Why croissants are the secret to work happiness

The power of free food

Over the last few weeks I’ve seen quite a few articles on why free food at work is the secret to a happy workforce. I imagine many companies are trying to think of ideas to lure their employees back into the office and the catering companies are jumping on the bandwagon.

Here are some interesting stats …

64% of workers more likely to consider a new company if they offer free meals

Almost 30% of employees say they enjoy their work more when their employer provides lunch.

65% of workers maintain that free meals motivate them to stay with their current company.

Even Google employees regard the free gourmet food as one of the best perks.

A real photo of the Google canteen!

Free food will make you happier

There is no doubt that just providing free food at the office is better than not having free food at all. I imagine that if a company only makes that one single change, it will have a net positive effect on their team’s wellbeing.

However, the biggest challenge I have to overcome in my line of work is persuading leaders that if they want to make a real difference to their team’s happiness they need to do more than just give out free food, yoga classes and gym membership.

What actually makes us happy

What really makes us happy at work from the Indeed Workplace Happiness report

There are many factors that drive happiness at work, from feeling safe to being part of a community, and while many believe that pay and perks (free food) are the top predictors of happiness, in reality the social elements are far more significant.

So why do employees who get free food feel happier?

So while giving out free food by itself is not going to significantly influence workplace wellbeing, when used as a mechanism to influence one of the real drivers of happiness, it can be an excellent tool.

Years ago, we started offering a free breakfast. We laid out a buffet of fruit, bread, pastries and coffee. And at 10am every Friday, all our staff left their desks, sat down around a big table and spent half an hour together. We started “Friday Breakfasts” because we thought it would be a nice thing to do, it turned out, it was one of the best initiatives we’d had to get our whole team together to build relationships.

Tip of the week

Give out some free food to help your team feel they are supported and belong.

Take your team out for a meal to celebrate good news, send some cupcakes to a colleague who’s having a hard time, buy pizzas for those that are working overtime. Buy a coffee for someone you haven’t spoken to for a while.

Just giving out free food by itself will not make your team happy, however when used to build community, show support and recognise achievements, it will.

At Google the real reason they give away free food is because they found it brings people together for micro meetings. Their food stations are strategically placed between workspaces to maximise the chances of spontaneous interactions.

Power Tip

Choose your food with care - Yes, you can even be strategic with food choices!

Why croissants are better than doughnuts

If you want your team to build stronger relationships, they need to spend time together, so give them food that “nudges” them to hang out longer.

Doughnuts can be picked up in a napkin, transported to a desk and enjoyed with a cup of coffee in front of your computer. Croissants, on the other hand, go everywhere and will most likely crumble into your keyboard.

Give people croissants or extra crumbly Danish pastries and they won’t dare leave the kitchen and they’ll hang out with their colleagues just a little longer.

Helping your team feel happier at work is not that difficult, however it does require a little bit of time and sometimes a little thinking outside the box. Yes, hand out some free food but when you do it, really think how you can use it to affect the real drivers of happiness.

…

Have you enjoyed this post? Please do me a small favour and click the little heart below, it really helps me understand which content people like.

—----

I am Richard Clarke, I write, speak and teach about workplace happiness and how you can use the science of wellbeing to improve team performance. If you want to make your team perform better or just want to make them a little happier I run company workshops, webinars and keynote talks. You can see what I do on richardclarke.eu.