Employee Relations Posts

When it comes to large offices, one common yearly tradition is a big state of the company address. While your event might come with a different name, the overall goal is the same: to create an engaging, fun event that tells employees what the company accomplished over the last twelve months and the goals are for the upcoming year. It’s an excellent way to show your staff how their contributions have supported the firm’s growth, and giving your team a purpose to put behind their role in the company is a great way to keep everyone motivated! Plus, making the event fun for everyone can really build excitement going into the new year. To help you build an inspiring, memorable event for your team, we’ve come up with our favorite ways to engage groups like yours.

Company Values

As you’re thinking about what you most want your staff to take away from your state of the company address, don’t forget that this is an excellent opportunity to continue the conversation about your company values. One fun way to get people talking is to have everyone create fake company commercials. To start, separate your staff into different teams and try to pull together individuals from different departments. This will help to show your employees that the company fosters collaboration and encourage them to start building relationships across the company, creating a stronger sense of teamwork when they’re working in the office. Ask each team to pick one of your values and create a short skit about it. It can be funny, inspirational, or whatever they want – the key is to get everyone talking in a creative way. Then have each team present their ‘commercial’ to the group as a whole; it’s a great way to make your event memorable and help everyone enjoy learning more about how other people see the company in a positive light.

Department Goals

As you start talking about the company’s goals for the year, make sure you give each department some of their own goals to strive towards that help them better understand how their work supports the company’s future. For example, if your firm goal is to grow by 12% in 2015, discuss with the marketing department how they can help to support that particular target. Then, have each department sit down as a team – either at a breakout session within your state of the company meeting or separately – to talk about what they’ll specifically do to help the company reach that goal. Encourage managers to do a monthly check-in with their team to ensure that they’re on track to reach their departmental goals. This also serves as a way to ensure that no issues fly under the radar and that teams are proactively finding solutions to any problems they encounter throughout each month.

Great Food to Inspire

One thing that pretty much everyone looks forward to at a big state of the company address is the great food that will be at the corporate catering table. Typically, buffet style lunches work best at these types of events. It gives everyone a taste of something they like and helps manage the food production costs to the firm. Coming up with a fun theme that supports the messages you’re communicating at the event can be a great way to inspire your team to really go after their work goals in the new year, too.

For example, if collaboration is one of the values your business celebrates, use a fancy salad bar as a fun team building activity. Have each table create a ‘collaboration salad’ of sorts, where each team member adds one tasty topping into the mix. Let each person choose their own dressing (on the side), and use it as a simple way to show how collaboration can create something really great that you might not have made on your own. To take this activity to the next level, use your marketing department to come up with some great ways to communicate the concept behind your food inspiration to your employees.

Using a great corporate catering team to help you design the best group food order to inspire your state of the company meeting can help you create a truly memorable event. And Waiter.com is the perfect partner for this! Our catering team can pull together a delicious spread that takes your event to the next level and help you to inspire your staff to continue building a great company in 2015. Ready to start planning? Reach out to us today – we’ll come up with some awesome options you’re sure to love!

As we’re entering the time of year when we all start thinking a little more about our health – namely, the open enrollment period of our health insurance plans – it’s the perfect time to plan a healthy living lunch and learn for your staff. Not only will it give you the opportunity to share how employees can take advantage of the benefits a plan offers, it brings up an opportunity to answer some of the biggest questions the staff has about health care and other benefits offered. Additionally, it’s a good way to start promoting any changes you’ll be making from a wellness perspective with your team, to help them know what to anticipate in the new year.

That might sound like a lot to cover over a one-hour lunch and learn, and depending on the amount of information you plan on presenting, you might need to extend your sessions a bit. For example, you could offer an extended lunch and learn, which would take up an extra hour of your staff’s afternoon, or spread the sessions out over two lunchtime sessions, depending on what works best for your company’s structure. Remember, there’s not a one-size-fits-all option here. Planning the right session for your team is about making the lunch and learn work best for the information you want to get across to your staff and creating the format that works best to keep your business operating at full productivity. And the place to start is by determining what information you plan on presenting within this engaging session for your employees.

Company Health Plan

One of the hardest benefits for employees to understand is how health care plans works. And that’s likely not through any fault of your own. Since there can be so many nuances associated with any health care plan, there can be different aspects that apply to some employees and not to others. The best way to cover important topics is to reach out to your staff in advance and have them submit their questions and areas of concern. Depending on the number of responses you receive, you can have an HR representative or your healthcare rep answer the most common questions at the lunch and learn, as well as give an overview on what your plan covers. A short lunch and learn isn’t the best place to open the floor to everyone’s questions. You’ll want to keep it a little more concise; make sure you offer contact information for your internal HR representative so anyone who has additional questions can reach out on their own after the event.

This is also a great space to have your HR representative discuss any programs that employees can take advantage of which are offered through your insurance provider. For example, some plans offer programs with incentives in the form of gift cards to help individuals quit smoking, manage their cholesterol, or even stay healthy during pregnancy. There could be discounts to local gyms, restaurants, or other establishments employees may like to visit. The more your team understands the benefits the plan offers in the form of healthy living, the more likely they are to take advantage of the opportunities available to them – and healthier employees is what will keep your company’s health care costs under control in the future.

Internal Opportunities

As you start developing your company’s workplace wellness goals for 2015, don’t forget that promoting what your business offers is the best way to increase engagement across your program. Use your lunch and learn as an opportunity to share with your employees what’s coming. This will give you the chance to present all of your changes – from healthier vending machines to yummy lunch options through our Virtual Cafe to exercise programs – in an exciting, positive way that sparks enthusiasm across your brand. And don’t forget to continue promoting what your company will be changing beyond the lunch and learn. Including snippets of what employees can look forward to in your monthly newsletters, encouraging them to sign up for any courses you’re offering in the new year, and putting up posters that generate buzz about new options can help you to sustain excitement and gain more employee participation, helping you to integrate a healthier culture into your office environment.

Don’t Forget the Food

Central to any great lunch and learn is a great meal. And this is definitely not a situation where you want  your employees to brown bag their lunch. Because this session is focused on their health, it’s a great opportunity to offer nutritious lunch options – grilled meats, yummy winter salads, and tasty fruit desserts are an excellent way to continue promoting healthy choices and integrate more awareness about how to find delicious, healthy lunch options. You could even invite a nutritionist to come in and talk about the healthy meal choices that you’re serving and why they’re great for employees to consider for midday meals.

Are you becoming intrigued? We thought so! With only six weeks left in 2014, there’s no time to waste. Start planning your health awareness topics today and let Waiter.com help take care of the meal planning. With our support, you’ll plan the best wellness lunch and learn in the city!

While you’re probably already immersing yourself into the season, there’s one event this week that can definitely bring some extra autumn flavor to the office. National Apple Cider Day is tomorrow, and it is the perfect opportunity to integrate a workplace wellness focus into your company culture – as well as a great way to promote collaboration among your staff. When it comes down to it, you might be wondering how a day dedicated to one of the most popular fall drinks in America could help you strengthen the value system within your company. So let us explain just how beneficial a day that includes apple cider can be, and share how to best bring this type of event to your team.

A Culture of Wellness

Helping your employees see the importance of a healthier lifestyle starts by making wellness centric to your company culture. But ‘wellness’ really goes beyond just offering an exercise program and throwing healthier options into your vending machines. It means offering a healthy mentality, which includes promoting mental well-being and good work habits as well. Encouraging your employees to take short group breaks and collaborate with each other on projects are both excellent ways to help them become better at problem solving and learn the importance of getting up and moving around throughout the day.

Finding unique opportunities – like National Apple Cider Day – can help you incorporate fun ways to encourage your staff to start taking on that healthier mentality. While hosting regular, weekly meetings that foster similar values is certainly important, using unique holidays to further instill a focus of wellness into your company culture is simply more memorable and helps to show your employees that work can include fun and creativity, and not just be about the daily grind.

Doing Food Holidays Right

When you want to bring a holiday like National Apple Cider Day to your team, think about the best ways to get your team together to collaborate and bond. For example, you could have Waiter.com cater an apple cider bar at a big breakfast meeting for your whole staff. Or you could look into having an apple cider barista over a particular hour of the day. Promote the event to your staff by encouraging them to grab some cider before a joining up with a smaller internal team or before they run to their 10 o’clock meeting. It will give them something to look forward to and help kick off gatherings in a positive way – which can also help get those creative juices flowing. Also, offering a specialty item over a particular hour during the day brings more individuals to a gathering place at the same time, which encourages natural collaboration – something that can help spark a more productivity when your employees return to their desks!

As you’re starting to plan your event, don’t forget to think about how to continue instilling healthy choices into your apple cider day. For example, the apple cider could be all natural and have no sugar added. Instead of bringing whipped cream as a topping choice, try offering other flavorful options like cinnamon and nutmeg. Hand out the cider in company branded travel mugs – not only will your staff love the freebie, but it’s also inexpensive advertising for your brand since the mugs can be reused. And don’t forget a side snack – something complimentary like gingersnaps made with flaxseed can be a delicious treat that also adds some fiber to employees’ day, boosting the health factor of your special treat.

Fun Boosts Employee Morale

The benefits of bringing a healthier mindset to your company culture is serious business, but that doesn’t mean that everything you do needs to be serious! Encouraging your team to have a little fun throughout their day is the best way to bring new values into your brand. If people are having fun while engaging in this new mindset, they’ll be much more accepting of it – and more likely to let that same mindset spill over into their personal lives.

When you’re ready to bring a fun food holiday to your company as a way to share a healthier lifestyle with your team, Waiter.com is here to help. Our corporate catering services can help you dream up the perfect way to bring all sorts of holidays to your business in a way that sparks creativity and promotes a culture of wellness. Learn more – and start planning your next food holiday – today!

As you may have already realized, implementing a workplace wellness program at your office doesn’t automatically mean that yours will be successful. The best programs go beyond just offering a yoga class here and there – they understand the activity level, concerns, and interest of employees, and build a full scale company culture around it. Think of your wellness program as a long-term investment in your staff’s health that can also have a serious impact on your health care costs – and your company’s bottom line. The more strategy and planning you put into your workplace wellness series, the more effective it will be for your employees, and the better it will be for your business over the long haul.

One of the best ways to start your program off on the right foot is to get employee feedback on how this would work best at your company – and what it would need to look like for them to really get excited about participating. Throughout each month, you should continue to get employee feedback on how the program is going for them, how to improve it and to use s an outlet for encouraging them to continue to participate. So if you’re ready to take your wellness program to the next level by really understanding what will best help your employees to participate, where should you even start? We’ve pulled together the a short guide to help you find the best ways to do just that.

Start Strong

When you’re ready to start a program at your office, start by getting feedback from your team. Send out a confidential email survey to find out what types of activities they’re interested in and how they’d be best encouraged to participate in your program. This will help you to find the right kinds of exercise opportunities to reach the biggest group of individuals in your office, as well as how you can encourage your team to continue getting active in the program over time. Finding out if they are more likely to get active on their own or with a partner for support can help you to determine whether having your staff team up as a way to stay motivated and increase engagement.

Another way to gauge interest and learn more about how to best implement a wellness series is to host a lunchtime roundtable. Depending on your company’s size, you can offer a limited number of spots for the event where participants will be encouraged to share their own concerns, get their questions answered, and help you better understand what will work best to increase participation throughout the year – all while sharing a healthy catered lunch that shows your appreciation for their efforts and time.

Program Ambassadors

Many great community organizations start an ambassador program to spread the word and generate excitement about how they benefit a local area. As you start to unveil your program internally, look for individuals who are extra excited about participating – these are the people who would make great internal ambassadors to encourage more engagement among other employees. Hold a special kickoff lunch and learn to teach your ambassadors what the program is all about and what things they can expect over the coming months. Educating them about what you’ll be rolling out in the future will encourage them to naturally start talking to other employees about it and help spread the word in a highly positive fashion.

