Workplace perks are a surprisingly influential factor when companies want to recruit new employees or motivate existing staff to reach new heights of creativity or productivity. Think pitches like, “Come and work for us and you get all this too…” Not so long ago this put hot Silicon Valley startups in the headlines for extraordinary perks like playrooms and in-office slides. More recently, firms have dialed exotic perks back and are more likely to offer gym memberships (or, controversially, the chance to go shoeless in the office!) New research, however, says offering your frontline workers perks like food or work-sponsored outings actually motivates them more than gym vouchers or, surprisingly, health benefits.
Marketing researchers led by the University of South Florida examined five different types of company-driven benefits like food, social, physical, mindfulness and health options to find which best boosted the experience of customer-facing workers, Phys.org reports.
The researchers found quite clearly that food-related benefits showed the strongest impact on workers, with social benefits in second place. They found food perks yielded “stronger direct effects on customer responsiveness and both showing indirect effects through value and indebtedness feelings.” Mindfulness-related benefits ranked third, but physical and health-related benefits exerted the “weakest downstream consequences.” Importantly, the report notes that if frontline employees are working in a supportive environment, “the effects of food and social benefits are enhanced.” On the other hand, research showed that “job stressors” and “motivational constructs” did not significantly impact the effects of employer-provided wellness benefits.
The investigators also found that offering food and social perks improved workers’ sense of value, and boosted their feelings of workplace loyalty. Workers getting these perks were also more likely to care about the company’s performance, and thus put in extra effort to their customer-facing duties.
You can distill this research down to a simple idea: giving your frontline, customer-facing workers perks like free meals, and offering them opportunities for company-sponsored events like outings or fun evenings will actually inspire them to work harder and better. Ultimately the goal is to improve the level of service your customers receive, and that, in the longer term, should drive profitability. Phys.org quotes Dipayan Biswas, one of the report’s authors and professor of marketing in the Muma College of Business at USF, who explained that if you really want to motivate your frontline staff, no matter the size of your enterprise “wellness programs, the ones that foster nourishment and connection have stronger downstream effects on customer-related positive effect.”
This tallies with recent research from Boston-based corporate catering firm EzCater. Their survey showed that 88 percent of business leaders said a corporate meal program can actually boost in-office attendance for companies trying to encourage their staff to return to the office. The data also showed that three in four companies offering catering options at work have better staff retention rates. It’s notable that employees like the option for reasons beyond meals and snacks being a nice perk that could save them some money in the long term. Those also save people precious minutes each day that would otherwise be spent on food prep or meal planning.
Workplace experts also recently pointed out that when a company tries to offer “performative” perks to its workers, it’s often in search of promoting their own effort and doesn’t genuinely boost worker sentiment — these perks require little effort, and are often chosen without consulting the workforce about their needs, and without consideration about the impact they’ll have. These perks could be vouchers, or other low-effort offerings that may not appeal to workers on a real level. Ultimately, when workers see through the perks, it can actually lead to lower levels of staff engagement.
That’s what makes the new research on food perks so interesting, and potentially valuable for you and your company.
When you’re considering trying to motivate your staff with bolt-on extras that you hope will lift their feelings of loyalty and push them to work hard, the research suggests frontline staff seem to prefer simple, meaningful perks being offered food or ways to bolster social connections. This makes sense from an emotional point of view: customer-facing work can sap workers’ energy, so supplying them with, say, lunch, lowers their daily burden. But you may want to extend this thinking to the perks you offer to the rest of your staff. Get the benefits offered right and it may even act as a hiring incentive, helping you attract the right talent.