J.

Max Wolf
Managing People and Teams

Food and Work: The Importance of Company Cafeterias

One of the most common corporate benefits companies give to their workers is cafeteria

meals. As of late, “most large U.S. companies still operate cafeterias that offer a mainly practical

appeal: proximity.” (Goo) This is not true for all organizations however, as dining at companies

vary from vending machines in someto gourmet restaurants in others. What seems to be true

across the board is that most companies view their dining programs as “perks”, when

theoretically they could benefit the organization as well as the workers.

Food at Google

One company that has received a lot of attention for its on-campus dining has been

Google. Offering over a dozen restaurants and cafes, all of which are completely free, Google

employees are some of the best-fed workers in the United States. Not only is the food free, but

the quality is gourmet as “menus have showcased items such as tropical shrimp bisque, eggplant

ratatouille and scallops in green curry sauce.” (Ramirez)

Google’s rationale for keeping such an extravagant dining program has been the belief

that keeping employees close allows more time for work. According to a spokeswoman, the

program “is more cost-effective than having thousands of employees leave the campus, eat lunch

and come back.” () This is a strategy seen throughout Google’s offered benefits, as they also

offer gyms, laundry, haircuts, dry cleaning, a carwash, an onsite Doctor and childcare, pretty

much anything to keep the employees close. (Life at Google: Benefits)

Recently however, there has been talk about removing some of the perks, as growth has

slowed substantially, and concern about the economyhas put on pressure to cut costs. The food

program was first to be targeted as it costs the company an estimated $7,530 per employee per

year.() As of this point, only cafeteria hours have been cut to save the money spent on staffing,
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Food and Work: The Importance of Company Cafeterias

but rumors have spread that if the company cannot return to its previous growth, free food may

be cut completely. (Vascellaro and Morrison)

What Google has not taken into account however, is that keeping employees close to their

desks is not the only benefit their food programs may be providing, as there are a series of

theoretical benefits that could be brought about from psychological and nutritional effects of

providing company cafeterias.

Psychological Benefits: Meeting the Needs of Employees

According to needs theory, “Employees have needs that they are motivated to satisfy in

the workplace.” (George and Jones 179-180) According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs, there

are “five universal needs they seek to satisfy: psychological needs, safety needs, belongingness

needs, esteem needs, and self actualization needs.” (181) By providing employees with a

cafeteria and feeding them, an employer is meeting at least two of the needs: the most basic,

psychological, is met when the need for food and water is met, and esteem, a much more

complex need, is met when individuals feel that others care about them.

By meeting the employees’ need to eat, they will be motivated to perform better at work.

This idea is backed up by the theory of reciprocity, which explains why individuals deviate from

self-interest at times. In his study, Incorporating Fairness into Game Theory and Economics,

Michael Rabin concluded that “People are willing to sacrifice their own material well being to

help those who are being kind.” (Rabin 1282) The adverse is also true for peoplebeing unkind.

What this means for managers is that through reciprocity, employers can manage the behavior of

their workers to act outside of their own self interest. If employers meet the basic need to eat of

an employee, he or she will be inclined to help the company meet its basic need of profitability.
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Food and Work: The Importance of Company Cafeterias

This also means that by meeting the more complex needs of the workforce, workers will

reciprocate with a more complex commitment. Affective commitment is when employees

“intend to do what is good for the organization.” (George and Jones 93) It occurs when

individuals feel they are working for a company “that shows that it cares about its employees.”

Therefore, making employees feel cared for when instituting a food program is important, and by

meeting the esteem needs of workers, managers can effectively encourage affective commitment.

Unfortunately, research has not backed up the ideas of needs theory in the workplace,

(184) but this could be because the usual measure of how well needs are being met is pay, which

is expected in the psychological contract. “A psychological contract is an employee’s perception

of his or her exchange relationship with an organization,” and in the Unites States is most often

perceived as an exchange of a certain amount of effort for a certain salary. (273) Feeding

however, shows employees that they are being cared for because it goes above and beyond the

traditional psychological contract between a worker and his or her employer, and can affectively

be perceived as caring for the employee. If the employer successfully meets the psychological

and esteem needs of its workers, the organization can benefit from a reciprocal motivation and

increased commitment from its employees.