Send out a monthly email that includes tips for how to start and facilitate conversations about the program, and common questions that have been asked by employees around the company. This will give them the tools they need to help you manage the program from a grassroots level. Offering a monthly incentive, like a drawing for a coffee gift card or bringing in a monthly catered lunch, will also give ambassadors a chance to share the challenges they’ve encountered and their success in spreading the word about the program. Finally, give ambassadors a special shirt to wear once a week or a pin they can wear during the lunch hour so that other staff members can easily identify who they can go to with questions or for help navigating the program.

Monthly Check-Ins

Staying connected with your team throughout each month of your wellness program will help you stay abreast of any concerns your employees have, whether they’re enjoying what the program offers and if they have any suggestions for additions or changes. This will help you learn where your program can be tweaked over time to make it more effective and engaging for your team – which is the ultimate goal. The easiest way to check in on a monthly basis is to send out a simple online survey that leaves your team room to add comments if they choose. By making these surveys anonymous, you’ll see a better – and more honest – response rate from your staff.

Additionally, bringing up the program during your regularly scheduled team meetings can be a way to start a conversation about how it’s going for each participant, which can help you further understand what people love about the program and what could be improved. Additionally, sharing all of the great attributes of participating with the team can be another way to encourage more of your staff to start getting engaged!

Building a Company Culture with Workplace Wellness

Starting a workplace wellness program is really the first step in building a company culture that embraces a healthier way of life. Continuing to work on integrating healthy living tips into your office and building engagement within the programming you offer can help everyone on your team not just make healthier choices, but truly integrate the things they learn through your wellness series into their life outside of their work.

As you’re building this new company culture, Waiter.com can handle all of your corporate group food ordering needs, helping you to make your program an even bigger success. Your staff is sure to love everything that we bring in and we can even theme your catered meals towards a wellness-oriented company culture! Learn more about our corporate catering options today!

With the explosion of workplace wellness programs among companies across the country, you probably already know that there are things you can do to help your staff improve their health. After all, with chronic diseases like diabetes, poor heart health and obesity accounting for 78 percent of American health care spending, it’s clear that employers need to encourage their staff to lead healthier lives. But instituting healthy options for your staff is actually the easiest piece of the wellness process–getting employee buy-in, and participation is where many businesses struggle. In fact, most companies see about 15 to 20 percent staff participation in healthy initiatives, which certainly shows that there is room for improvement.

So, if you feel stuck and are trying to get more employees to participate in your program, where should you start? Believe it or not, there are several great apps that can support your workplace wellness series and encourage more employee participation, helping your staff take charge of their health, which leads to happier and longer lives. To help you find the right apps to supplement your program, we’ve outlined three of the best options below.

Keas

The Keas platform is fun, social and promotes employee engagement both within your company and in your team’s actual work. It’s a turn-key program that requires little help to set up and allows employees to track their fitness and activity levels, suggests actions that team members can take if risks are identified (like high blood pressure) and also includes mind stimulating games and quizzes to encourage your team to learn more about their health. It can also be integrated with external apps such as Fitbit, which can help further encourage your employees to participate in your workplace wellness program. Plus, it offers a social component that allows your team to connect outside of the office by sharing photos, healthy recipes, exercise tips and more. Not only will the Keas platform help you to spread the word about your healthy living programs, it can help create stronger bonds among employees and more company loyalty over time.

Maxwell Health

While this platform was initially developed as an innovative way to shop for great health plans, it’s evolved into much more. The Maxwell Health app helps your team understand and stay engaged with their health plan beyond the open enrollment period. It empowers them to take advantage of tools that will show them how to lead a healthier lifestyle and understand what health care options are available to them. It also integrates with,  and helps your team find, the right kinds of products to support their healthier lifestyle, like the Fitbit, Doctor on Demand, and Hello Fresh — programs that support fitness, health and healthier eating. Plus, it encourages employee engagement by offering incentives for meeting their health goals, like gift cards to Amazon and Starbucks. Since it does all the heavy lifting for you, encouraging your team to participate in your workplace wellness program can become a breeze!

FitLinxx

Understanding that not getting active is what’s driving many of America’s health care concerns today, FitLinxx helps you to implement the best workplace wellness program for your office, and helps your employees stay engaged, as well as accountable for their own health. Their Pebble+ Activity Tracker is a small device that your team can clip onto their belts. It encourages them to take little steps throughout the day — taking the stairs, parking further from the building, and moving more over their lunch hour — to become more active. Your team can easily sync their activity and track their progress both on their own and through detailed monthly reports that are only available to them. It’s an easy way to help your team understand the benefits of healthier living, get on the right track, and encourage them to participate in your wellness series.

Healthier Employees

Helping your staff lead a healthier lifestyle should be one of your top priorities. Not only are employees more loyal to companies who offer unique wellness opportunities and care about them beyond what their able to produce, encouraging your team to become more active and eat better can significantly impact your company’s bottom line through the amount you spend on health care costs. Giving your employees the tools to better manage their health can help to make this a higher priority for them, and encourage your staff to make more of an effort to participate in the programs your business offers.

When you’re ready to take your workplace wellness series to the next level, consider offering some healthier eating opportunities through Waiter.com’s corporate catering or virtual cafeteria service. After all, a well-rounded wellness program can help your team live better and understand all of the things that impact their overall well being.

When it comes to workplace wellness, many office employees desire more learning opportunities that are available over the lunch hour. And for companies that are interested in creating a culture that fosters staff development and wellness, starting a mentorship program during that noon hour can be a great fit.

Mentorship programs go one step beyond a regular lunch and learn: they offer employees the chance to learn more about their jobs, the company for which they work, and the chance to develop more skills to do their jobs better. It also gives them a trusted resource within the company who can act as a sounding board for how to solve problems, hold them accountable for reaching goals, and cheer them on when they reach accomplishments.

The companies that are adding business mentoring programs as part of a workplace wellness program are seeing great results. Not only are employees who participate more engaged, they’re seeing higher retention rates and larger skills development. If your interest has been piqued about adding a program like this to your company, we have some great best practices to help make your series more successful.

Consider the end goal

While a mentorship program at large is a great concept, working that down to what the end goal of the program is will help narrow the focus. Do you want your staff to feel more fulfilled at work? Then consider a program that focuses on how to become more efficient in your job, figure out what tasks particular employees can do to make the biggest difference, and how to find a better work life balance. If staff morale is the goal, then consider matching pairs from different departments to help new staff learn more about the business as a whole. It can also help to incorporate fun activities, like team contests or outings at different points during the program.

Many businesses are also incorporating a concept known as “reverse pairing,” where veteran employees learn from the new recruits. The goal is to help newer staff learn how to teach skills, gain visibility within the company, and talk about what they know. It also gives the veteran staff the chance to learn more about newer technology  and strategies with which they might not be familiar. It’s a great way to build relationships among employees and help newer team members feel more involved in how they contribute to the bottom line of the company (which can also serve to increase retention rates).

Don’t forget training

In order for your mentors to be successful in the program, they are going to need some training to understand best practices for coaching their team member, tactics for motivating younger employees, and insight regarding the company’s ultimate goals for the program. It is also helpful to have an actual business mentoring plan in place before the program starts – something that outlines what types of conversations the teams should be having each week and how to stay accountable to the program. By giving your staff the guidelines ahead of time, they’re more likely to stay engaged and learn more throughout the length of the program.

Offer an incentive

While mentoring programs have a lot to offer for all parties involved, it can be a big time commitment. Encouraging your staff to participate through the use of incentives can help increase the number of employees who join the program and also how dedicated they are to making their mentor-mentee relationship successful. Offering a catered lunch once a week when team members are meeting is a great place to start – and a healthy midday meal can also help employees stay more engaged throughout the rest of the afternoon. A reward – like an afternoon of golf outing or party – to celebrate the end of the program can help individuals to stay engaged for the long haul. And offering small incentives, like coffee shop gift cards, every few weeks for teams who achieve some of the goals they set out at the beginning of the program can help them to work harder and take more away from the program as a whole.

Building a healthier company

Mentorship programs are a great way to build an office culture that’s focused on building up employees and helping them to achieve their highest potential. It can help increase productivity, staff retention rates and overall workplace morale. And bringing together your employees to build stronger relationships and teaching them to work together towards a common goal is great for the future of the business.

When you’re ready to start your own company mentorship program – and want to offer a healthy catered lunch to participants – Waiter.com has you covered! We offer a variety of options, from traditional catering to our virtual cafeteria service, to keep everyone engaged and happy. We can help you make your new program a great success!

 

We typically think of office meals as something to be done, well, at the office. But what about introducing a new kind of business lunch into the mix — one that involves getting outdoors and into nature? Walking lunches are a great way to shake up our usual meal-time routine at work. If you find your office in need of a creative jolt, taking staff outside can be just the thing to get the blood flowing.

The basics of a walking lunch are simple: it involves going on a nice walk — the route is usually pre-planned — with employees, while snacking on appetizers, stopping at a picnic-area to eat the main course, and then walking back to the office while munching contentedly on dessert. Combining elements from company picnics, walking lunches offer a fresh space in which staff can unwind and re-energize.

Why walk in the first place?

Walking lunches do require more effort than the typical in-office meal; a few people will need to carry picnic baskets (housing the main course), and everyone will be asked to move around during their lunch break, rather than sit stationary at their desks. But rest assured, walking lunches give us much more in return than the average seated business lunch in the office.

For starters, a change in scenery from indoors to outdoors makes it easier for employees to truly relax. If we never stray from our usual workspace, it’s difficult to take a real break. Ironically, this can cause a decrease in both productivity and innovation. After all, creativity comes when we least expect it, when our minds are at rest.

Walking, meanwhile, is not only healthy for our bodies, but also our minds: “When we go for a walk, the heart pumps faster, circulating more blood and oxygen not just to the muscles but to all the organs—including the brain. Many experiments have shown that after or during exercise, even very mild exertion, people perform better on tests of memory and attention.” If office morale is feeling low, often a good walk in nature with some delicious, healthy food is just what the doctor ordered.

Walking lunches might even lead your employees to greater success in problem-solving and generating more brilliant ideas: “Because we don’t have to devote much conscious effort to the act of walking, our attention is free to wander—to overlay the world before us with a parade of images from the mind’s theatre. This is precisely the kind of mental state that studies have linked to innovative ideas and strokes of insight.”

Greek food on-the-go

To get started with your walking lunch, pick a pleasant destination where you can eat the main portion of the meal, like a nearby park, or boardwalk with benches. There are many cuisines conducive to a walking lunch: Greek food is a great choice with its lively, positive energy, and simple, substantial ingredients.

Appetizers for the journey

During the first part of the walk, offer some small, tasty snacks that employees can eat with their hands while chatting with colleagues as they stroll. We suggest ordering oven-roasted Greek potatoes and baked vegetables like eggplant, which are yummy and also vegetarian-friendly. These will tide staff members over until the main meal, and give them a fun subject to talk about besides work. Keep napkins readily available, or hand out serviettes beforehand.

A casual Greek main course

Upon arriving at the destination, such as a local park or field, encourage employees to eat while lounging on picnic blankets, or even standing up. Anything that gets away from sitting in a chair will keep the fresh energy flowing. Classic Greek salads for health-conscious or vegetarian employees provide a good source of protein from the feta, and nutrients from tomatoes and olives. The meat-lovers, on the other hand, will be happy with hearty gyros (pronounced yee-ros) made with pita bread, and traditionally filled with roasted pork, tomato, a yogurt-based sauce, and onions. Many restaurants these days offer a chicken option, so be sure to check with employees for preferences beforehand.

If you’ve previously ordered gyros for the office like they were going out of style, try changing it up by opting instead for Greek style turkey burgers. This is a healthier version of the traditional Greek staple of the gyro, but with turkey meat, olives, feta, garlic, oregano, basil, and tzatiki sauce.

Sparkling drinks and sweet desserts

To quench employees’ thirst, a glass of zippy lemonade (or, Lemonada as the Greeks called it back in the seventies), and orange juice (known as Portokalada) will do the trick. Traditionally these were “made with fresh strained orange juice or lemon juice either mixed with carbonated water or flat mineral water and you added sugar to taste.” Small bottles of water — still and sparkling — will also be appreciated by staff to wash down the delicious food and rehydrate from the walk.

