Today’s tight labor market and an increase in creative “work perks” by top employers have made it increasingly difficult to attract and retain top talent. Small businesses cannot financially compete with the types of lifestyle benefits many large corporations have started to offer. The good news is, you can use healthy snacks to stand out as an employer, and it’s simpler and more cost-effective than you may think.
Start With Cultivating An Enviable Office Culture
Simply writing “Free Snacks!” under the culture section of your website won’t cut it when trying to stand out as a great place to work. Implementing a healthy snack program will encourage employees to take breaks, discover tasty new treats, and lead a healthier lifestyle.
Break rooms have become the true heart of the office – the place where employees gather throughout the day to unwind, or even plug in their laptop for a change of scenery. Stocking your break room with healthy snacks will create an environment that employees want to be a part of. As I am writing this I am sitting at the wood-top bar in our break room, drinking a cold brew, snacking on a Coconut Almond Butter Clif Bar, and chatting with co-workers as they wander in looking for a snack of their own. The relationships forged as a result of a mutual love of snacking are something that employees will take with them even after they clock out at five.
In addition, having healthy snacks available in the office will leave employees feeling valued and rewarded for their hard work. It shows that as an employer you care about your employees’ health and well-being and want them to truly be their best selves. Creating an enviable office culture starts with giving your employees the resources to build an environment where they are happy to come to work each day. So go ahead and write “Free Snacks!” on your website as a work perk – but be sure to include some pictures of your current employees enjoying them!
Save Employees Time and Money
A surprising realization is that people are spending more time at work than at home with their families. Forty-hour work weeks have become the minimum, with technology allowing people to be reached at all hours of the day and on weekends. When you take into account an average commute of 25 minutes for 143 million Americans, it’s easy to recognize that the last thing people want to do when they get home is prepare for work the next day!
A fully stocked kitchen means employees can spend their free time doing things other than preparing food for work. A refrigerator stocked with vegetables for salad, cold cuts, and yogurt, as well as a bread drawer and a variety of healthy snacks to munch on will provide breakfast and lunch options for employees with various dietary needs. This non-monetary employee perk ends up making a large impact on workers’ wallets, saving them an average of $3,000 per year.
Show It All Off To Prospective Hires
Let’s say that you start using a healthy snack program to create an office environment where employees are given the resources to thrive and be their best selves. The result is a work perk that inspires both productivity and happiness, while also saving employees time and money. While it’s not feasible to show off all of the amazing benefits you may offer your team, this is one you certainly can! Start by posting pictures on your website and social media pages of employees enjoying healthy snacks at work. When applicants are interested in a position at your company, they will begin their research on these pages and will be impressed to find out this is a perk they too can enjoy.
When a potential new hire comes into the office for an in-person interview, this benefit will speak for itself. When they take a tour of the office and stumble into a fully stocked kitchen where employees are eating together and enjoying a healthy work-life balance, they will be thoroughly impressed. A key benefit of healthy snacks to help you stand out as an employer is that it can be shown to top talent during the application process.
How To Start A Healthy Snack Program In Your Office
At Corporate Essentials, we’ve made it incredibly easy to get healthy snacks delivered straight to your office. Simply fill out this form to get in touch with our snack experts and tell us all about your office’s specific wants and needs. Another option for constant discovery is our snack box program, a monthly subscription service consisting of 50 snacks. When you sign up for a monthly subscription, a wooden snack rack is included with your first order to neatly display the contents of each box in your break room.
Some Delicious Snacks To Get You Started
Chef’s Cut Homestyle Beef Bar & Spicy Tomato Pork Bar
These grab-and-go bars are everything a protein bar should be – real cuts of premium meat. With robust flavors inspired by your favorite homemade soups, these delicious meat bars are gluten free and pack a punch with 11 grams of protein.
Early Bird Crack of Dawn Breakfast Bar
Help your employees begin their days the right way with a granola bar that serves up plenty of energy to fuel their day. Made locally in Brooklyn, this breakfast bar is filled with oats, pumpkin seeds and dried cherries to keep you full and focused all morning.
From The Ground Up Cauliflower Pretzel Sticks
The cauliflower trend continues. If your employees are loving cauliflower crust pizza and other creative ways to get their veggie servings in, these pretzel sticks will be their new obsession.
Hippeas Organic Chickpea Puffs
Your staff won’t be able to get enough of this light and crunchy, delicious snack (that is surprisingly gluten-free and vegan to top it off). With flavors like pepper power, sriracha sunshine, and vegan white cheddar, it’s a 3pm snack break necessity!
Peeled Snacks Much-Ado-About-Mango
These single serving bags of dried mangos are adult fruit snack heaven! Made only with organic mangos and nothing else, they are the perfect way to get eat more fruit.
