Employee Wellbeing
Why a well-fed work force is a happy (and productive) one
In London 70% of employees admit to feeling stressed at work, and in 2019 the average turnover rate rose to 15%. As a result, employee wellness has risen to the top of the corporate agenda.
We’ve been helping clients create happy, healthy, and productive workplaces with delicious food and so much more for years now.
Our contract catering services have been fuelling some of the best teams across London, with breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and everything in between delivered and served up in their workplaces.
We’ve spoken to one of our office contract clients to give you the inside knowledge of how contract catering has impacted their workforce.
How do you work with Social Pantry?
Social Pantry come to our office daily with delicious breakfasts and lunches for our teams! Social Pantry also cater for special internal events, such as a happy hour we have at the end of each month, (we’re a work hard-play hard kind of office) and for important client meetings.
What made you decide to introduce catering to your work force?
We’re a super busy office, and our team has a work ethic that’s second to none. However, the downside to this is that we realised people weren’t getting away from their desks at lunch time. Whilst we are proud of how hard working everyone is, we wanted our employees to work smart, and without a break in the day we felt there was a lul in productivity in the afternoons. Plus, employee wellness is something we pride ourselves in; we’ve got one of the best retention rates in the industry.
Like any company we’re keen to attract best talent in the market, and offering free food is a fabulous work perk. Offering fresh and delicious food is a great way to invest in our working culture, motivate our employees, promote health, and attract the best new recruits!
Another reason to use Social Pantry was to reduce the waste and single use plastic we collectively were going through. Social Pantry are striving to be zero waste, with minimal packaging and no single use plastic.
What benefits have you noticed since introducing team lunch?
Our afternoons are definitely more productive – we all feel like we come back to our desks refreshed. We introduced breakfast and lunches 6 months ago now, and our overall performance has soared. We don’t think this is because people are working harder as they were already an extremely hard working bunch, but because the teams are working more collaboratively. For example, people knowing what’s going on outside their direct team, and drawing on knowledge from other teams.
The best thing that we’ve really noticed though, is the bond that the teams have formed. As our lunches are served in the staff area, it’s meant that people have a chance to chat with colleagues from different teams, and for colleagues to catch up on non-work-related things.
Another massive benefit of serving up breakfast is the incentive for people to arrive bright and early – instead of queuing at the local coffee shop, they can now come in and enjoy a granola pot, bacon sarnie, patisserie and teas and coffees.
What social pantry dishes go down best with the team?
The best thing is the variety of food served up – menus changing daily, and then with the seasons too. A couple of recent favourites include the Harissa Aubergine Streak, Summer Slaw, and Pomegranate wrap, as well as the Ginger and Soy Salmon Fillets.
What the team loves is that there really is something for everyone; whether they’re vegan, avoiding gluten or anything else.
Do you feel like your team eat more healthily when they are catered for by social pantry?
Definitely – with Social Pantry food being freshly made daily means our office is virtually a processed food free zone. Also, the teams have said that having a proper meal at lunch means that they feel fuelled for the afternoon, and that lunch has become their best meal of the day, not dinner.
What other ways do you utilise social pantry’s catering & event services (meetings, annual parties)
We actually decided to use Social Pantry contract catering services having had Social Pantry cater for a number of our big client events. We host all our clients for quarterly networking events (around 150 people) and always wanted to ensure we could wow them with the best hospitality, so we hire an interesting venue, and get some delicious food and drinks in.
Any other top tips for motivating your team?
Getting out the office! For new projects, we’ll often do an offsite kick start meeting. Then at the end of big projects we like to take the project team out to do something fun in London.
Social Pantry also introduced us to an employee wellness coach who runs monthly sessions with our teams.
What’s great about all of the initiatives we’ve introduced is that we now have one of the highest staff retention rates in the industry. Tech is extremely fast moving, so I can’t tell you how important attracting and keeping the best talent in the industry is to us.
If employee wellness is at the top of your 2020 agenda, discover more about Social Pantry Contract Catering here, or get in touch with our expert account managers here.