Last, but certainly not least, savory Greek desserts — like baklava and halva — will make the walk back a treat. Made from flour, butter, and sugar (or tahini), it’s not exactly healthy, but a perfect way to cap off the lunch. It keeps well at room temperature, so no need to worry about it being outside. A little of these sugary delights goes a long way — a few pieces of dense halva will satisfy even the most serious sweet-tooth on staff, while baklava’s light phyllo pastry base, nuts, and honey are another nice choice to have on hand.

Between the outdoor nature, the fresh and hearty Greek food, and the gentle physical activity, walking business lunches will leave your staff raring to go. Since walking lunches require more energy than office-bound ones, we want to make the experience as easy and enjoyable for employees as possible. This includes providing delicious, quality food that’s on time — let Waiter.com help bring the perfect order of food to your next walking lunch.

Have you ever tried a walking lunch with your office? How did it go? Let us know in the comments!

We’ve all been there: those moments when you’re sitting at your desk, hunched over your computer, feeling less and less focused as each moment wears on. In fact, when your employees are feeling drained, they’re more easily distracted and less productive while working – and this is increasingly becoming a problem among U.S. employers. But did you know that there’s actually a simple fix for this problem – and it’s something that promotes a healthier workplace at the same time?

Believe it or not, a stretch break can be just the ticket for helping your staff feel better and work harder – meaning a higher level of productivity throughout the day. Not only does stretching help improve flexibility (and loosen up tight muscles after sitting at a desk for hours on end), it can help your employees clear their mind to help them focus on their work and eliminate those nasty tension headaches that can block creativity. And the benefits of healthy habits in the workplace go beyond the individual – when employees feel better, morale increases among colleagues, making for a more positive and conducive work environment. So how can you encourage your staff to take a break and stretch throughout the day? Here are a few tips to get you started.

1. Bring in an expert. A little education can help your employees understand why stretching is important and how to do it best. In fact, there are many different stretches that people can easily do from their desks. While some might feel a little silly at first, seeing the whole team doing the same stretches in a group setting can help them feel more comfortable taking a break to limber up in the future – and encourage other staff members to follow suit!

2. Incorporate a wellness newsletter. If you don’t already have one, a monthly wellness newsletter is a great way to promote a healthy workplace. Including a short article about a new stretch that your team can try at their desks is one way you can promote movement breaks. And using the article to also explain how it will help them come back to their computers feeling refreshed will help them to refocus on their work after their break. It’s a win-win!

3. Offer yoga over the lunch hour. Many companies have started offering yoga and pilates classes over the lunch hour for interested employees. While not every team member may participate, it’s a great way to show some staff appreciation and promote workplace wellness – while offering a built in stretching break for your team. Keep in mind that you don’t have to offer the class every day – even once a week is a great benefit to your staff. It might even inspire some to take the initiative to get moving on their own for those days a class is not offered.

4. Use exercise balls as desk chairs. Using an exercise ball instead of a desk chair is a great way to promote good posture and will help your staff stay more limber throughout the day. It’s unlikely that everyone will take you up on the switch, but giving your team the option is a great way to offer more healthy choices within your office, while helping everyone feel better while sitting at their desk.

And don’t forget the healthy snacks! Have fresh fruit, nuts, or plain Greek yogurt on hand for employees to enjoy during any breaks between meals. Reaching for something nourishing during breaks serves to support employee efforts, instead of derail them like a sugar-laden donut or candy bar would.

Encouraging your employees to take short breaks throughout the day to stretch out, take their eyes off the computer screen and refocus their energy is an excellent way to promote workplace wellness. And helping your team understand the importance of taking a break to stretch can help them to be more productive while they’re working. Healthy eating, in combination with a more active lifestyle, can help take your workplace wellness a step further.When you want to supplement your stretching program with great, catered food, Waiter.com has you covered. Check out all of our options today!

Workplace wellness isn’t just a buzzword, or a six billion dollar industry: for companies with the most effective wellness programs, it’s a way of life at the workplace. And while there are many complex factors that go into making a wellness program successful, most experts agree that the keys include awareness, engagement, and accessibility. Employees need to know about the program, feel personally invested, and be able to easily participate.

One very easy, very hands-on way to make wellness more visible and accessible in your office? Lunch and learns. Bringing coworkers together, providing a healthy meal, and delivering engaging content about employee wellness can really drive home the message of making health a priority. Lunch and learns accomplish exactly what their name suggests: they combine food and knowledge, and when done in a wellness-themed way, can have a powerful impact. After all, a lesson about how whole grains are a better choice than refined flour will be much more likely to stick if you can make an immediate association with the delicious quinoa salad on your plate.

However, while bringing wellness into the workplace via lunch and learns is easy, they shouldn’t be mandatory; after all, you’re asking employees to spend their lunch break on the occasion. That’s why providing quality, wholesome meals is part of the equation: the lunch part of the lunch and learn should be tempting enough to draw in a crowd.

Need some inspiration on exactly how to stage a lunch and learn in your office? We’ve got you covered!

Topics (the more specific, the better): 

• How eating more plant-based foods and less red meat can reduce risk of disease
• The immediate effects of quitting smoking
• How 30 minutes of exercise per day can make a big impact – even if it’s just walking
• How mindfulness can combat stress in the workplace
• The health advantages of celebrating Meatless Monday
• Specific ways to order healthier takeout and restaurant meals

Ways to share knowledge:

• Ask for passionate employees to prepare a 30-minute talk on a wellness-related topic
• Inquire with a local college or university about graduate students willing to deliver a guest lecture
• Check with your insurance provider – they may provide wellness slideshows or even in-person info sessions
• Keep it very simple by screening health and nutrition-themed TED talks
• Watch a health and nutrition documentary in 30-minute segments

And don’t forget the food! Whether you plan to provide company catering or simply order a big spread of healthy takeout, the lunch part of the equation should meet two objectives: be attractive enough to draw employees to the meeting, and be nutritious and high-quality to encourage continued healthy eating habits for the rest of the week. Waiter.com can help ensure your lunches are both wholesome and healthy, and never get boring! With a wide range of menus, online ordering, and prompt delivery, providing healthy lunches for the office will be a breeze. And if you’d like to make it a regular routine, Waiter.com’s Virtual Cafeteria Service ensures every employee will receive a meal they’ll love every week.

Yesterday I violated my own advice on healthy office meals, and had a working lunch right at my desk. I had a lengthy email that I’d been putting off writing, so I sat down with my bowl of leftover Pad Thai, a dish I’d been looking forward to all morning (lunchtime even came a little earlier than normal since I was so eager). I took a delicious first bite, and started writing. And just before I hit “send,” I stuck my fork into an empty bowl with a jolt of disappointed chagrin.

I’d eaten my entire lunch without even noticing. I was so wrapped up in what was happening on my laptop screen that I missed out the entire experience of enjoying my food, not to mention the chance to disengage from my work and give my mind a chance to reset and recharge in the midst of a busy day. Beyond the first bite, I was paying zero attention to the food on my plate and the experience of eating. It was the epitome of mindless eating, and the total opposite of a new movement that’s gaining popularity among nutrition and weight loss experts: mindful eating.

What is mindful eating?

Mindful eating is the practice of paying close attention – undivided, in fact – to the experience of eating. When you eat mindfully, you slow down and focus on the flavor of your food, the texture, and the way your body is nourished by consuming it. Mindful eating can also include contemplating and being grateful for how your food came to be on your plate: thinking about the field or farm where the ingredients came from, the sunlight that enabled the growth of the plants, even the hands of the cook that prepared it.

Talk about a far cry from wolfing down some Pad Thai while you type an email. If mindful eating sounds a little Buddhist-y, that’s because it is. The practice has its roots in meditation and the practice of mindfulness, but the concept is being embraced by secular researchers and workplace wellness experts. When millions of Americans struggle with eating too much or not being able to control their weight, the idea of slowing down, paying attention to what you eat, and really examining its impact on your body has the potential to be a game-changing kind of “diet” strategy – one that’s really about having a healthier relationship with food, rather than a quick-fix or gimmicky cleanse.

Mindful eating is not just for monks

The National Institute of Health has studied the effect of practicing mindful eating in obesity-related behaviors (like binge eating and emotional eating), and in diabetics who struggle to maintain a healthy weight – and it works. Google, the corporate king of data-based decision-making when it comes to food and employee wellness, hosted a day of mindful eating talks and training from the Vietnamese Zen monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, who literally wrote the book on mindful eating. His coauthor? A nutritionist and lecturer from the Harvard School of Public Health, Lilian Cheung. 

Mindful eating & office meals

Mindful eating can be especially helpful in the workplace. Between our computers, our iPhones, and our coworkers, it can be really tough to find time during the day to take a real break… and those breaks are key to both ongoing mental health and our productivity. It may seem counterintuitive, but taking time away from your work will help you work more efficiently the rest of the day. Mindful eating requires that you unplug, and put your attention on your food – and yourself.

The Waiter.com team makes it easy for you to have wholesome, healthy office meals delivered right to your door – but the rest is up to you! If you find yourself experiencing the fork-into-empty-bowl syndrome, it might be worth exploring the world of mindful eating. In one of their health newsletters, Harvard supplied a helpful “starter kit” on mindful eating. And there are some excellent Youtube videos from Thich Nhat Hanh’s visit to the Googleplex – both a four-minute introduction to mindfulness at the workplace, and a three-hour version, for those of you who don’t have any plans this weekend.

Just don’t eat your lunch while you watch.

A new study out of the University of Toronto is adding more fuel to the fire when it comes to the unhealthy nature of rushing through lunch breaks. Researchers found that fast food — the kind eaten in a rush and while on the go — makes people more impatient and less able to savor life experiences like looking at a beautiful painting or listening to an opera. The implication? Eating fast food can disrupt our attention and ability to focus… which could have huge implications for workplace productivity.

In the study, researchers established that even the unconscious suggestion of fast food (like the golden arches of McDonald’s) flashed for a few undetectable milliseconds on a computer screen) led participants to increase their speed on a reading task. In another task, participants who were instructed to spend time thinking about fast food showed tendencies to forgo long-term benefit over a short-term payout — another signal of impatience.

At times, it’s good to be hurried: when you have an impending deadline and a simple task, increasing your reading speed is probably a positive thing. But when you’re working on a more involved project or something that requires continued, careful attention, this “fast food” style of working isn’t going to do you any favors.

While meals, fast food, and attention at work may seem unrelated, they’re connected on both physical and psychological levels. Physically, the kinds of foods you eat on your lunch breaks will impact your energy and focus through the day — a meal full of refined carbohydrates that are quickly digested will leave you feeling buzzed for a short time and exhausted the rest of the day. Similarly, taking a mental break over your lunch hour can help your mind re-focus and feel more prepared for the afternoon ahead. In the University of Toronto study, researchers found that when participants looked at pictures of fast food packages, they felt impatient. When they looked at the same food on real plates with real cutlery, the impatience wasn’t there. This goes hand-in-hand with the concept of mindful eating, which proposes that taking time to create a ritual out of your meal will help you enjoy it more (and likely eat less!).

The bad news is that many of our days are fast-food-paced. More than 30 percent of American employees report working right through their lunch break — or skipping it altogether. Given the mounting evidence in studies like this latest one, it’s likely past time for workplaces to consider how they can promote a culture of patience, and of taking time to have a real break during the day. It may take half an hour’s worth of time, but could have huge ramifications for productivity, focus, and mental health — well worth the investment.

One way to promote taking time to recharge is by providing office meals and lunches for your team. Encourage everyone to gather in the break room, share a meal together, and spend some time away from their computer screens. Not only will it help employees recharge, but will improve office teamwork — and possibly boost job satisfaction, as well! And with easy online ordering and reliable delivery from Waiter.com, it’s never been easier to help create a more productive, more mindful workplace!

