Coffee is often one of the upsides of daily work life. A part of the day that people truly enjoy. There is a developed taste literacy around coffee. And the quality of coffee that people can get from local cafés has become high.
“Café quality coffee” is a benchmark that all coffee drinkers understand, in terms of the type, variety, and availability coffee. It is a daily part of our lives. It is also a daily expense. The “practice” morning coffee. The “real” morning coffee.
The lunch break. The Three-thirty afternoon pick-me-up. Caffeine addictions aside, work life and coffee culture go hand in hand. But every coffee can be up to $5 out of pocket every time you venture to the café.
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While this seems an obvious daily expense, what isn’t accounted for is the distance between work and the café.
The cafe run
We have all made the mistake of heading out to the café and asking our work colleagues if they want a coffee. It always ends with an awkward tight rope balancing act of coffee trays and a practised karate kick to open and navigate doors. Think of all the meetings where you get coffee for clients. What is it, a five-minute walk to the café? Ten? For argument’s sake say it is ten minutes to the café, ten minutes back. That is twenty minutes out of a day. All the laps back and forth between the café and the workplace. And we haven’t even considered the wait time while the barista prepares the coffee. Is there a queue? As an employer, having one or several employees leave the office for a coffee run is a dip in productivity. But if that happens several times throughout the day, on a weekly basis, the loss becomes cumulative. But, we hear you say, coffee boosts productivity.
At Coffex, we live and breathe coffee. And know how beneficial a morning coffee can be to productivity. A survey in 2015 confirmed that almost ninety percent of workers believed that having a cup of coffee could make an improvement in a day at work.
On the other side, there were also many who said that not having a coffee could lead to feelings of exhaustion, irritability, unproductiveness, disorganisation, and forgetfulness. Furthermore, coffee can be beneficial to mental health. A Harvard study identified that women who drank at least four coffee drinks each day had a lesser risk of becoming depressed. Caffeine can help maintain higher levels of dopamine and serotonin, which will help make you feel happier.
Productivity in-house
Today, office coffee machines bridge the distance between office and café. From Superautomatics to professional espresso machines, a machine in the workplace can reduce the expenses of employees and employers, and create a boost in both alertness and productivity. But what about that benchmark? What about “Café quality Coffee”? It is true that there are a large range of coffee machines out there. Their quality and thus the quality of coffee they produce can vary. At Coffex Coffee Roasters, we have only sourced machines that bring out the best in our coffee. We have even sourced machines for small, medium, and large sized companies. It was a natural step. Wanting to provide the best coffee led to providing the best equipment. By choosing one quality coffee machine for your business, you are reducing the need for your staff to go to cafes. “Café quality coffee” is available in-house. But other than productivity, what else can office coffee bring to the workplace.
The little things
Having the facilities to offer quality coffee to clients, or simply being able to build rapport over a latte, can cement you in the mind of clients. But extrapolate that out further. Seminars, product launches, inter-department meetings. The ability to offer small offerings of hospitality, can foster greater networking potential.Convenience
The simplest benefit for employees is convenience. Monday hating employees often need their cup of coffee in the morning. An automated coffee machine will provide the same high quality consistently and there are no barista skills needed. But the ability to quickly grab a coffee means that the impact on work is greatly reduced with coffee being both free and easier to access. While some businesses choose not to offer quality coffee to their employees for free, others see the return on investment in significant areas of their business.Culture and Morale
Coffee culture and work culture interact, but are perceived and stereotyped differently. Coffee culture evokes cafés, aromas, and warmth. Whereas work culture evokes cubicles, the sound of keyboards, mouse clicks, and staplers. But many companies are coming to a better understanding of how much work stress impacts physical and mental health. Identifying ways of creating a positive work environment has reaped the reward of a greater output of higher quality work. A study undertaken by MIT showed that coffee breaks can have a positive effect in an office environment. The study suggests it increases “group strength” in the workplace and there can be a resulting improvement in productivity. Coffee even improves memory! A study by John Hopkins University researchers found that subjects who consumed an amount of caffeine that was equivalent to the amount found in a cup of coffee had better recall the following day than those who had not had any caffeine. In addition, people having a coffee with colleagues will exchange ideas, perspectives, and opinions that can lead to new developments and solutions. Having a coffee break at the same time as colleagues is an ideal time to network and talk things over without leaving the office.Why office coffee?
The advantages of coffee in-house, or office coffee, are quantifiable. And only serve to become more apparent over time. The decision to get a machine in the office can:- Promote positivity towards the organisation and management
- Advance work culture
- Improve productivity in the workplace
- Boost the morale of your staff
- Create a positive environment in the office
- Reduce time lost on journeys to the cafe
