Free tea makes a happy workforce
The Thermos flask will be making a come-back to the office as half of British workers don't get a free cup of tea or coffee at work according to research from uSwitchforbusiness.com.
In fact, a third of workers have seen their companies cut back on free refreshments over the last 12 months, meaning staff have to fork out £110 a year on average, the business energy broker said.
One in 10 workers polled said cutbacks on refreshments have changed the atmosphere for the worse at work, while a fifth said it has left workers feeling worried about what else could be cut.
Just a third of UK employees think the company they work for is generous to staff, with four in 10 describing staff perks as ‘poor’, the survey found.
Three in 10 of the 1,100 people interviewed said small perks like free tea and coffee boost morale.
James Constant, director of uSwitchforbusiness.com, said that, given the economic climate, it makes sense for firms to cut costs.
“Cutting out the free cuppas may add to the bottom line, but there may be a far greater price to be paid in staff morale." he said.
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Don't think I've ever worked somewhere that didn't offer free tea. I mean how much does a tea bag cost?? That is incredibly stingy.
There's an interesting piece on the Wharton site recently talking about a so called 'recession in perks'
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=2800
Must say, restricting access to tea is beyond the pale. We're British don't you know!
I agree Adi. While free tea might not necessarily make a happy workforce, paying for tea might well have a huge negative effect.
Like Nicola I can't think when I last had to pay for tea.......or coffee.
That's it. The financial savings an organisation could make from limiting free tea hardly seem worth the consequences in terms of morale.
I've experienced two perspectives on free refreshments in two client firms recently.
In one publicly-funded social organisation the area manager got us (DAW) to evaluate client satisfaction and propensity to recommend the organsiation. If the team achieved target he personally provided 'Chocolate Hob-nobs' from his own pocket (less than a pound) each last-Friday in the month afternoon. Client satisfaction grew - OK. Not just because of the biscuits but we knew staff morale was good.
Another organisation, an international law firm, junior lawyers involved in 'pitches' for new business were rewarded by 'Gratuitious Cakes' (their words) when the Partner added tens of thousands to his bonus.
Two organisations at different ends of the spectrum in terms of resources and remuneration but the effects are the same: give a proportional acknowledgement to the acheivement and people are more likely to respond in kind.
A further thought on this thread...
I'm a business owner so all expenditure effectively comes from my own pocket and given the choice of another day's pay or free tea the year round most employees would go for the tea. Someone on £25,000 a year working 225 days... its the same £110 mentioned above.
Maybe it's not a bad thing if this is true
http://www.managers.org.uk/forum/water-cooler/majority-workplace-rows-are-started
according to a new piece of research. OnePoll found that six out of ten workplace arguments stem from whose turn it is to get a 'cuppa'.
It looks like it is my turn to get the kettle on this morning!
I am co-located with two clients - one in Norwich, the other in London (no, clever clogs, not at the same time!): at both locations free tea & coffee are available.
I have actually landed solid business through casual conversations with colleagues from our co-located clients through, what may appear to be, random discussions in the kitchen; often based around that good old line "I didn't realise you guys did that, we've got [...] coming up that you may be able to help us with'.
Retain the free tea & coffee!
BTW - if I had to pay for my own I'd probably be losing nearer £330/year the amount that I drink!!!
Good point Peter. The US would refer to this as the "water cooler" discussions........
Quite right Peter. So much thought is given to making employees productive for 8 hours a day that very little time is given to informal things, be they informal thoughts or informal discussions. That's despite both delivering good results. We don't have to be thinking 'shop' all the time to be effective.