Workplace wellness programs are a true win-win: when done right, employees get healthier, which translates to lower health care costs and a more productive workforce for employers. Even morale and engagement can improve, as employees who feel like their companies care about and support their well-being may find greater meaning in their work. Of course, partaking in wellness-related perks, like healthy office meals, complimentary or reduced-price gym memberships, and even free flu shots, don’t hurt either.

So why is it so tough to get a majority of employees to participate in workplace wellness programs? Really, for all the same reasons it’s tough for any of us to get healthy when we know it’s good for us… it’s just plain hard to start a new habit (or break an old one).

If your company needs a little assistance in the workplace wellness participation department, you’re not alone. A recent study from the Department of Health & Human Services reports that while nearly half of U.S. companies with more than 50 employees offer wellness programs, only 46 percent participate in screenings or health risk assessments, and less than 21 percent participate in intervention-style activities (think smoking cessation and weight loss programs).

Offer incentives

Incentives are one of the most common ways to entice employees into workplace wellness participation. The HHS report suggests that incentives above $50 are fairly effective at compelling participation in health screenings, but less so when it comes to intervention-style programs. This makes sense, because while a health screening is easy to complete, committing to a program that will require major lifestyle changes is a bit more challenging. Don’t just offer a one-time incentive for signing up, but consider offering ongoing rewards for meeting monthly goals. Whether you use cash or alternatives, like gift cards or company swag, incentives are a wonderful way to kickstart motivation.

Prioritize convenience

Whenever possible, make the healthy habits you want your employees to adopt as easy as possible. Host lunch-and-learns right in the office with a focus on wellness-related topics, like nutrition or how exercise can improve mood and mental well-being. Ask a local yoga teacher to hold a weekly class in an empty conference room over the lunch hour. Have a local nurse or clinic set up on-site flu shots. And arrange for the daily option for employees to purchase healthy takeout and delivery through group food orders (see our prior posts on the best options to order for sushi, diet-friendly Chinese food, and even healthy deli sandwiches for inspiration!). While healthy habits need to be implemented at home and work, there’s no reason not to make it easy to follow through with at the office.

Eliminate hypocrisy

Are you espousing healthy eating, but have a vending machine stuffed with chips and cookies in the break room? Do you encourage employees to hit the gym, but maintain a strict schedule that makes it difficult to fit in a workout? Sending mixed signals like these to employees results in only one message coming through loud and clear: wellness isn’t really a priority. Make sure the actions of the company lines up with wellness, and the cultural message will be much more straightforward.

Make it a team effort

While you should emphasize that the results of health screenings will remain confidential on an individual basis, there’s nothing wrong with building teamwork amongst coworkers as part of your wellness plan. Create a running club or form an office team for an upcoming 5k run to build accountability. Form a company softball team, or even just hold twice-daily exercise breaks in an empty conference room — play upbeat music, have a big pitcher of green iced tea, and ask coworkers to replace their coffee break with a low-impact (zero-sweat) stretching session.

Building community, eliminating hypocrisy, making wellness convenient, and offering incentives: each category can consist of small actions with big potential. And when it comes to promoting employee wellness by providing access to healthy, wholesome office meals in the workplace, Waiter.com makes it easier than ever to support your company’s wellness culture!

 

It sounds like a dream come true for writers at The Daily Show: the New York state senate recently made ridiculous headlines for debating about whether to endorse yogurt as the official state snack. And while Jon Stewart and company took advantage of the opportunity to poke fun at lawmakers’ priorities (although certain questions from lower-ranking senators, such as whether the proclamation would offend lactose intolerant New Yorkers, were actually intended to be subversive), it made a lot of Americans pause and ask, “Wait — we have official state snacks? What’s mine?!”

It turns out that only four other states have designated specific snacks, but there are official state foods, state drinks, state pies, state berries — seemingly, any example of local agriculture (like New York’s dairy farms) can warrant inclusion.  And while spending valuable taxpayer time debating the merits of yogurt as a state snack may seem wasteful, there’s no denying that locally-sourced food is important to many Americans… after all, it was one of the most frequently-predicted food trends of 2014.

From sea to shining sea (or cubicle to corner office), we all take pride in where we come from. So in the spirit of local pride — and as part of our ongoing quest to inspire meeting planners and admin assistants to create exciting office meals beyond the typical box lunch or predictable pizza delivery — here are some of our favorite workplace-friendly ideas from the very deep well of official state foods:

In California, avocados are the state fruit (and yes, they’re a fruit). From topping black bean burgers to mixed into hearty, healthy salads, avocados certainly deserve a place in the pantheon of California cuisine.

Everything is bigger in Texas, including the list of official state foods. Our favorites are the state snack — chips & salsa — which is the perfect appetizer to precede the state dish: chili con carne. A Texan-themed lunch like this is perfect for a hearty celebration!

Nobody ever said Utah isn’t afraid to be unconventional. Here, Jell-O is the state snack, while sugar beets are the “state historic vegetable”.  We suggest you go unofficial in this case, and serve burgers and fries with fry sauce, a Utah-specific condiment made from mixing ketchup, mayonnaise, and, occasionally, pickle relish.

One of the few other states with an official snack, Illinois and popcorn may not seem like a natural pair (next door neighbor, Indiana, is the home of Orville Redenbacher, after all)… but that probably means you haven’t had Garrett’s, a local purveyor famous for its cheddar-and-caramel flavor combo. This may not be popcorn in its healthy, whole-grain office snack form, but it’s definitely delicious!

Washington, D.C. may not exactly be a state, but that didn’t stop them from declaring an official drink: the rickey. A little liquor (gin or bourbon), a little lime, and some club soda — why, it sounds simple enough for your next office happy hour, doesn’t it?

Forget the cupcakes or the giant cookies: think pie for your next office birthday affair. Take a page from Massachusetts and its official pie, Boston cream, or go with Florida‘s offering and serve key lime pie. Maine gets specific: its state pie is blueberry, but only if it’s made with wild Maine blueberries.

New Jersey doesn’t care what botanists may say about seeds and fruits and other little details: their official state vegetable is the Jersey tomato, making an Italian-American feast, heavy on the “gravy”, a no-brainer for your Jersey-themed office meals.

State foods get complicated in North Carolina. Blueberries are the state blue berry, and strawberries are the state red berry. Scuppernong grapes are the state fruit, though… so basically, a fruit salad is your go-to dish at a North Carolina-inspired lunch (although we might just be tempted to go with barbecue).

Whether you stick to locally beloved cuisine, or honor a birthday girl or guy with a treat from their home state, getting geographically inspired will help keep your office meals fresh and exciting. And with a wide selection of menus from cuisines of all kinds, Waiter.com can ensure you find the perfect dish for every occasion — and location!

Offering a comfortable, welcoming break room for employees is a wonderful thing — with a lot of benefits! Taking breaks from work can actually boost productivity, and providing a communal space can encourage social interactions between coworkers that can contribute to happiness within the office. And, of course, having a dedicated place for office meals makes it easier to incorporate employee appreciation lunches and healthy snacks into the workplace.

But if your office break room is poorly organized, you could really be missing out on some of these exact benefits! When employees walk into an untidy break room, relaxation and comfort are likely to be the last things on their minds. Instead, those positive social interactions are replaced with grumbling about who always forgets to wash their dishes, or why there’s never a clean fork to use at lunch… and if not stored properly, those healthy snacks and leftovers from office meals can quickly become a nuisance instead of a perk.

Of course, employers want to get the most out of their investments — including their break room. With that goal in mind, here are a few tips for maintaining a better break room:

1) If your break room has become a magnet for passive aggressive notes about cleaning, take them down. They set a negative tone in the space, and nobody notices them anyway — or they wouldn’t keep showing up!

2) However, if employee messiness is a significant, ongoing problem, create a rotating schedule of responsibility for keeping the break room clean and tidy, preferably in small teams (2-3 people per team, depending on the size of your break room). Post a sign thanking the team members for tidying the break room each week to encourage accountability, and buy them lunch at the end of the week! Hopefully, taking part in the cleaning responsibilities will help every employee be more respectful and invested in maintaining a nice environment. And if an upper manager is willing to take the first shift to set an example through servant leadership, all the better!

3) When it comes to office meals, make it easy for employees to label their leftovers: a magnetized pad of sticky notes and a pen attached to the door of the fridge will do nicely. On Friday afternoon, the rotating cleaning team can deliver any “leftover leftovers” right to their owners’ desks, and unlabeled items chucked in the trash (a surprisingly therapeutic way to end the week!).

4) Provide both refrigerated and non-refrigerated storage: labelled baskets and lazy Susans can help keep the back corners of the fridge clear of forgotten items. Clear Pyrex containers or Tupperware can help cut down on the piles of plastic takeout bags that tend to accumulate in office fridges. If you provide heart-healthy nuts, fiber-rich fresh fruit, and other brain-boosting office snacks (and you definitely should!), consider purchasing special colorful baskets or bowls to store the communal food in, so it’s perfectly clear what’s up for grabs.

5) On that note, provide bottles of condiments like ketchup, mustard, soy sauce, and hot sauce for everyone’s use — and when you place group takeout orders, request that no individual packets of condiments be provided. Not only do those little packets seem to clutter up the table and counters of any break room, but the individual packaging is quite wasteful and may contradict your company’s ambitions to become more environmentally friendly.

6) Provide a matching, abundant set of actual plates and cutlery so employees can enjoy their office meals without eating of cardboard takeout boxes or Styrofoam. Again, paper and plastic aren’t good for the environment, and eating on a real plate will help employees engage with their food a little more mindfully.

7) Make it easy to access cleaning supplies. One pleasant-smelling bottle of all-purpose spray kept next to the sink with a fresh cloth (or roll of paper towels if laundry isn’t an option) is much more likely to be used than a pile of half-empty cleaning supplies in a crowded, scary, under-the-sink cabinet.

Sharing a communal space requires teamwork and respect — and there’s no better way to set the tone than by kicking off your newly-organized break room with a celebratory lunch. With easy online ordering and prompt delivery, Waiter.com is the no-brainer choice for your office meals in your shiny new space!

Today is Administrative Professionals Day —  a holiday that’s been celebrated in the U.S. since 1952 (albeit under the less politically correct name National Secretaries Day). And if you’ve forgotten, well, that’s probably because your own administrative assistant didn’t think it was in good taste to remind you.

Showing appreciation for hardworking admins is more than a formality or a Hallmark-sponsored obligation. Rather, employee appreciation is key to maintaining a positive work environment and employee engagement. And when it comes to administrative professionals, taking special time to communicate that appreciation is even more important! Many admin roles are supportive and meant to make the office (or an executive’s life) run smoothly… so by their very nature, no one might stop to notice when a successful admin is doing their best work!

With that in mind, here are a few last-minute ways to ensure the administrative professionals in your office have a heartening day — without a gift card or bouquet of flowers in sight.

1) Upgrade their parking spot — or at least promise the next good one that opens up.

2) Take care of the catering for the day: order in business lunches for the staff from your admin’s favorite restaurant, and make it clear that the treat is in his or her honor. This will encourage the whole office get involved in saying “thank you”.

3) Offer an extra personal day of their choosing within the next month — and for bonus points, ask what time they would like their massage scheduled that day!

4) If you and your colleagues are letting reward points go to waste from your business travel, pool together and gift them to your admin. According to a new survey from Expedia, that’s the number one wish of admins tasked with arranging travel.

5) Recruit another colleague to help put together an office happy hour in your admin’s honor after work today: a few six-packs of local beers, bottles of wine, and a delivery order of wings and nachos are all you need to turn the break room into a relaxing pub for an hour or two.

6) Is your admin an introvert who might not appreciate a flashy, attentive “thank you” fuss? Then consider upgrading the tools and programs that make your assistant’s job run smoothly. From staples like office supplies, to creative solutions like signing up for Virtual Cafeteria Service to make ordering business lunches easier, there are a host of organizational solutions that cater to admins. Come up with a few ideas of your own, and then ask for his or her input on what will make their life easier!

