to many offices, it does yield some interesting and valuable results for businesses. For example, the average person spends nearly 50 hours a year purchasing beverages at a café during the workday.
According to the 2023 survey of 2,000-plus employees who work onsite or in an office, it takes about 16 minutes to leave one’s desk, buy a drink and return, but with three such trips a week, employees end up losing an entire work week per year (16.4 minutes per café visit x 3.42 visits to the café per week = 56.088 minutes a week, x 52 weeks in a year = 2,916.576 minutes or 48.61 hours a year). This can impact productivity considerably, whether the company is large, medium or small-sized (in terms of the number of employees.
The survey found that to jumpstart their workday, people usually get organised (60%), sip their favourite beverage (59%) and check their emails (55%). Their first drink of the day? A hot cup of coffee (66%), followed by iced coffee (47%), water (45%), or tea (42%).
The survey also shows that there may be a link between drink preference and productivity. Approximately 77% of coffee drinkers need two or more cups of coffee to feel productive on a workday, with nearly a quarter (24%) noting Mondays were the day of the week they needed the most coffee.
Six in 10 (60%) turn to a hot cup of coffee to improve their mood at work, as well. Nearly two-thirds (64%) “always” or “often” vary the type of drink they consume as the hours go by. Aside from hot coffee (77%), employees also drink water (70%), iced coffee (64%), tea (62%), juice (55%) and flavoured water (51%) while they work, among other beverages.
“Over a third (37%) of those surveyed would like the ability to brew hot and cold beverages and more than a quarter (26%) want to be able to brew different kinds of beverages at work,” said Camille Vareille, vice president, head of marketing Americas, Lavazza Group, which owns Flavia, in a statement.
The survey revealed that nearly 87% of respondents were going into the office between two to three days a week. “Over eight in 10 employees said having free beverages as a workplace perk would make them feel valued, and offering free beverages was the most requested perk to encourage employees to work from an office,” Vareielle added. “Investing in an array of beverages on-site can not only save employees time and money but also help with bringing them back into the office.”
According to the survey, the leading “perks” to encourage employees to work from their onsite office are:
- Free beverages — 46%
- Required breaks — 45%
- Free food — 45%
- On-site gym — 43%
- Office lounge/social area — 42%
- Ability to bring pets to work — 36%
- Ability to bring kid to work — 29%
- On-site games — 22%
- In-person employee clubs — 14%
The fact that the survey may seem a bit self-serving and was conducted only in the United States, doesn’t negate the information or the value to businesses globally (replace ‘coffee break’ with ‘smoke break’, which happens multiple times per day, every day – based on a five-day work week – and the impact to productivity is even greater). And looking at the list of perks noted by the poll participants, installing a multi-beverage system (formerly ‘office coffee system’) may be the most cost-effective option (it’s certainly less than building a gym!).
- Vanessa L Facenda, editor, Tea & Coffee Trade Journal.
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