Exploring the Employee Landscape in a Post COVID Environment - Part 2

White Paper, Eating at Work Series – 2 Exploring the Employee
Landscape in a Post
COVID Environment

PART 2 - Food & Benefits

Compass Group’s exclusive business & industry insight series
comprising of key research findings on trends in hospitality and catering
from the perspective of consumer and client alike across White-collar,
IT & Tech, Manufacturing & Distribution and Hospital workplaces.

EXPLORING THE EMPLOYEE LANDSCAPE IN A POST COVID ENVIRONMENT PART 2

Starting in 2019 and prior to COVID19, Compass Group
Australia began conducting research studies within the
Australian workplace to uncover changing preferences and
trends in the workplace ecosystem from the perspective of
both the consumer (employees) and the client (employers). We
continue to explore not only employee dining, but the evolving
trends and developments in hospitality, catering and support
services including environments and spaces, sustainability,

health, wellness and more.
We continue to share these findings with you over our ongoing
series of white papers exploring the key insights and external
research studies uncovering what this means for our workplaces

of today and more importantly, of tomorrow.

Our workplace ecosystem is in the
most fluid state it has ever been. We are
seeing spaces and food offers repurposed
to facilitate collaboration with the intention
for environments and nutrition to act as
the cornerstone to an organisation’s health
and wellbeing. Increased value in solutions
with a social purpose to drive engagement
is key and at Compass Group, we see this
opening doors to endless opportunities to
partner even more closely with our clients
to reimagine the ‘at work’ experience
through food and spaces to create
compelling reasons for staff to return to
the workplace.

Michael

Michael Lambourne

Executive Director
Business & Industry, Defence and Education

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EXPLORING THE EMPLOYEE LANDSCAPE IN A POST COVID ENVIRONMENT PART 2

IN THIS EDITION

We dive into the shifting trends
in employee workplace habits,
behaviours and expectations to
answer the following questions:

Do employees actually benefit from an onsite cafe, or from
having access to snacks and free issues?
How will the traditional café evolve to meet changing needs?
What can we do if we don’t have a café?
How to make the most of adapted spaces?

Key takeaways we explore in this edition…
The workplace ecosystem is evolving to include hybrid
models that scale between traditional office environments
and full remote working, but base employee needs remain
consistent throughout, resulting in a gap and a need for
scalable/adaptable employee engagement programs.
When your staff are onsite, 2/3 of people eat two meals
and their snacks while at the office, which means onsite
employee engagement programs that include food can
increase workplace wellness, productivity and employee
retention, benefitting both the employee and employer
alike.
So this begs the question: to have a café or not have
a café? Research shows staff still want to have access
to this, but how do we provide it while balancing hybrid
workplace ecosystems?

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EXPLORING THE EMPLOYEE LANDSCAPE IN A POST COVID ENVIRONMENT PART 2

Where do the benefits lie for the
employee and the employer?

Let’s tackle the seemingly obvious one first.
Do employees actually benefit from having a café or great snacking program
onsite, in their place of work? The short answer is yes, but how they benefit
is where the insight into employee engagement lies, and where the workplace
ecosystem of today can benefit.
Firstly, we looked at onsite eating habits to understand the possible reach to
drive engagement through day parts and meals that would affect any potential
employee benefit.

Of staff surveyed about their at work eating habits:

87% 98% 78%

eat breakfast eat lunch eat snacks
daily daily daily

69%

have all three everyday while at work

2/3 of staff consume their breakfast, lunch
and snacks whilst at work daily.

This means that per each employee there is a potential for 3-4 touchpoints
of engagement and support daily that could impact their experience, drive
engagement and uplift productivity.

Prior to COVID19, research showed that these meals were being sourced from
local restaurants or cafes as a primary resource, employees’ homes, staff cafes
and sometimes delivery partners. What shifted greatly into this year in a post
COVID environment, is that employees have reduced their daily footprint and
are limiting interactions and possible exposure risk.

