When considering which perks and benefits to offer your employees, don’t forget to consider providing healthy office snacks for your employees to take advantage of during the workday. Before you reject the idea as having no benefit to the company itself, hear out the many reasons that healthy office snacks can increase productivity and employee engagement.
It’s well known that sitting at the computer or desk all day can lead to serious weight gain and loss of muscle tone, which increases all sorts of things (including insurance and health care costs). It doesn’t help that the office snack machines boasts a well-stocked selection of Twizzlers and Snickers bars.
Research shows that eating healthy food and snacks affects a person’s overall work performance. It’s often said, “You are what you eat.” The truth is, food provides us with the fuel we need to perform our daily tasks.
The healthier the food you choose, the more productive you’ll be. A recent study done by the Health Enhancement Research Center shows that companies who wish to have highly engaged employees would be smart to focus on a wellness program.
There are many wellness programs that companies can look at but all of them, similarly focus on diet. One of the most important steps in wellness is eating the right foods. Healthy office snack services and companies can offer these foods to employees.
The benefits of these are surprising! Read below to find some of the many perks for both employees and employers of having readily available, easy and convenient office snacks in the workplace.
1. Energy Levels Remain high
Harvard Business Review states “Food has a direct impact on our cognitive performance, which is why a poor decision at lunch can derail an entire afternoon.” Is the afternoon slump a familiar feeling for you or your employees?
Do you find yourself dragging after a slice of pizza or hungry and grumpy after a late morning candy bar snack? Do you notice the office hum start to grumble in the mid-afternoon? If you’ve answered yes to any of these, it may be time to mix up your diet!
With healthier foods, energy levels remain high. People are able to complete tasks more efficiently and get more done when they are energetic. The 2:00 p.m. time period becomes as efficient and productive as the 9:00 a.m. one.
Offering your employees healthy office snacks allows them to make positive choices about their diet. These positive choices lead to benefits for the employee and for the overall culture.
2. Healthy Snacks Can Increase Your Mood
Another great benefit of healthy eating is it improves the mood. Because of this, work relationships can flourish. Suddenly, people become problem solvers instead of simply problem finders. There is a sudden energy within the office that becomes a positive hum instead of a drone of complaining.
This in turn becomes contagious in the office and a positive environment increases the overall morale of an office. By simply offering and promoting healthy office snacks, you can change the vibe that courses through the cubicles.
3. Improved Focus
What about those employees that struggle with staying focused? It’s not hard to believe that attention to detail would suffer when eating unhealthily. Offering healthy office snacks helps with increased focus and attention of your employees.
Projects that seem daunting before aren’t so heavy once the fog of a sugar coma wears off. To increase focus, offer snacks like blueberries and green tea. Dark chocolate and nuts also have the ability to increase focus.
4. Social Bonding with Coworkers in a Communal Area
By providing healthy office snacks in a communal area, you’ll find there are benefits above the health and physical well being of employees. Suddenly, this area becomes a place of social bonding.
Morale and employee engagement increase when there is a feeling of connection and belonging. By providing a place to gather and take advantage of the healthy foods, a company is giving an opportunity for social engagement within the workplace.
5. Physical Health Increases Confidence
Being physically healthy cannot only be a mood booster but can also boost one’s self-esteem. By eating healthily and taking care of your body, you can create a feeling of confidence that will carry over into other areas of your life.
Imagine a roster of confident, healthy employees that are eager to take on new tasks. It makes for a wonderful work environment with empowered individuals. A culture of confidence is hard to beat. Productivity will benefit from such a positive morale.
6. Accessibility
The accessibility of providing healthy office snacks within the workplace is undeniable. By placing healthful options a reach away, it saves trips to the store and to the sandwich shop down the street.
Having fruit, nuts, and whole grains readily available means that employees are much more likely to partake in the healthy eating trend. Making things as easy as you can is a great way to show the company cares about the health of its employees.
There are many snack companies that offer healthy options. This means convenience and accessibility for office managers and leaders as well!
7. Who Doesn’t Love Free?!
Let’s be honest here. Healthy eating isn’t always cheap. And in many neighborhoods the price of health food is higher than the junk.