7) Whatever token of your appreciation you choose to give, include a personal, handwritten thank-you note along with it. After all, the important part of these gestures is not the gift itself, but the recognition that inspired it. On days like today, it’s easy for a sense of obligation to take away from the true meaning of the celebration: by being specific about just what it is you appreciate, or simply how your admin makes your working days better, you’re guaranteed to come off as sincere and grateful. Even if you write it at the last-minute.

From arranging business lunches to delivering pub food for happy hour, Waiter.com has your back when it comes to Administrative Professionals Day… just like we have your assistant’s back every day!

Today is National Stress Awareness Day — and on the surface, it may seem like a completely unnecessary occasion. Stress is always on our minds, and we talk about feeling stressed or being stressed or even stress eating all the time… especially in the context of the workplace. Does stress really need a special day?

The sad answer is yes. While we might throw the word “stress” around the office daily, it can have real, lasting consequences, both for employees and employers. The American Psychological Association estimates that three-quarters of Americans suffer physically from stress, including from stomachaches, headaches, and fatigue, and that more than half of us report that our productivity suffers and we don’t even use our vacation time due to stress. And, of course, work-related stress costs employers, to the tune of around $300 billion every year.

But don’t get stressed! The good news is that stress actually is manageable, and there are ways you can work to reduce stress in your workplace, without even making major adjustments to your daily schedule. From eating healthy office meals to taking a few minutes for quiet meditation, here are some top strategies for stress-busting to practice in the name of National Stress Awareness Day:

Don’t eat lunch at your desk. Physically, sitting too much is really awful for you. And mentally, not taking even a brief break from work is even worse. Take a walk if you can, but at least get up and move to the break room. Resetting your physical environment will help provide the mental reprieve you need to be productive throughout the day.

But do eat lunch — preferably, a healthy one. Eating a healthy meal — that is, one composed of complex carbohydrates and lean proteins — can help regulate your blood sugar to keep your energy levels up, keep stress hormones in check, and supply you with the vitamins and nutrients you need to physically handle the demands of your day… even if those demands are placed on your brain instead of your body. Foods rich in certain nutrients, like vitamin C, B-vitamins, folic acid, and omega-3 fatty acids, are the best choices for regulating stress: think salmon, dark, leafy green salads, and citrus fruits when choosing stress-busting office meals.

Unplug for a while — even just a little while. We’re smartphone addicts. There’s no denying it. But being constantly — really, truly, constantly — plugged in can raise stress levels; in fact, some psychologists liken the compulsive need to “check in” to the force that drives gambling addicts to slot machines. Make it a habit to leave your phone behind when you head away from your desk: you really don’t need to check your email while you eat your lunch or get a cup of coffee. Promise.

Practice mindfulness. It’s a buzzword, but one worth paying attention to. Mindfulness, often cultivated through meditation, is essentially the practice of being present in the moment instead of letting your thoughts race away from you. While this is obviously easier said than done, there’s a reason mindfulness training has been adopted by firefighters, police forces, and teachers across the nation: it works. Even spending ten minutes a day practicing mindfulness can make a big difference in how you experience stress.

Exercise, even a little. It’s not just about losing weight: even low-intensity exercise, like walking or yoga, can help improve your mood and state of mind. Exercise helps regulate cortisone, the so-called “stress hormone”, and improves cognitive function. So take a walk around the building, choose the stairs instead of the elevator, or escape to an empty conference room for some quick in-office yoga stretches.

Snack. Yes, this might be the best one on the list! If you go too long without eating, your energy will drop and you’ll be more likely to feel overwhelmed. The catch, of course, is to choose the right snacks: skip the chips and cookies for a handful of nuts, a container of Greek yogurt, or an apple with a few spoonfuls of almond butter. Each has protein to provide actual fuel for your body, instead of a quick sugar rush (and the inevitable crash).

When it comes to stress, the best thing you can do is ask for help — and that’s where Waiter.com comes in. We make it easy for you have healthy, stress-fighting office meals and snacks within easy reach… so you’ll have plenty of energy to tackle those yoga moves!

When the going gets tough, the tough get going… but they can’t do it on an empty stomach! That’s why smart employers know that during stressful periods — like running up to tight deadlines or working especially long hours — feeding your team overtime meals is a must.

Accountants may be the most famous example: the vast majority of accounting firms refer to the first quarter of the year, leading up to April 15th, as the “busy season”. Extremely long hours, working weekends, increased job stress, and a focus on simply surviving the crunch time are the norm for accountants as they work to meet tax deadlines for clients.

The busy season for accountants is predictable (most employees know what they’re getting into when they enter the field), but many firms put in extra effort to make their team feel appreciated and taken care of during the high-stress time. It’s a smart strategy that other industries can learn from: every company undergoes a time when employees are asked to step up, take on extra tasks, and work longer hours.

And that’s when overtime meals become a great asset to keeping hard-working team members happy! Here are the top 3 strategies lifted right from the experts: accountants.

1) Don’t just serve pizza and greasy late-night takeout. Healthy foods help boost productivity and long-term energy levels. While “comfort foods” might provide an emotional boost (and are perfect for occasional treats), make wholesome meals and snacks the norm throughout busy periods. Include plenty of whole grains, vegetables, and lean proteins from your favorite restaurants (see our past posts advice for how to order healthy takeout, whether it’s Chinese, sushi, Thai, or good old-fashioned sandwiches). After all, as a first-year staffer described on the accounting blog Big4Bound, “I try to eat healthy on the firm’s dime, but when the best part of your day (and the only thing you do outside of work) is eat, it is difficult to get a boring salad.”

2) Start the day off right — provide easy-to-eat breakfast items. Busy team members probably won’t make time to whip up an egg white omelette first thing in the morning, so being able to walk into the office and pick up a yogurt, piece of fruit, or a whole-wheat bagel on their way to their desk will be greatly appreciated! Plus, a healthy breakfast will lead to better focus and concentration throughout the day.

3) Create a ritual for your team members to look forward to. The accountant/blogger behind TheBig4Playbook.com advises other CPAs to “enjoy the little things that occur during busy season. Relish bagel Friday, or make it a point to bring in breakfast… at one of my clients, we would always have someone go get Sonic drinks. We saw this as a nice reward each day and it was something to look forward to.” Be creative: whether it’s Bagel Friday, Latte Wednesday, or Milkshake Monday, providing a reward to hard-working staffers will help create a positive, team-focused environment.

Of course, during the busy season, you need an effective way to get food right to the break room (or onto your employees’ desks), and Waiter.com is here to help! With easy online ordering, prompt delivery, and recurring catering through our Virtual Cafeteria Service, you’ll find it’s easy to keep employees well-fed and feeling appreciated.

Imagine this scenario: You were late to the office, and were on the receiving end of some “constructive criticism” at a morning meeting. You skipped lunch to meet a deadline, and by 3 pm, you’re starving and stressed. And, if you’re like most people, you aren’t thinking about how refreshing and nourishing a nice salad sounds — you’re making a beeline for the vending machine, and ravenously trading your quarters for your favorite plastic package of chocolate-chip cookies or salty potato chips.

We all know that how we feel and what we eat are intertwined. Our collective image of emotional eating usually involves a crying person and a tub of ice cream; it’s news to no one that we tend to reach for “comfort foods” — ones that reward our sugar, fat, and salt cravings — when we’re upset. But, in truth, the interplay of foods and moods is a little more complicated than a breakup and Ben & Jerry’s. Examining a few recent studies can shed some light on how the workplace can influence our dining choices — in some cases, for the better. Whether you spend your days in a cubicle or a corner office, it’s worth paying attention to the science behind our moods and our foods: what we eat can have a drastic impact on our performance in the workplace, and these studies should probably be influencing your company catering plan. A very recent study from researchers at the University of Delaware examined the relationship between our moods and the foods we eat – specifically, what we’re thinking about or how we’re feeling when we choose to eat healthy food. Some prior studies have found that we still like junk food when we’re in a good mood (think going out for a birthday dinner and celebrating with cocktails, appetizers, and dessert). Others observed that people in a good mood, specifically those who expected to stay in a good mood for a long time, made healthier eating choices. If they felt like their good mood was fleeting, though, they’d be more likely to eat “comfort foods”, supposedly to help prolong their positive emotions.

This new study plays off the concept of food and the future. Participants were divided into groups and asked to think about different chunks of time: either the present or the future. And whether people were in a good mood or a bad one, the ones who thought about the future were more likely to make healthier food choices. The study’s lead author, professor Meryl Gardner, presented her interpretation of the findings to The Atlantic: “When you’re focused on the near term, when you’re looking at what’s in front of your nose, you respond with what’s going to give you quick pleasure. And that’s triggered very much by bad moods.” So there’s one lesson to take away: when you’re feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or in an otherwise negative mood, take a moment to contemplate your future. Picture yourself behind the boss’s desk in a few years, or the dream project you’ve been gunning for finally coming to fruition. This study suggests that this kind of long-term thinking might lead you to choose a healthy snack – one that will help you stay healthy and reach your goals – instead of the short-term comfort of cookies or chips. Another way to combat your vending-machine urges is to ask your employer to support employee health and happiness by stocking plenty of good-for-you snacks in the office break room! Nuts are one of the best snacks you could seek out, since they satisfy a salty craving while also providing protein and heart-healthy monounsaturated fat; another smart choice is fresh fruit, which delivers a bit of sweetness along with plenty of fiber to keep you full.

Another relevant finding comes from two studies over the last few years, one from Penn State and one from New Zealand’s University of Otago. Both tracked the positive impact eating healthy has on our moods, and specifically pointed to evidence that eating healthy  foods makes us happier – rather than happy people eat healthier foods. Tracking detailed food consumption and mood fluctuations from hundreds of participants, both studies found that eating healthy foods — specifically, fruits and vegetables — made people happier. Not only were they happier on the day they ate the fruits and vegetables, but also on the following days. Given that happier employees make for more productive employees, employers should take note. The evidence is mounting: from reducing risk of disease (and thus health care costs) to increasing productivity to our very moods, what we eat really makes a difference in the work environment. How does your company catering plan help — or hinder — employee mood? If your lunch table is often full of pizza delivery boxes, consider choosing a more vegetable-focused cuisine for takeout lunches, like sushi or healthy sandwiches. And if you regularly host catered breakfast meetings in the office, consider healthy options like omelette bars from a catering company, or even a continental-style spread from a nearby deli, with fruit, yogurt, and hard-boiled eggs taking the place of sugary doughnuts or calorie-dense bagels with cream cheese. Take a step to move your office in the right direction! Show your staff some appreciation and give them a potential happiness boost by serving wholesome office meals. From healthy takeout options to fully catered meals, the food delivery team at Waiter.com can help put lunch on the table, and smiles on your employees’ faces.

Last weekend in Washington D.C., the American Psychological Association recognized the recipients of its ninth annual Psychologically Healthy Workplace Awards. The APA, the nation’s leading psychological professional organization, defines a psychologically healthy workplace as one that “…fosters employee health and well-being while enhancing organizational performance and productivity.”

Large or small, every company can work to promote the health and well-being of their employees — and they should! Research has shown that healthy, happy employees are more productive, and cost employers less when it comes to missed work and health care.

The APA’s awards are based on five categories: employee involvement, work-life balance, health & safety, employee growth & development, and employee recognition. Get a jump-start on your company’s psychological health by learning a few lessons from this year’s honorees:

Chicago-based Tasty Catering won in the small for-profit business category, largely because of their commitment to education and recognition. The company puts a huge emphasis on employee education, with an in-house Tasty Catering University providing company-sponsored classes and courses like “Finance Basics”, “The Greening of Tasty Catering”, and “How We Do That”. Every employee logs 40 hours per year in these professional development classes, and Tasty Catering also offers English classes to their Spanish-speaking employees. The company also pays for all kinds of certifications and licenses, regardless of whether the recipient drives a catering truck or is an executive-level employee.

