July 4, 2022
What are the benefits of having a coffee machine in the office?
Offering hot drinks to employees is about much more than satisfying your legal obligations. With firms across industry facing the challenge of hiring and retaining staff, you have to use every trick in the book to attract talent and keep it. Having a great quality coffee machine in the office can help with that. Roast & Ground are coffee experts who service British industry, they have seen first hand how coffee machines can positively impact an office. They have also seen several tangible benefits of having a coffee machine in the workplace.
If you’re on the fence about adding one or two to your own office, here are six compelling reasons why you should.
Health benefits
The first reason to have a coffee machine in the office is because drinking coffee has health benefits. When productivity and attendance are key measures in success, health is everything. According to a wide range of studies, coffee can help you live longer, boost your metabolism, give you energy, improve performance, support brain function and can help balance blood sugar. With wellness being at the top of the employee agenda right now, anything an employer can do to boost it has to be a good thing. Especially if it’s linked to being able to drink a delicious cup of fresh coffee!
Boosts productivity
A coffee machine can help boost productivity in a couple of ways. One, caffeine can help boost brain function and helps us concentrate. Two, going to the coffee machine gives us a reason to leave the desk and rest our eyes, move around and concentrate on something other than work for a brief period. Both are known to help staff maintain productivity throughout the day. Plus, the social and morale benefits of a coffee machine can also contribute to productivity. We will touch on those points in a moment.
Saves time and money
Choose the right coffee machine and you should end up saving time and money over the long term. A coffee machine will use the right amount of water, the right amount of coffee and brew a fresh cup of delicious coffee faster than doing it manually. That means no boiling of entire kettles for a single drink, no over-using coffee grounds, no spillage and staff will be waiting around for less while they make their coffee.
Improve morale
Having a good quality coffee machine in the office can improve morale. When you use good quality coffee in your machine, you’re demonstrating to staff that you’re invested in them and their wellbeing. This can make a tangible difference to productivity, the atmosphere in the office, staff retention, loyalty, sickness and absence and even how well staff work together and collaborate. A side benefit of a coffee machine is it’s another water cooler, where staff can meet, greet and spend a couple of minutes catching up. A small thing, but it definitely contributes to a positive atmosphere in the office.
Can stimulate creativity
Coffee is a stimulant that can boost energy and make us feel more alert, but it can also help boost creativity. A burst of energy from the caffeine, that break from the screen to go get a coffee or meeting someone at the coffee machine can all help us solve problems or come up with solutions. Coffee releases dopamine in the brain, which can help change our state of mind. It can also relax us and relieve stress. Both of which can contribute to problem solving and creativity.
Coffee provides a pleasant working environment
There’s something about the smell of fresh coffee that’s intensely satisfying. As long as you buy good quality coffee and use a reliable coffee machine, you’re contributing to a working environment people actually want to be in. All other things being equal, most of us would rather work somewhere that obviously invests in their staff and cares about their wellbeing than not. A coffee machine helps contribute towards that. Even the ability to step away from the desk for a minute and take a quick break to get a coffee can make a difference. It’s certainly a different approach to the steady grind and relentless toil some offices insist upon.
The many benefits of a coffee machine in your office
You’ll notice we said ‘good quality’ coffee throughout this piece. This part is key. The quality of your coffee can make or break the experience. Buy cheap coffee that doesn’t taste great and you risk undoing all the hard work done so far.
Buy good quality coffee and you demonstrate how much you value staff and want them to succeed, which is the feeling we’re going for. More importantly, choosing the right supplier can be the difference between disappointing blends and morning-fuelling cups of joy.
In times where quality staff is scarce and retention is tougher than ever, sometimes the simplest solutions have the most benefit. You can throw money at a problem and offer stupendous salaries to attract talent, but sometimes it’s the little things.
The little things that show you care and are invested in the health and wellbeing of your staff. If you can do that without having to increase operating costs through sky-high salaries or investing in pool tables and other amenities, all the better!
