Catering for all beverage preferences would be a staff benefit for sure. Having a drinks break is important in workplaces.
Coffee as an option and can be considered as one of the most unifying products in the world and we all know that staff love a natter around the kettle, it can be where the best ideas are shared!
In one form or another, coffee is consumed in high volumes in every single corner of the globe and workplaces are no exception. Coffee is an enormous industry with challenging and diverse workplaces and work arrangements, both good and needing improvement. The coffee industry employs millions of people from bean pickers to executives – it is a cornerstone which countless other industries are reliant upon as part of supply chains etc.
Coffee is a stimulant when caffeinated and contributes to the hydration of workers, as well as being a opportunity for a break from monotonous work tasks. If we didn’t have coffee breaks, would workplaces see a decline in our productivity and staff morale? Coffee is an increasingly present aspect of modern society and the explosion of café culture has also entered into the psyche, especially for the modern worker who has meetings over coffee, breaks for coffee and also when on the go.
Here are seven reasons why coffee is increasingly present and popular in the workplace, that a vigilant employer will be aware of and foster as part of the organisation’s culture:
Alertness
Caffeine is one of the most common stimulants readily found in many domestic products. Caffeinated coffee helps keep people awake and provides their central nervous systems with a boost which helps keep them productive throughout the day.
Improving productivity via coffee breaks
Employees that take coffee breaks together demonstrate an overall improvement in their productivity and work relationship. The breaks create a forum in which employees can share personal and work-related experiences with one another, build rapport and networks, and this leads to an overall lift in performance by employees in the benefit of the business.
Caffeine may actually help you live longer
A study in the US found a correlation between the amount of coffee that was consumed by people and lower risk of death. From the study: “The researchers found that the association between coffee and reduction in risk of death increased with the amount of coffee consumed. Relative to men and women who did not drink coffee, those who consumed three or more cups of coffee per day had approximately a 10 percent lower risk of death.”
Coffee is Social
Over the last thirty or so years, the ‘coffee pot’ has taken over the role of the water cooler in most office settings. If you are a coffee drinker in an office setting, then you are lending yourself to greater social interaction that can be tied directly to increased productivity.
Your colleagues drink a lot of it
A list of professions that consume the most amount of coffee showed that there are five types of professions that were prominently at the top of this, these are scientists/lab technicians, marketing/PR professionals, education administrators, writers/editors and healthcare administrators.
Caffeine can reduce sleep-deprived stress
Sleep deprived? Then the mere aroma of coffee has shown it can reduce stress levels. A study conducted by Seoul National University compared the expression of certain genes and proteins in rats’ brains when exposed to the smell that coffee emits. It was according to this study, that those exposed to the smell presented proteins that have healthy antioxidant properties within them. These were known to protect nerve cells from stress related damage, those that weren’t exposed to the coffee smell didn’t show the same gene expressions.
It keeps you trim
There have been various studies conducted over the years that have linked the consumption of caffeine to increased metabolic activity. With this in mind, it should come as no surprise that a lot of commercial fat burning supplements contain caffeine. However, even though this metabolic impact might not be enough to eat away that beer belly on its own, it doesn’t hurt to know that an increased body burning fat rate can be achieved whilst you sit at your desk with your morning cup of coffee.
Whatever your preference for a workplace beverage (traditional tea, flavoured teas and hot chocolate are also available, all tastes are catered for, even Bovril drinkers have their place!), it is important that everything is done in moderation and caffeine intake is no exception to this, but the importance of hydration and breaks from a welfare perspective are also motivating factors in addition to the stimulating effects of the caffeine to aid the working day of employees.
Please do keep in mind, however, that there are known problems associated with drinking coffee. While this article portraits studies that show there are numerous benefits to consuming coffee in the workplace, we also advise to do so in moderation.