Our research shows a 25% reduction in staff sourcing meals from local restaurants and cafes and instead are
sourcing meals and snacks where possible from:

Workplace Staff Utilising Delivery Making Meals
Cafes Partners at Home

41% 51% 20%

increase from their pre-Covid meal and snack sourcing habits.
(statement applies to each metric)

This leads to a number of benefits for employees who to work, and while there, they are more productive and
have access to staff cafes and snacking programs spend less time outside the office environment. Even
including: casual social interactions can lead to job output benefits.

1. Perceived increase in personal safety Overall, 42% of employees surveyed that do not have a
café onsite said they would like one, and this percentage
2. Value for money increases significantly among younger workers, where
62% of employees under 35 years old said they would
3. Breaks away from their desks like a café. When we look at snacking through stocked
kitchenettes, 69% of employees without a pantry/free
4. Time saved – access to quicker meals issues program said they would like to have this in their
workplace, reaching up to 81% of respondents under 35
5. Access to healthier options (not ‘fast food’) years old.

6. Increased opportunity for cross team social In a study by EY Sweeney, 75% of respondents said
engagement, impromptu collaboration or ‘casual that an employer’s premises and amenities are important
kitchen catch ups’ when choosing their next job. Highlighting the importance
of the workplace ecosystem in attracting and retaining
Many of these benefits are consistent in both pre-and talent. Once again, this was most pronounced in the
post-COVID environments, but the list has grown to under 35 age group with 84% of respondents flagging
encompass safety as a key priority. Why are these this as an important consideration. Where food and
benefits for employees so important and what does that beverage through a café or snacking program used to
mean for employers? As discussed in the first edition of be a perk, it is increasingly becoming the norm as more
this ‘Eating at Work’ series, health and wellness are top of millennials enter the workforce. Today it is relevant to both
mind issues for both the employer and the employee. For new staff and existing, as we look to draw teams back
the employee most of these benefits offer mental reprieve into the office away from the comfort of their homes, and
from daily stresses such as being time poor, needing to access to their kitchens.
balance taste preferences with health, personal safety,
and addressing the need for social interaction. For the
employer, it means staff feel safe and supported to return

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EXPLORING THE EMPLOYEE LANDSCAPE IN A POST COVID ENVIRONMENT PART 2

It’s not all about the staff, there are benefits to employers as
well

This may all sound like a cost to the If you assume the average cost to
business, but there are benefits to the onboard a new entry level employee
employer as well in offering services at $9,7722 and the average turnover
such as snacking programs and rate in Australia within professional
staff cafes. In an article by Forbes, business services of 8.5% per year,
highly engaged teams deliver 21% a sample office size of 300 team
greater productivity. This underlines members would incur an annual cost
the fact that employee engagement of $249,186 in new hires alone. This
consists of concrete behaviours, cost goes up for senior and executive
not just abstract feelings. Therefore, level employees. This implies
a strong employee engagement significant savings can be identified
strategy consists of both mental, for businesses that are able to drive
physical and emotional pillars to employee engagement and reduce
driving engagement and a strong turnover. In this scenario, achieving
food strategy supports each of these 59% less turnover results in an annual
pillars. savings of $147,020.

In our last edition, we discussed that
employees perceive themselves to be
more productive when they formally
take main/lunch breaks during the
day. This is also quantified in research
by Gallup: teams who are in the top
20% when measuring engagement
realise a 41% reduction in
absenteeism and 59% less turnover1.

‘$147,020 per year savings
in reduced employee turnover
costs through effective employee
engagement.’

Source:

1. Gallup, The Right Culture: Not Just About Employee Satisfaction,
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236366/right-culture-not-
employee-satisfaction.aspx

2. Human Resources Director, This is how much it costs to hire one
employee, 2020, https://www.hcamag.com/au/specialisation/
employee-engagement/this-is-how-much-it-costs-to-hire-one-
employee/192036#:~:text=The%20survey%20of%20over%20
1%2C500,%249%2C772%20for%20entry%2Dlevel%20positions.

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EXPLORING THE EMPLOYEE LANDSCAPE IN A POST COVID ENVIRONMENT PART 2

Adapted Workplace
Ecosystems – including
the café of today’s
employee

Before we discuss what today’s café looks like (hint – it
might not be an actual café!), we take a look at the trends in
adapted workplaces emerging from COVID. JLL, as part of
their article on ‘Reimagining the Future of Work’ illustrated
the below Continuum of the Hybrid Workspace.