Additionally, Tasty hosts weekly staff lunches every Wednesday. But that’s not all: on the third Wednesday of every month, the weekly lunch becomes a special affair to celebrate work anniversaries — honorees design their own menus for the day, receive a $50 check for each year worked, and listen as colleagues share stories about their positive contributions. Now that’s employee recognition!

In the small non-profit division of the APA awards, Ohio’s Certified Angus Beef took home the prize thanks to its emphasis on employee involvement and wellness. The organization holds regular retreats, team-building training, and biweekly breakfast meetings across departments to encourage communication in all directions. Certified Angus Beef often makes employee recognition a special focus at their catered corporate breakfast meetings, and also hosts after-hours events like patio parties with live music, ice cream, and — of course — steaks. Despite their red-meat credentials, however, Certified Angus Beef also puts a premium on wellness: they cover gym memberships for employees, and even employ an on-site wellness coach who leads workouts, and a bimonthly weight-loss management group.

The award-winning large non-profit, Minnesota-based hospital group St. Luke’s, takes their employee recognition program to an admirably high level. The company holds an annual Employee Services Awards Dinner, solely for the purpose of recognizing hundreds of individuals, supplemented by a weekly newsletter and monthly team recognition program. St. Luke’s seems to have a clear understanding that employee appreciation isn’t just about a lavish celebration: it has to be part of the company’s culture every day.

University of Southern California won the government/military/education category of the APA awards, and they’re an outstanding organization, however we’re drawing our final tip from a special “best practices” honoree:  wellness agency Beach Cities Health District. This small organization, which provides health programs and services to coastal communities in Southern California, really practices what they preach. They created their Thrive to 5 Challenge to encourage staff members to participate in at least five wellness activities over three months, with a focus on both physical and mental well-being. From activities like gardening classes to more abstract challenges like completing a personal goal, BCHD hoped that the initiative would support its employees’ health while encouraging social bonding among employees with shared interests. It worked: a post-challenge survey showed that every single employee felt supported in their efforts to be healthier.

From wellness to recognition to work-life balance, creating a psychologically healthy workplace can be an inspiring process! And if you decide to incorporate staff breakfasts, employee recognition dinners, or just weekly lunch-and-learns within your company, the food delivery experts at Waiter.com are standing by to support your efforts. From easy online ordering to prompt delivery right to your office, Waiter.com takes care of all the details so you can focus on your employees and their well-being!

Consider this your last-minute warning: tomorrow is Employee Appreciation Day.

Wait — don’t groan about yet another Hallmark-sponsored obligation! While we do live in a culture that’s oversaturated with holidays — today, for instance, happens to be National Frozen Food Day — employers would be ill-advised to dismiss Employee Appreciation Day. The concept behind the holiday is certainly far from meaningless (no offense to frozen foods): recognizing the contributions of employees is a valuable action, not to mention mutually beneficial.

Late last year, a survey conducted by online career site Glassdoor revealed that employees who work for appreciative bosses are more likely to work harder and stay with their current companies longer. Showing appreciation not only creates good vibes in the office, it actually makes a difference in employees’ work habits and long-term career decisions.

Not surprisingly, the preferred method of conveying appreciation was monetary compensation. So, by all means, dole out bonuses tomorrow if you can — but you may find a more lasting impact from the survey’s second favorite token of appreciation. That’s right: free food.

An unexpected office lunch or snack can really deliver the message that the boss took the time and expense to show employees their contributions are valuable. This is accomplished in a few ways: first, the food itself is a welcome treat. Second, gathering employees to spend some time socializing while they eat breaks up the daily routine and builds healthy friendships in the office. And finally, taking time out of a busy day to deliberately recognize employees and their efforts drives home the message that communicating your appreciation is really important to you and to the company as a whole.

So with those goals in mind, here a few easy ways to pull off a last-minute Employee Appreciation Day:

1) Start the day off with a quality office breakfast from a local deli or cafe. Consider a full spread of bagels with flavored cream cheeses, nut butters, and lox, or a Continental-style offering of pastries, fresh fruit, and yogurt. You don’t need a fancy omelette bar to convey that it’s a special occasion: simply offering a wide variety of quality breakfast items will show this isn’t just another box of doughnuts picked up on the way to the office.

2) If you have an Employee of the Month program already, let the current winner pick a restaurant for a group lunch order. They’ll get an extra boost of appreciation, but all employees will be able to pick their own dish and have a delicious, fresh lunch delivered to the office. For a personal touch, write a brief handwritten note and attach it to each employee’s takeout container upon arrival (or have management team members do this if your staff is larger than a dozen or so employees!).

3) If you’d rather do a family-style office lunch, just make sure to break out of the regular routine. If your office orders pizza every Friday, for instance, switch it up and order a few platters of sushi or set up an Indian takeout buffet in the break room. The point of Employee Appreciation Day is to do something special, so whatever you choose, make it unusual… and that will equate to memorable.

4) Let everyone wind down an hour early, and host a happy hour in the break room! This is as easy as stocking the fridge with some local microbrews and a few bottles of wine, and getting a local pub to deliver a round of bar snacks like nachos, chicken wings, or sliders. Just don’t forget to give a brief toast to the hard work of the people around you before the festivities begin!

However you choose to celebrate, your last-minute efforts will be minimal thanks to the office catering experts at Waiter.com. From coordinating group orders to prompt delivery, we’ll take care of the details so you can spend your time focusing on your employees on their special day.

Looking to improve productivity in the workplace? You might want to start by examining your employees’ coffee and lunch break habits — and encourage them to take more!

A growing body of research shows that taking breaks, especially in groups, can lead to higher overall productivity in the workplace. It may seem counterintuitive, but then again, productivity isn’t a cut-and-dried equation in most offices. Attention, focus, creativity — these very human, very complex factors are what can make the difference between a productive employee and a sluggish one. And behavioral scientists are suggesting (quite strongly) that regular breaks and social interaction can have a direct impact on how effectively employees can concentrate and work productively in today’s office settings.

Considering other recent surveys indicating American workers aren’t even taking real lunch breaks anymore, employers might want to pay attention to the research suggesting these workaholic habits are actually counterproductive.

For instance, in February of 2011, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign did a lab study where people worked on a repetitive computer task for nearly an hour. Different groups were provided with different levels of diversions during their work session — including one group who received no kind of break from the assigned task whatsoever. The group that experienced two brief diversions from their repetitive task, however, performed much better on their task at hand than those that merely kept their nose to the grindstone.

The study’s lead author, psychology professor Alejandro Lleras, ascribes the result to the tendency of our brains to “tune out” constant stimulus — much like we don’t even notice the sensation of clothing touching our skin because we become so accustomed to it. When it comes to attention, Lleras tells Science Daily, “We propose that deactivating and reactivating your goals allows you to stay focused… brief mental breaks will actually help you stay focused on your task.”

Even more useful than simply taking a mental break? Chatting with a coworker while you do it. In 2012, business consultant Alex “Sandy” Pentland — an MIT professor known for creative data science — used theories of social interaction to help a major banking call center significantly improve their productivity.

Pentland chronicled his research in The Harvard Business Review, describing how call center employees wore badges that tracked their movements and conversations to determine how they communicated with their team members. Pentland observed that “the best predictors of productivity were a team’s energy and engagement outside formal meetings.” This led him to suggest scheduling team members for coffee breaks at the same time: “That would allow people more time to socialize with their teammates, away from their workstations.”

The result? The lowest-performing teams increased their measurable productivity levels by 20% — and employee satisfaction saw a significant increase as well.

What does this mean for the average office? It suggests that employers should make a real effort to create a company culture where breaks are a valued, integral part of the day, and not a sign of slacking off. Make breaks a priority by scheduling regular staff lunches, so that team members can experience the kind of engagement and energy that only comes from leaving the desk or conference table behind, while forming the social bonds key to job satisfaction. As an added bonus, your employees will also benefit from the boost in energy levels and mental focus gained from eating wholesome meals, as opposed to sugary snacks from the vending machine.

The research doesn’t lie: for a more productive office, make time for employee breaks. And when it comes to providing office lunch catering or snacks for group breaks, there’s no more efficient method than the Virtual Cafeteria Service or prompt delivery found at Waiter.com.

There are myriad reasons to provide free meals to employees, whether on a regular basis or as a surprise token of appreciation: office meals boost morale, enhance job satisfaction, and can have a positive impact on health and wellness in the workplace. One of the most important outcomes of office meals, however, is an enhanced sense of teamwork.

As many may know, teamwork can be a tricky thing, and it’s hard to build solely within the confines of a group meeting or work session. As University of Cambridge professor Mark de Rond tells the Wall Street Journal, “The key to effective teams is very simple: provided people are capable, all you need to do is get them to care about something other than themselves. The problem: that’s very difficult to do.”

One way to promote a culture of teamwork — of caring about a common goal or a group project more than individual recognition or accomplishment — is to foster social bonds and friendships in the office. After all, even when a workload is more solitary, research shows that forming friendships at work can have some very positive impacts.

A workplace friendship “improves not only your mood and outlook at work, but also your performance,” Deanna Geddes, Human Resource Management department chair at Temple University, reported to the BBC. Indeed, one recent survey demonstrated that the friendships formed at work can be among the most powerful and emotionally supportive in our lives — especially when the workplace is a stressful or higher-paced environment. Having someone to talk to and rely on at the office can make even the worst day much more bearable than when you feel isolated and alone in the midst of challenging circumstances.

What does all of this have to do with food? Well, if social bonds and friendships are key to a positive work environment, then office meals simply provide the opportunity for those bonds to form or strengthen. That’s where careful planning is key: rather than just setting some food in the break room and sending out an email, employers should make a point to invite everyone to share the meal together. Specifically structuring meals as a social occasion sends the message to employees that taking the time to linger over conversations and get to know one another is considered valuable and a worthy use of company resources.

What’s more, if a catered meal is brought in as a reward for meeting a goal or completing a project, the entire team sitting together to eat, laugh, and reflect on the hard work that led to the point of celebration will only reinforce the ideas of teamwork and collaboration. The next time a challenging project arises, the memory and experience of celebrating success together could serve as a powerful confidence boost.

Essentially, eating together as a work team has the same benefits that have been demonstrated time and again for families: it fosters a sense of belonging and a shared, meaningful experience that can build supportive relationships. And when it comes to creating those opportunities, the expert team at Waiter.com can help you plan the perfect menu or delivery order that will ensure every member of your team has a positive, delicious experience.

Between discussions of what it means to “lean in” or whether working women really can have it all, the cultural conversation about family-friendly workplaces has never been louder. Working parents, especially mothers, report an increasing struggle to balance the demands of the office with the time and energy required for raising children. Nearly 40% of working moms admit to feeling rushed every day. Given that employee happiness and satisfaction are key to a productive, stable staff, many companies have begun implementing family-friendly policies in the office to make life easier for the parents who work there.

Frequently cited as a top company to work for, North Carolina software firm SAS offers discounted on-site child care facilities and free work-life counseling, and their campus gymnasium is free to both employees and their families. Google, well-known for perks like its generous employee food program, recently expanded their maternity leave plans so that new moms receive five months of fully-paid time off.

Smaller companies are finding ways to promote a family-friendly workplace, even when they lack the resources to supply on-site day care or family fitness centers. Offering flexible scheduling is one way to help busy parents that won’t cost a dime: allowing employees to come in at 7 am and leave at 4 pm can help two working parents get the kids on and off the school bus each day. Be open to offering extended meal breaks so that parents can catch a mid-day recital or school event. And if possible, allow employees to telecommute and work from home a few days a week when necessary. This will relieve the stress of making last-minute arrangements for a school snow day or caretaking for a sick child.

And if it’s appropriate, make it clear that your employees can bring their kids to the office occasionally. The Austin-based advertising firm T3 founded their “T3 and Under” program when four of their 35 employees got pregnant during a massive project — they allowed the new mothers to bring their babies to work with them out of necessity, but found the program to be a fantastic way to boost employee morale, and made it permanent. While that’s a drastic solution, many offices can allow working parents to bring a child for the occasional afternoon after an appointment or when school lets out early, letting the employee make the most of what might otherwise be an entire half day’s worth of lost work.

