The Employee Wellness Connection: Why Pantry Services Matter
Wellness is a big word these days. When used to talk about employees, it aims to capture many things all at once. It’s not just physical health, but that is certainly included in the definition. It also relates to mental health, work-life balance, contentment with one’s role, and more.
Aiming to improve employee wellness benefits everyone. Successful wellness initiatives improve the overall lives of your employees, and their elevated production should help your business, as well. Plenty of tactics exist to target employee wellness gains, but few are as powerful or effective as adding an office pantry to your building.
Take a moment today to connect with the InReach team to learn more about our pantry services. The addition of a pantry is an easy step to take when you have our expert team on your side, and you’ll get an outstanding return on the money you invest in this project. We can’t wait to serve you!
What Does Wellness Really Mean?
There are certain employee benefits that are often associated with wellness. Free gym memberships come to mind. So do office competitions like trying to hit a certain number of steps each day. Nothing is wrong with any of these ideas, but they don’t necessarily go far enough to truly support wellness among the employees of a business.
The type of deep satisfaction that is associated with true wellness tends to require support in all areas of life. It might help to think about wellness in your building as more of a culture than a specific objective. When wellness is the target, it becomes easier to make decisions that will naturally support that vision.
The Link Between Food and Productivity
We believe that office pantry services fit nicely into this way of thinking about wellness. It starts with the close connection between food and productivity in the office. People tend to feel better about their work—and life in general—when they are more productive. And proper nutrition goes a long way toward making it possible to accomplish more day after day, week after week.
Many office workers lose track of their nutritional needs when they get caught up in the busyness of office life. It’s an easy mistake to make. After a morning cup of coffee, the rush of meetings and messages can get carried away, and some never stop to make sure they are eating properly and staying fueled up.
The availability of an office pantry can provide a natural break to this rhythm. Simply having the pantry physically present in the building will be a reminder to eat, and the variety of food and drink options that are kept on hand will make it easy for everyone to pick out the items that suit their needs.
Supporting Mental Health by Reducing Stress
There’s no question that wellness includes a big mental health component. A key part of maintaining positive mental health is keeping stress at a manageable, controlled level. Everyone experiences stress in life—it’s just part of the human condition—but keeping stress under control is vital.
An office pantry can cut down on daily stress by taking the planning out of the snack and meal process. No longer will employees have to worry about where they are going to find some food without losing time in their busy schedules. Food will always be available and close at hand. Other stressors are going to creep into the day off and on, but food doesn’t need to be one of them.
Fostering Social Interaction and Connection
Focusing only on the calories from pantry foods and the hydration offered by the drinks would be missing a big part of the story. Just as important are the social connections that can be created among your employees when they spend time in the pantry area.
Humans feed off of relationships. Building relationships with others in the office is often tough to do when so much of the day is spent focusing on tasks and perhaps meeting with people from outside the organization. This creates an environment where, although the building is full of people, many feel as though they are mostly alone.
One of the best solutions here is to create gathering points like an office pantry. When an employee visits the pantry to have a snack or a quick meal, they probably won’t be the only one using the space. And, while eating, it’s only natural to start conversations and form connections. The benefits to the overall wellness of the people in your organization that come from these new relationships can’t be overstated. Don’t be surprised if the pantry soon becomes the most popular spot in the building, and it will only be partly due to the food and drinks that are served.
Naturally Boost Retention and Recruitment
You may feel called to improve employee wellness simply because it is the right thing to do. Taking care of the people who work for you and with you is a noble goal in its own right. Of course, when that wellness pays off in terms of tangible advantages for your organization, that’s even better.
Where you could see the wellness gains show up in a tangible way is in the areas of retention and recruitment. Keeping good people as long as possible is always a primary goal for every business. Great talent is hard to find, after all, and there are real costs associated with replacing every person who decides to move on. It is estimated that 15% to 20% of voluntary turnover payroll costs can be attributed to burnout. If adding features like an office pantry can encourage even a few more people to stick around for the long run, the investment will pay off in a big way.
Make Wellness a Priority Today
Business owners and managers regularly talk about employee wellness, but it’s action that matters. Put the wheels in motion right away and explore office pantry ideas to upgrade the experience of working in your building. With a variety of snack, meal, and drink options always in reach, your people will have the fuel they need to reach new heights.
Proudly part of Sodexo, InReach offers global reach, customized attention, and a large, growing buying network that keeps food costs low and quality high. Contact us today to learn more.