Posted by
Sara on
Thursday, January 16th, 2014 with
Comments Off on Is Your Catering Menu Putting Your Conference to Sleep? Switch It Up With Superfoods Comments
When planning for an office event or business meeting, take the time to ask yourself an important question: Is your catering menu going to leave attendees feeling energized and ready to work, or send their energy levels crashing to the floor?
If you usually opt for safe and easy meals like box lunches or pizzas, it’s likely the latter. The highly processed carbohydrates and sugar usually found in sandwich bread, potato chips, cookies, and pizza crust provide a quick boost to blood sugar — along with a subsequent crash. A roomful of sleepy employees or conference participants is not what you’re looking for at 3 pm during a long day of meetings! Instead of simply feeding the cycle with coffee, sodas, and more sugary snacks, consider an alternative solution: plan a catering menu rich in superfoods that will provide long-lasting nourishment and energy for the rest of the day.
Plan a catering menu for all-day energy. Image source: flickr user Oceanview Med Spa
Let’s be clear. “Superfood” is a loose term that essentially means a food rich in nutrients and low in undesirable characteristics, like sugar and saturated fats. It’s also a frequently-abused buzzword applied to questionable choices like dark chocolate, beef, and coffee in top ten lists just as often as blueberries and flaxseed. However, when it comes to a task like planning a catering menu, it’s much more pleasant and creative to think in terms of all the wonderful, healthy foods you can serve to boost health and energy levels, rather than just listing the items you should avoid. Read the full article…
Posted by
Sara on
Wednesday, January 15th, 2014 with
Comments Off on Getting the Staff Meal Right: Avoid the Backlash Against Free Food in the Office Comments
Who’s going to complain about free food? In some cases, it may be your employees.
Staff meals are a workplace perk that has become almost commonplace in the tech industry. In companies where employees are asked to work long hours and spend a lot of time in the office, providing meals and snacks is an easy way to communicate a message of appreciation and prioritizing employee comfort. However, it appears there can be too much of a good thing: in a recent article in the New York Post, health-conscious employees list the reasons why the free food trend may be facing a backlash.
Pizzas and donuts can leave some employees feeling overwhelmed and heavy. Image source: flickr user jetalone
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Posted by
Sara on
Tuesday, January 14th, 2014 with
1 Comments
When offices order lunches from sit-down restaurants as a special treat, employees might automatically think they’ll be eating healthier food than when they grab a quick burger from the fast food place down the street. However, a recent study in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior indicates that may not be the case.
Ordering healthy lunches takes a little know-how.
Image source: flickr user massdistraction
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Posted by
Sara on
Monday, January 13th, 2014 with
Comments Off on Office Lunches: How Administrative Assistants Can Order Approachable Ethnic Cuisine Comments
Administrative assistants know all too well that it can be difficult to order lunch for a large group of people, especially on a regular basis. It can be challenging to suit a wide range of tastebuds without ordering the same meals over and over again. If your office is stuck in a sandwich-and-salad rut and your coworkers are looking to you for inspiration, it’s tempting to switch it up and order in from an Indian restaurant or arrange for a sushi bar for a little variety… but a few picky eaters can make it tough for you to provide variety while pleasing everyone.
Ordering office lunches can be a tough job.
Image source: flickr user matt.hintsa
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Posted by
Sara on
Friday, January 10th, 2014 with
3 Comments
Over 25 million Americans have diabetes — that’s more than 8 percent (and the number’s rising). 15 million have a food allergy of some kind. 1 percent of the population suffers from the severe gluten intolerance known as celiac disease, while nearly a third of all Americans report that a gluten-free diet appeals to them.
Especially in January, during the height of diet season, it may seem like no one in the office is going to be up for a cheesy slice of pepperoni pizza!
Food allergies and sensitivities are on the rise.
Image source: flickr user Transguyjay
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Posted by
Sara on
Thursday, January 9th, 2014 with
2 Comments
At most business conferences, there’s no meal as predictable as the box lunch. A little cardboard square containing a deli sandwich, bag of chips, and a cookie — maybe an orange, which no one will eat, because it’s too messy to peel and consume while trying to take notes.
Attendees take their box, grab a can of soda, and head back to their seat, because there’s another PowerPoint presentation coming up. Suddenly, a sense of deja vu washes over: haven’t we all been there before?
Keep conference-goers engaged, even at the lunch break.
Image source: flickr user Championship Catering
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Posted by
Sara on
Wednesday, January 8th, 2014 with
Comments Off on Bringing the Office Happy Hour into the Break Room: Building Bonds After 5:00 Comments
The office happy hour is back. Not the, “Hey gang, let’s head to the bar” kind of happy hour — that never went away. Rather, there’s a growing trend of happy hours in the office itself: rather than heading to a nearby pub, employees will congregate in the break room and share a few craft beers from the office fridge at the end of the workday. Blame it on the cultural influence of the hard-drinking ad execs on Mad Men, or even on the young, male-skewing startup scene in San Francisco. Whatever the reason, it seems like workplace happy hours (and office kegerators) are here to stay.
But isn’t drinking on the job a bad thing? Not necessarily, according to the companies who are making a habit of hosting weekly in-office happy hours. The trend has certainly taken off in the tech and social media worlds, where fast growth has translated into long hours and extended workweeks. Many employers see happy hours as a way to offset the added stress that can be unavoidable in such fast-paced environments.
Are office kegs the new Ping-Pong tables?
Image source: flickr user sunlightfoundation2
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Posted by
Sara on
Tuesday, January 7th, 2014 with
Comments Off on How Family-Friendly Policies (and Family-Friendly Meal Breaks) Can Impact Your Business Comments
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.
Working parents report increased stress.
Image source: flickr user Gilzee
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Posted by
Sara on
Monday, January 6th, 2014 with
Comments Off on Reinventing the Office Party: Why Your Workplace Should Celebrate National Popcorn Day Comments
The holiday office party is an annual tradition: gathering staff members together to celebrate the winter holidays with a lavish meal and free-flowing cocktails is a way that many employers say “thank you” for a year of hard work. Now that it’s January, many employers have checked “office party” off their to-do list and are ready to move on.
Not so fast. It may be time to reinvent the office party, and consider making festive celebrations a regular occurrence in the workplace! As research shows, showing employee appreciation is key to keeping workers happy and satisfied. Additionally, the social bonds reinforced at office parties help boost workplace friendships and morale. Why not capitalize on those invaluable benefits and stage festive celebrations all year long?
Holidays like National Tortilla Chip Day are perfect for spontaneous celebrations!
Image source: flickr user Projectline Services
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Posted by
Sara on
Friday, January 3rd, 2014 with
2 Comments
Do you ever notice a sense of listlessness, lack of concentration, or just general loss in productivity at the office? Before you begin to worry about motivation and company morale, look at what your employees are having for lunch. Research shows that employees’s eating habits can have significant impact on their productivity.
A 2012 study in the journal Population Health Management found that employees who ate an unhealthy diet were 66 percent more likely to experience a loss in productivity than their counterparts who regularly consumed fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. The difference in diet was more likely to make an impact on productivity than exercise habits (50 percent) and smoking (26 percent).
Employee productivity can be highly influenced by diet.
Image source: flickr user WeKCo
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