Coming to work and having pre-prepared snacks at your fingertips means more money in your pocket and also means more cheerful employees. You don’t need to chop and bag and section off any of it. Just show up and it’s there for you. Free and easy!
8. Shows a Personal Investment Being Made
A company that shows investment in its people makes a statement about how much they value their most precious resource. Give your employees the option to request their favorite healthy snacks before stocking up!
While enjoying their own requests, they also have to opportunity to try new foods they wouldn’t have before! By offering healthy office snacks, employees can make an investment in their own health as well.
When someone else makes an investment in your health, you’re more likely to make an investment yourself. Giving your employees the opportunity to make this decision is a positive step in protecting your resources and offering perks for your people.
9. Some Time to Walk Away from the Computer
It’s a good idea to walk away from your work at times. It’s important to refresh your mind and take a mini-break from the project that’s taking up most of your energy. You may be at a stopping point or have run into a wall regarding your ideas.
The project may need a fresh, alert set of eyes. A simple walk to the snack area is a wonderful and brief way to take a break. You can come back to your work with a clear mind and a satisfied belly, ready to knock it out.
10. You Beat the Afternoon Slump
It’s no secret that unhealthy foods can have you feeling the effects of their sugar and heavy carbs in the middle of the day. Similar to that Thanksgiving nap feeling, when 3:00 p.m. hits, it feels as if you need to hit the sack!
By eating a variety of fruits, veggies, nuts and whole grains you can avoid the witching hour of 3pm. Instead, you’ll be awake and revitalized, ready to take on the world with the click of your mouse. Afternoon meetings won’t be bothersome, if you’ve got the energizing benefits of food that is good for your body.
11. Super Foods Have Great Health Benefits
On top of all the benefits of eating healthy, there are some amazing “super foods” with incredible benefits. It’s remarkable that a banana, simple as it is, can protect against cancer and increase your energy level.
Tomatoes can protect against UV rays and lower cholesterol. Blueberries can slow down the effects of Alzheimer’s or dementia. Broccoli may slow down tumors – and these are just a few. It’s easy to see why these foods are called “Super! A quick Internet search will give you several more of the priceless benefits they each offer.
12. An Office Perk That Is Attracting Attention!
Aside from many of the other office perks that are provided by companies, having healthy office snacks has drawn many people in. It has become one of the most desired office perks!
Imagine how validating it must feel to employees of a company that shows it cares in such a visible way. Working in an office that provides this can make work just a little more enjoyable. The employees can take advantage of the perk, have more money in their pocket, be happier and healthier and brag to their friends about the awesome work place they are in.
13. Keeps Your Diet in Check/Healthy Eating
Having healthy office snacks right there for your employees gives them more motivation to continue eating healthy throughout the day. If they are on a diet to lose weight, to improve health, or to maintain a healthy lifestyle, having a healthy snack available to them that will help their diet instead of hurt it is a great bonus to the workplace!
14. Have to Run to a Meeting with No Time for Lunch? Grab a Snack To-Go!
Work is often stacked with meetings and fierce deadlines. It’s often hard to stop to get a complete meal in. The hours are precious and often-times, lunch is the first to be ignored.
Instead of grabbing a sugar-filled snack that will linger for 20 minutes and then leave you hungry, grab a healthy snack and spend your afternoon productive and fulfilled. This will hold your hunger over until you are finally able to sit down and enjoy a meal!
15. Don’t Have Lunch? No Problem!
Running late out the door can leave you struggling with what to eat throughout the day. Spending $15 on a lunch can leave your broke, struggling for time and unbuttoning your pants to make room for that heavy pasta.
Instead, take advantage of the healthy office snacks within your workplace. It will keep the hunger at bay and keep you satisfied until the day is over. You’ll be able to go home refreshed enough to enjoy a healthy dinner choice.
An office manager or leadership team can look into a company to provide healthy office snacks for the office. It’s a good idea to research and find a company that shares the same values of health and benefits that you do.
It can take away the stress and work of providing snacks off the shoulders of the managers and allows everyone to reap the benefits. Gone are the days of a machine stocked with heavy, unhealthy foods. Employees and their leaders benefit from happy, healthy workers!