If you do choose to allow parents to bring children to work, take a few extra steps to assure your staff that kids are welcome, not just tolerated. Include some healthy kid-friendly snacks like juice boxes, cereal, or fruit leathers in the break room if you have regular young visitors, or invite the child to participate in an office lunch and add a kid’s entree to the takeout order. Small touches like family-friendly meal breaks will go a long way towards helping create a positive, supportive environment for working parents, especially since meal time is such an important time for small children.

Waiter.com can help you plan for catered meals or office parties of all kinds — even when the kids are involved. Use our easy online food ordering or Virtual Cafeteria Service to ensure everyone in the workplace gets a wholesome lunch during everyday meal breaks or celebrations!

Looking for a double-whammy strategy to increase productivity and job satisfaction in your office? Consider implementing a casual, voluntary office breakfast once a week. It’s a relatively small investment with a potentially huge payoff — especially when you pay close attention to the scientific research and our resulting office breakfast ideas.

Employees who socialize together in the workplace tend to build stronger bonds. Stronger social bonds usually lead to higher job satisfaction, and we all know that job satisfaction means lower turnover. As Dr. Ben Waber, president of a workplace consulting firm, told the New York Times, “In general when we look at what makes people happy and effective at work, it’s being able to spend time with a close group of people. You need to structure work in such a way that people have those opportunities.”

So providing a scheduled hour or so for coworkers to spend time together within the workplace is a no-brainer… right?

Not exactly. One recent study showed that personal choice had a greater impact on the restorative nature of breaks at work than what the worker actually did. For instance, if a worker chose to work through lunch, they felt more relaxed at the end of the day than if they were asked to do so by a supervisor… or even if they were pressured into a social outing. Autonomy — choosing how to spend breaks — is key to employee morale.

That’s where a casual environment is key. Setting aside time once a week to let employees socialize over food can do wonders for morale and job satisfaction, but not if one of those employees feels forced to chit-chat while their growing inbox tally means they’ll be staying late into the evening. Make it clear that an office breakfast is voluntary, or you run the risk of undermining the potential benefits. We also suggest scheduling your breakfast for Friday — it’s usually the least productive day of the week already.

So why breakfast? Simply put, you’ll get the biggest biological bang for your buck. There’s a reason we can all parrot that breakfast is the most important meal of the day — because it is.

Several studies over the years have shown that eating breakfast makes people more focused and attentive on the job. For instance, one British study showed that students who ate breakfast performed better on memory and concentration tasks. The impact was lessened, however, when that breakfast was a sugary one; it was highest when it was a whole-grain cereal.

Eating breakfasts that are full of sugar and highly processed carbohydrates can lead to a spike and subsequent crash of blood sugar levels, which means energy levels can plummet as well. In the office, there may be no faster way to undermine productivity than to feed everyone sugary donuts or French toast first thing in the morning. Foods that are rich in protein and fiber, however, will provide a long-lasting energy source; choose a menu that includes items like eggs, fruit, nuts, whole grain cereals, and oatmeal. Waiter.com‘s easy online ordering and company group food ordering services will make it easy to supply a wholesome breakfast for the entire office.

A healthy meal to start the day, coupled with the boosted happiness of social bonding, and underscored by being granted the freedom to choose willingly whether to participate? Now that’s a recipe for a successful workplace!

Looking for a way to increase engagement, build relationships, and keep your employees well-fed and happy? Take a lesson from Bitly and consider implementing a regular “lunch and learn” for the entire office.

Bitly recently used their company blog to describe their weekly lunch and learn routine: “Every Wednesday, all of us (regardless of team, meetings, or schedule that day) will sit together over lunch to learn about —anything!” While the company is best known for something relatively simple (a link-shortening service), it’s clear that they have put a lot of thought and effort into the complex task of building a positive corporate culture.

On the surface, lunch and learns are nothing new. The midday meetings have been around for quite a while, and they have been criticized for being a waste of time — especially when the “learning” portion is actually a sales pitch in disguise. That’s why we love Bitly’s twist on the old formula: “One person presents about a subject they’re interested in, a cause they care about, or a side project they’re working on while the rest of us listen and learn over a catered lunch from a nearby restaurant.” At Bitly, it isn’t just a manager or outside “expert” coming in to lecture a staff. A different member from within their own team shares their passion with their coworkers, regardless of how it’s connected to the actual work of the office.

This eclectic approach keeps the lunch and learn from feeling like just another meeting — one that employees have to give up their lunch break to attend! The practice of taking time out from busy schedules to learn about each other provides a real break in the workday while building a sense of teamwork and camaraderie in the office. Bitly’s approach of employee-led lunches gives employees a chance to get to know one another in a genuine way and sharpen public speaking skills. As an added bonus, bringing staff members from different teams and departments together is often a fantastic way to spark innovation, and could potentially create lasting connections that may not have been forged in the daily flow of office life.

Lunch and learn topics can be as varied and diverse as your employees themselves. Bitly’s previous topic list includes subjects ranging from how to build an award-winning app to customer communication to Pictionary showdowns! Incorporating interactive activities, games, or a Q&A portion into each lunch and learn can help keep all the attendees engaged. Keep in mind that it’s important to keep the atmosphere casual and fun: this is your employees’ lunch break, after all, and should be a time to relax and recharge for the rest of the day.

And of course, employees always appreciate a good office lunch! Providing a quality catered meal sends the message that the company believes the lunch and learn is a worthy investment of resources. Waiter.com makes it easy to manage meal planning and maintain a regular lunch delivery schedule, preventing a weekly lunch and learn from becoming a burden on the office manager or administrator in charge of the “lunch” portion of the meeting.

Need more convincing that a lunch and learn is worth your time? Three words: Martha does it.

If your company’s idea of employee appreciation is a five-year pin or a ten-year watch, you’re missing out on a powerful way to motivate and retain your top talent. Employee appreciation isn’t just a nice to have, it’s a must-have for creating a positive and productive workplace.

Recent studies from Glassdoor and NectarHR highlight just how impactful recognition can be and why an employee appreciation lunch might be the secret weapon you need to keep your team engaged and happy.

Why Employee Appreciation Matters

Let’s start with the facts. According to a Glassdoor survey, 53% of employees said they would stay longer at their company if their boss showed more appreciation. And 81% of employees reported they’re motivated to work harder when their boss acknowledges their efforts. 

While a pay raise is the most desired form of recognition, food comes in as a close second. The survey found that “unexpected treats and rewards” like snacks, lunches, and dinners were the leading form of non-monetary appreciation employees wish their bosses would show. Unexpected treats ranked above public recognition, career opportunities, and even feeling involved in decision-making processes.

Similarly, NectarHR reports that 71% of employees would be less likely to leave their organization if they received more recognition. This means that when employees feel valued, they’re far less likely to leave. Appreciation isn’t just about making employees feel good—it’s a strategic move to retain your best talent. 

So how can you put this data into action? One of the simplest and most effective ways to show appreciation is by hosting an employee appreciation lunch. Surprise your team with a catered lunch or a mid-week breakfast just to say “Thank you for all that you do!”

The first, a new study by online career site Glassdoor, confirms that appreciation from their boss is the most common motivator for employees — moreso than a demanding boss or the fear of job loss.

And the best way to show that appreciation? Well, a pay raise. But after that? Food!

What to Do

Once you’re ready to plan an employee appreciation lunch, follow these tips to make sure you hit the mark: 

1. Cater to Everyone: Make sure everyone on the team feels valued by taking their dietary restrictions and preferences into account. You likely won’t cater to every employee’s favorite meal, but dietary restrictions must always be followed to ensure that employees feel safe and valued in their workplace. Services like Waiter.com allow you to input employee preferences so everyone is taken into account. 
2. Make It Unexpected: A plate of bagels or box of muffins every Friday soon becomes an expected part of the routine rather than a special reward. While regular business meals are a wonderful perk, consider surprising the office with an employee appreciation lunch on a Monday morning or an unexpected staff breakfast in the middle of the week.
3. Personalize: Include notes or a small token of recognition during meal time. This could be a speech to the team or individually written letters given to each teammate to show how much you appreciate their contributions to the company. Whatever you choose, this extra recognition will make your team feel even more valued for their work. 
4. Encourage Peer Recognition: Grant employees a “recognition budget” and ask them to surprise a coworker once a month with a special employee appreciation lunch. This reinforces the employee’s value within the company, social relationships between coworkers, and increases engagement on both sides of the exchange.
5. Give a Heads Up: Many people prepare their lunches the night before work. Take extra stress off of your team’s plate by sending a Slack message the day before to let them know they won’t need to bring lunch tomorrow. This will get them excited for the coming event and give them more free time at home. 

What Not to Do

While hosting an employee appreciation lunch is a great idea, there are some ways it can go south. Here’s what not to do when you host an office meal: 

1. Ignore Dietary Restrictions: Nothing says “we don’t care” like serving something that your teammates can’t eat. Always ask about dietary restrictions to ensure that you’re catering an appropriate meal for the range of diets on your team. Platforms like Waiter.com make it easy to provide your team’s preferences to avoid this misstep. 
2. Forget Personal Touches: A team lunch without any moments for appreciation is just that—lunch. Your team won’t realize that you’re trying to show gratitude for their work. Make sure you include moments of recognition to get the true point of the meal across. 
3. Be Cheap: There’s a reason people commonly joke about the employee pizza party leadership will give employees instead of raises. It’s because it’s lazy, cheap, and not thoughtful. To hit the mark you want to create an employee appreciation lunch that shows you’ve put some thought (and money) into it.
4. Be Too Predictable: Hosting the same lunch every month will quickly lose its sparkle. Try to mix it up with menus and celebration styles so this moment of appreciation doesn’t feel stale.

Why Companies Choose Waiter.com for Employee Appreciation Lunches

At Waiter.com we understand that every team is unique. That’s why we offer fully customizable catering and delivery options to suit every dietary need and preference. From custom lunches to fully catered office parties, we make it easy to show your team how much you care. 

With Waiter.com, you can: 

• Customize menus for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and other dietary restrictions 
• Choose from a wide variety of cuisines in your area to keep things exciting 
• Schedule deliveries with ease, to make sure lunch is always on time 
• Setup a corporate account to centralize ordering and billing 

An employee appreciation lunch isn’t just a meal—it’s a special occasion to boost morale, retention, and productivity. Ready to get started? Plan the perfect employee appreciation lunch with Waiter.com today.

When confronted with a lengthy to-do list and packed calendar at work, people often make a potentially disastrous choice: they’ll just work through lunch. Grabbing a quick “meal” from a vending machine or the closest fast-food chain and absent-mindedly shoveling it down while you work may seem like a time-saver, but most industrial-organizational psychologists (that is, psychologists specializing in the workplace) maintain that lunch breaks actually boost productivity.

The experts may agree, but Americans aren’t listening. According to some estimates, only one-third of American workers take a real  lunch break most days of the week.  The other two-thirds either eat at their desk, or even skip lunch altogether. But why is the typical working lunch bad for us? And how can we change the unhealthy habit without adding hours to the workday?

Psychologists like Chris Cunningham, professor of Industrial-Organizational and Occupational Health Psychology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, warns that we all have a limited amount of psychological resources to draw from throughout the day. By remaining at our desks and working through lunch, we can drain that reserve. As Cunningham tells the Wall Street Journal, “Taking a lunch break away from the desk lets people separate themselves from the source of that drain. And that offers the opportunity to build back some of those resources in the middle of the day—rather than just at the end when work is over.”

Aside from psychological stresses, there are physical tolls to the habit of eating at your desk. A recent British poll found that workers who dine at their desks consume more than 1,200 calories at work each day — approximately two-thirds of the average recommended intake for women, and more than half for men. Participants who ate while working reported a higher tendency to dine on chips, snacks, and sodas rather than wholesome meals; of course, excessive calorie consumption can lead to obesity, which leads in turn to very costly declines in productivity.