Continuum of the Hybrid Workspace

The spectrum of workplace models encompasses different
levels of footprint optimization.

Source: JLL, “Reimagine the Future of Work,” January 2021 We are already seeing a number of
industries who are well positioned to adapt
to a hybrid working model such as finance,
management and IT and these industries
are making strides developing how this
works with their teams.

As we have explored in our research,
JLL also notes that a key component to
navigating a successful hybrid workplace
ecosystem will be a redesign phase which
encompasses spaces, processes and
experiences that enable on and offsite work
to drive productivity and innovation whilst
maintaining engagement.

Where there are now less staff onsite the
ability to support a dedicated café becomes
more challenging for both employers and
potential catering contractors or local
businesses. Key CBD offices that used
to have both a ground floor café and/or
a designated café, now face challenges
in delivering consistently for smaller
populations and a peaking workweek curve.

But what can you do if your office doesn’t
have a staff café?

It doesn’t mean that you have to miss out on the
productivity and engagement benefits as this is where
you can often get creative with employee engagement
programs and snacking or pantry programs to drive
similar results.

For example, working with an established catering
provider you can often build out bespoke programs
that are tailored to your needs, bringing team lunches
all the way through to EOFY parties to life. Maybe your
office loves a Monday morning team breakfast to start
the week off right, or they could prefer a themed Friday
afternoon drinks to bring people together. You can
achieve the same benefits for teams onsite as a café,
without the formal set up.

Established providers can also tie in your local and
social engagement goals as well working with local
suppliers, engaging local charities or community
organisations without the need for a formal café.

We explore some of these options in the next section.

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EXPLORING THE EMPLOYEE LANDSCAPE IN A POST COVID ENVIRONMENT PART 2

Let’s Talk Solutions

When not in the office, employees miss social interactions the most. In 2020 Google searches for virtual experiences
jumped and have maintained popularity as the working environment shifts. As an example, virtual cooking classes
jumped by 31x, and virtual cocktails jumped 6x. So as the office goes hybrid, so can your staff cafes and snacking
programs to maintain engagement.

Here is a few of our recommendations that we have implemented locally and globally to drive engagement
and offer flexibility that is adaptable to your environment.

Micro markets/cafes

• Innovation in unattended retail and snacking solutions is shifting the
way we think about cafes and offering businesses and teams new
approaches to space utilisation and flexibility

• The benefits to these solutions are:
– Customisation of the experience
– Scalability
– Optimisation of the menu offer and product mix
– Reduced food waste as on demand orders minimise over-
production
– Minimal to no onsite staff required to operate

As the demand for collaboration space over individual working space
increases, we see opportunities to merge this type of concept into a
collaboration space where staff can fuel themselves and their connected
minds simultaneously.

Social procurement

• Marrying the desire for supporting local, achieving sustainability targets
and/or supporting the community, traditional staff cafés and pantry
services can become outlets for social benefit

• Employers benefit from the security of an established organisation while
employees can engage with organisations that align to their desire for
social responsibility.

Virtual toolkits

• Time together, explore together, create together…or apart with
adaptable team activities
– Time together, teams share a morning or afternoon tea like they
would have in the office, but with hampers curated and delivered to
individual homes
– Exploring together – bring a menu tasting to wherever your teams
are whether at home, together in one place, or working in hub &
spoke environments
– Creating together with interactive culinary experiences to learn new
recipes or skills both for at home or in the office

• There is opportunity for generating space utilisation when day to day
traffic is low to offer these types of experiences.

Coming Up Next

COMPASS GROUP US We explore the social and emotional implications of our post-pandemic
workplace ecosystem and how to add social procurement as a strategy
to boost engagement.

As explored in this edition, the shift away from the local cafe hasn’t
come without its own emotional implications. The empathy shown
by consumers towards businesses affected by the pandemic is a key
focus, with a desire to support local restaurants and cafes, but this
feeling is being contradicted by the desire to feel safe and still have their
needs met driving staff café participation up. Therefore, we see very
low levels of restaurant avoidance, but interestingly, the avoidance is
towards restaurant rather than workplace cafés.

How can employers help close this gap?

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