Nutritional Benefits: Food’s Effect on Productivity

Another benefit that food can provide that pay cannot is nutrition, and there are several

benefits from eating regularly. Conversely, skipping meals can be harmful, and is more likely

when a company lacks facilities like cafeterias. When a meal is skipped, the body goes into

Ketosis, or fasting mode, and begins “to reduce energy output in an effort to protect both fat and

lean tissue.” (Engler 10) As a result workers will have less strength and energy, and will have

decreased immunity to infection.

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Food and Work: The Importance of Company Cafeterias

While skipping meals can decrease productivity, consumption of certain foods can alter

the amount of neurotransmitters could increase the productivity of workers. Neurotransmitters

are “chemical messengers that carry information from one nerve cell to another.” () While the

body digests food, neurotransmitters send out signals that allow the brain to get a head start on

using the nutrients that are about to be absorbed. Two readily available foods that could benefit

the workplace through neurotransmitters are proteins and carbohydrates.

One building block of proteins is the amino acid tyrosine. When tyrosine is consumed,

production of dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine increases. “These neurotransmitters are

known for their ability to increase levels of alertness and energy.” (1) This effect is very

practical in the workplace, especially early in the morning when workers depend on caffeine.

Caffeine dependence is dangerous as it causes individuals to “continue to use caffeine despite

having medical or psychological problems made worse by caffeine.” (John Hopkins University)

By providing a breakfast rich in protein, neurotransmitters could help to control withdrawal

symptoms from caffeine, and increase the alertness of workers.

Consumption of carbohydrates leads to an increase of the neurotransmitter serotonin, “a

neurotransmitter that has the effect of reducing pain, decreasing appetite, and producing a sense

of calm.” (Gilbert 1) Deficiencies can result in depression which research has noticed in

individuals with low-carb diets. Appropriate amounts of carbohydrates will allow workers to

experience better moods and have a morepositive affectivity. This is beneficial to employers

because satisfied workers are motivated to perform “work behaviors that are of a more voluntary

nature and not specifically required of the employees.” (George and Jones 92) This is especially

important to firms like Apple and Google that benefit from programmers working long hours.

With higher levels of serotonin, programmers will be more motivated to put in extra hours.
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Food and Work: The Importance of Company Cafeterias

Risks and Recommendations

From this analysis it would seem that any company could theoretically benefit from

instituting a dining program and providing their employees with a cafeteria, but there are some

risks involved, namely cost control and over eating. For this reason it is very important to

institute a program with limitations on three factors: price, portion, and availability.

When designing a system, the value of quality needs to be considered. If employees

highly value quality foods, they will not mind paying a bit for it. In this scenario, the program

could provide the meals highly subsidized instead of completely free. Secondly, controlling the

portion size will decrease the cost of materials per meal as well as the chances of overeating.

Although generous, buffets putemployees at risk of eating too much, and as a result slowing

down and becoming less productive. Controlled portions allow employees to receive just the

right amount of nutrition. Lastly, limiting the time that food service is available can control cost

by decreasing the need to have salaried food service workers on payroll. The cafeterias’ hours of

operation should align to your employees’ schedules, but does not need to be open all day.

My recommendation for Google is to consider these theoretical benefits before making a

decision to completely cut their free food program. As of yet, there has been very little research

on food’s effect on the workforce beyond the nutrition it provides. This makes it very difficult to

value the benefits of their program, while the costs have a clear dollar value. I would suggest

that as a company that values the benefits it provides to its employees, Google should perform

studies to measure the actual value provided. Although this could be costly, the possible cost due

to lost benefits could be much greater than the amount they pay per employee to maintain the

perk. Along with the study, reconsidering the limitations of price, portion, and availability could

help Google come to the best possible program for both the company and the workers.
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Food and Work: The Importance of Company Cafeterias

Works Cited

Engler, Lara. "The Importance of All Meals." NSCA’s Performance Training Journal: Nutrition.
Vol. 4 No. 6. 10-11.
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Food and Work: The Importance of Company Cafeterias