The research is clear, but it’s hard to argue with employees who would rather save time and be able to leave the office at a decent hour than head out to a restaurant for a leisurely, and often expensive, lunch in the middle of the day. One possible solution is to provide an on-site lunch for employees.

A well-designed break room can become the office’s own personal restaurant for the lunch hour. Invite everyone to leave their desks behind and dine together, providing a break from their desks and the lively socialization that psychologists deem necessary for productivity and mental wellbeing in the office. Providing a catered lunch will not only bolster productivity, but employee satisfaction and their sense of appreciation.

With lunch delivery and customizable menu options from Waiter.com, it’s easy to honor employees’ personal tastes and preferences, and recurring online ordering makes it simple for busy administrative staff to manage the task of regularly accommodating a large group order. Providing a catered meal lets employees know their time is valuable, their contributions appreciated, and that their workplace culture encourages taking breaks and taking care of each other.

And, best of all, no one will have an excuse to eat chips for lunch!

 

 

“Break rooms are a place where employees can step out of the work zone without stepping out of the office.”

– Neil Jenson

The office break room has the potential to be either the most popular place or the saddest space in the workplace. We all know the telltale signs of depressing break rooms: sticky, poorly-stocked kitchenettes, glaring overhead lights, uncomfortable folding chairs, and tattered, months-old copies of trade publications that pass for reading material. Are you ready to head straight back to your desk in defeat?

It doesn’t have to be this way, nor should it. Break rooms are intended to be welcoming and relaxing spaces where employees feel comfortable, can strengthen social bonds, and relieve stress during the workday. It’s becoming increasingly important for employees to find respite within their work space. As workers continue to spend more and more hours at their jobs, having that space to take a brief break is becoming even more valuable to their overall performance.

Investing in your break room can pay off in dividends in employee satisfaction, productivity, and team-building, but it doesn’t need to cost a fortune. Despite what myriad magazine articles would have you believe, you don’t need a foosball table or a vintage arcade game to make your dedicated space fun and interesting. However, you do want to make the space welcoming and conducive to relaxation – that bit of respite from a rough day of meetings and phone calls can be just the thing to perk up an otherwise worn out employee.

Create a social space. When the workplace becomes increasingly digital, a break room may be the only occasion for cross-departmental colleagues to talk face-to-face. Cognitive psychologist Dr. Jay Brand tells BusinessWeek, “Accidental, serendipitous interaction between employees and across disciplines is seen in many organizations as the creative spark.” Encourage that spark by including comfortable pairs of armchairs that invite natural conversation, board games, and decks of cards. Even the smallest, silly touches, like magnetic poetry on the refrigerator or posting a “Cat Photo of the Week” on a bulletin board, can lead to conversations and relationships that might not be cultivated outside of the break room.

Encourage daydreaming. This may sound counterintuitive for the office, but studies have shown that problem-solving and creativity can receive a jump-start when people daydream – the phenomenon of suddenly having a great idea while you’re in the shower or simply doing the dishes. Provide a few creative outlets in the break room to encourage daydreaming, like a sketchpad and colored pencils or a not-too-challenging book of crossword puzzles.

Invite collaboration. Employees who feel involved in decision-making processes in the workplace tend to be more engaged and more satisfied. Extend that principle to your break room redesign! If your staffers are tech-savvy, create a Pinterest board devoted to break room ideas and invite your coworkers to contribute. Or just provide an old-fashioned “break room idea” box and invite anonymous suggestions. Your employees will appreciate being included in the process.

Invest — at least a little — in aesthetics. A break room doesn’t need to undergo a million-dollar remodel to make it visually interesting: paint the walls a vibrant shade (some studies suggest blue boosts creativity, while red encourages attention to detail), replace obnoxious overhead lighting with well-placed lamps, and hang some local art or creative framed prints on the wall. If the space isn’t inviting, everyone will simply grab their coffee and leave. Interestingly, indoor plants in the office have also been shown to reduce sick leave and increase productivity!

Provide a place to recharge. If the office is an inherently social place, or employees spend a lot of time dealing with customers or clients, they may desire a quiet, peaceful break room where they can just unwind. In this case, provide a nice selection of magazines for browsing, well-spaced tables and chairs with plenty of elbow room, and an iPod dock or radio for music rather than a blaring TV with chattering daytime talk show hosts. Offering a place to recharge is crucial to reducing employee stress and maintaining positive relationships within a busy workplace, and we all know a stressed employee won’t be performing at their peak abilities.

Have a cleaning plan in place. This will help avoid those ubiquitous passive-aggressive notes or workplace bickering. Yes, everyone in the office is an adult and should clean up their own mess, but sometimes urgent phone calls or unexpected meetings mean an unwashed dish is left behind in the sink or a table is laden with crumbs. If a professional cleaning staff isn’t an option, create a rotating schedule of team members responsible for keeping the space tidy, and reward those team members with an extra day of vacation time or a special catered lunch once a month. A little advance planning can help maintain a cohesive team atmosphere and keep dirty-dish-related conflict to a minimum.

Go green. If environmental sustainability is important to your company, reflect that value in the break room! Provide reusable mugs, plates, and silverware, and order non-toxic cleaning supplies for daily tidying. Offer a recycling bin, provide personalized reusable water bottles with the company logo, and perhaps arrange for one employee to stop by a local farmer’s market for a weekly fruit basket. Nothing says hypocrisy like a company who claims to be “green” but has Styrofoam in the break room. Take advantage of the break room as a way to communicate company values, and involve employees in the company’s culture in a hands-on way.

Don’t forget the basics. Every office is different, but we believe this rule applies to all break rooms: supply coffee. Including decaf, and tea as well. Just do it!

And most importantly, don’t forget the food! What good is an aesthetically pleasing break room without a delicious lunch or a tasty snack? Whether your break room will be hosting business lunches, regular corporate catering, or occasional catered corporate breakfast delivery, Waiter.com’s easy online food ordering and delivery service is ready to help!

I used to use food as an incentive when I worked as a private investigator. If I was going to someone’s house to interview them and they were a reluctant witness, I would always show up with a selection of finger food or pastries, depending on the time of day. It was a great ice breaker. Often, by the end of the visit, they had spilled their guts and they had reciprocated by filling mine with some wonderful homemade treats. Maybe it was my lovely personality working its magic, but sharing food sure didn’t hurt.

Human interaction, especially in the workplace, is all about give and take. To build good relationships with all of your internal and external stakeholders, you need to give more. Sometimes offering someone a donut or a cookie is just the thing to brighten another humdrum day. As the boss, it’s especially important to build strong connections with the people who work for you.

Healthy food is great. We highly recommend it, but sometimes you and the people who surround you just need that sugar fix. When everyone is getting crabby, that’s the time to order in some treats and make everyone a little bit sweeter. Sugar increases dopamine, and you need that when you’re stressed from a tense business meeting. Your stakeholders need that, too!

 

As a private investigator, I spent 16 years sitting in a vehicle on surveillance, eating alone. What I ate didn’t really matter, since it was just fuel. However, I missed the camaraderie of sharing food with my colleagues.

When I moved up to management, I had the power to say to my assistant, “Everyone is feeling the pressure today, let’s order in some of those amazing pastries.”  That small gesture made a huge difference because everyone was working alone in their office and for a brief period, we all gathered together. Our impromptu meeting helped us strategize how to get through the rest of the day and we were able to prioritize our work together.

I recognized the power of food and I used it to my advantage when I was negotiating with contractors. People in the P.I. industry prefer to do business over the phone or by email, but if you mentioned that you were coming to their office and that a delivery of their favorite catered treats would be arriving at approximately the same time, they made time.

How did I know what they liked to snack on? I did a bit of due diligence. That is negotiation 101.

Most human interactions involve negotiation  and we use food to get people over to our side. Most of us intuitively know this, but it’s always handy when our feelings are backed up by studies.

Lakshmi Balachandra is an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at Babson College and a Fellow at the Women and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She conducted a study to determine whether business negotiations are more effective when people discuss business over food. Laksmhi had 132 MBA students negotiate a simulation of a joint agreement between two companies. The students who negotiated over a meal “created significantly increased profits compared to those who negotiated without dining”.

It’s common for managers to ask their administrative staff to order in some fabulous food whenever current or potential business partners are coming into the office. Why not treat your regular shareholders in the same manner? As a manager, you have to learn to develop your soft skills, and part of that means using available resources to make people feel comfortable. One way to encourage the growth of communication is by placing food in between two or more people.

Allowing your office to indulge in tasty treats or using food as a strategic advance doesn’t have to be yet another task on your to-do list. You already have a busy day, so why not make it easier? Forget asking your administrative assistant to stop at the local donut shop on the way to work. Instead, turn to Waiter.com so your employees can enjoy some fresh catered muffins for morning break or a platter of cookies for the afternoon slump, delivered straight to your office. Think of us as your business partner. We help you gain the competitive advantage because we are leaders in our industry. It’s fast and easy to order online or by phone.

Bring your work family together over a meal of fresh and enticing food delivered to your lunch room. Waiter.com is the premier on-line restaurant ordering service serving the San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Dallas, Chicago and Raleigh regions. We collaborate with over 1300 restaurants to deliver a variety of dietary choices and ethnic feasts.

The above note might be unique, but if the plethora of websites featuring notes stuck on office refrigerators is any indication, discontent in the lunch room is a common problem.  As prevalent as it is, there are some other signs that your employees may not be happy at lunch time. Does your staff gobble down a sandwich at their desk, dropping crumbs in between the letters on the keyboard?  Do your employees take 25 cars to 25 different noodle joints, with no one hanging out?

This kind of lunch-time unhappiness is a big problem that spills into the rest of the day, hurting morale and productivity.  At one office I worked at, discussions on what to do for lunch often started at 10AM, distracting the people involved and irritating those who weren’t.  However, discontent dissolves when you order in free meals on a regular basis. You can solve your mid-day problems with the click of a mouse. It doesn’t have to be a gourmet meal and it doesn’t have to be another headache, but it will definitely build morale.

Jim Belosic knows why this is important.  The CEO of Shortstack, which designs Facebook apps,  has provided free Friday lunches to his staff since the company’s inception in 2011.  As he explained to Lydia Dishman at Fast Company, Belosic had previously worked for a company where the staff was only allowed a half hour lunch break and he ended up eating at his desk. He wanted to provide a better work environment for his staff. 

Belosic understands that the lunch room, or wherever your employees gather to eat lunch, should be a sanctuary where employees can renew their energy, share a meal, and get to know one another. As he says in the interview, he doesn’t want to talk about work while at lunch, just learn about his co-workers.  Collaboration is key in the work-place environment and employees that know each other well will develop better working relationships too.

When Belosic started ShortStack, there were only a couple of employees working with him. As the company grew, the lunch bill was becoming more expensive and he offered his team a yearly bonus of $3000 in lieu of the free meals. To the surprise of his accountant, the ten employees voted unanimously to keep the lunches instead of accepting the money. Small sample size, maybe, but it helps to show that monetary concerns are not the only motivating factor for employees. 

 

Entrepreneurs like Belosic are starting a trend. More and more companies, especially tech companies that employ a lot of younger staff, are offering a wide range of perks, such as “Bring Your Dog to Work” days, onsite gyms, day care, and free food. They know that these initiatives cost money, but you get that back in more productivity.

These perks aren’t just good for the employees, they are good for the bottom line.  A small hit in the budget for lunch can pay itself off many times down the road. Companies that have resentful staff have more absenteeism, employee malfeasance, labor disputes, and other employee issues. Your employees need to feel connected to the company if you want to get the best out of them. That’s what food does – it brings people together and it softens the edges.

We tend to focus on money as a reward, but it turns out that non-monetary perks can do the same or better when it comes to boosting employee productivity and happiness in the work-place.

Bring your work family together over a meal of fresh and enticing food delivered to your lunch room. Waiter.com is the premier on-line restaurant ordering service serving the San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Dallas, Chicago and Raleigh regions. We collaborate with over 1300 restaurants to deliver a variety of dietary choices and ethnic feasts.