Marché

Break Rooms Impact New York City Employee Morale

January 10, 2020December 14, 2019 by Katie Waxman

Can New York City break rooms really contribute to employee morale? The answer is yes, they really can and especially during the winter months. A specific break room can either invite employees to visit it, stay awhile and engage in conversation or push employees to other areas for conversation and refreshments.
Let’s look at three ways that your break room can have an impact.

The Space

There are many different factors to consider when designing a break room’s physical space. The first question to ask is how will the space be used. Understanding the purpose(s) before making design decisions allows the design to encompass current and future needs. Some employers offer open spaces with games such as Foosball or table tennis while others focus on multiple, smaller and unique seating arrangements.

The second questions to ask is what type of vibe or energy will the room have. For example, colors, textures, lighting, seating arrangements, layout, plants and organization all contribute to the experience an employee will have when walking into the room. Textures can come from a variety of materials including bricks or rocks, wood, pleather, metal, glass and plants. One caveat when it comes to color; colors have different meanings in different cultures and can impact New York City individuals differently.

The Refreshments

Do the refreshments offered in your New York City break room match the types of refreshments that are important to your current employees? If the answer is no, then it’s time to learn what would. Once those answers are clear, the next step is to consider quality coffee services and healthy snacks and beverages. The final menu should reflect both your organization’s needs and the refreshments your employees enjoy.

The Activities

A break room can be used for more than grabbing a bite to eat or taking a break. The space can also become a central location where team building activities take place. At this time of year, gray skies are often accompanied by the winter blues. To combat these blah and sluggish feelings, host an event for your New York City employees that creates feelings of team spirit and happiness.

Volunteer: Choose an organization that needs help creating packages or collecting items. For example, the break room could be a gathering point for a food drive for a local food bank or a space where employees can put together backpacks for foster children or care packages for overseas soldiers.

Host a Potluck: Encourage your employees to bring a dish to share. Themes for the event could include bring your favorite dish (from any time of year) or bring your favorite winter dish. It’s about choosing a theme that encourages employees to want to participate.

Ugly Sweater Day: Invite your employees to wear the ugliest sweater they can find to work and host a competition in the break room to see whose is the ugliest. While this type of event often happens before the end of December, hosting an ugly sweater day during January or February is a fun way to boost everyone’s mood after the initial excitement of winter has worn away.

Are break rooms really this important? The simple answer is yes. Break rooms and the activities that happen in them can boost team morale and support happy and relaxed employees, which increases creativity and productivity. And that makes it worthwhile to us.

For more information about customizing your New York City break room menu with cafe style coffee service, delicious fresh food and healthy snacks and beverages, please contact Marché at 833-627-2431. We look forward to hearing from you.

Tea Is a Better Choice in New York City

December 3, 2019November 29, 2019 by Katie Waxman

Today’s tea market is experiencing exciting changes. Innovative new beverages with a variety of unique ingredients have found their way to New York City consumers. Rather than seeing tea and other similar beverages as separate from all the different foods individuals eat, those beverages are now being measured by the same standards.

A white paper recently published by the World Tea Expo examined several industry issues that are projected to impact the future of the industry. According to the document, New York City consumers want the following:

convenience: hot and cold options, easy to consume on the go, anytime and anywhere
nutrient density and health potential: organic farming, regenerative agriculture and zero waste
consciousness: supporting a system that that has a positive impact; sustainability and Fair Trade
ingredients: no sugar, organic, nutritious and functional

While all these characteristics are important, functional ingredients stand out as a smart way to combine the enjoyment of drinking tea with positive health benefits such as an increase in energy or relaxation.

With at least 80 percent of Americans experiencing stress daily and struggling to relax their bodies and calm their minds, the chance of illnesses occurring increases. But a reduction in stress can help combat many of them including heart disease, high blood pressure, chronic pain and poor sleep.

Relaxing with a cup of tea can reduce stress on its own, but when it’s combined with practicing mindfulness, the health benefits grow to include a reduction in stress and anxiety, improved attention and memory and better self-regulation and empathy.

What exactly is mindfulness? It’s the ability to be fully present or being aware of what’s going on without becoming overwhelmed. A different way to look at it is noticing all one’s thoughts and emotions without making judgments about them.

Incorporating mindfulness opportunities into the workday is beneficial for both employees and employers. New York City employees who are healthier and have less stress not only develop better connections with others including their colleagues but are also more productive.

To increase the likelihood that employees can practice mindfulness (and enjoy hot beverages), employers need to step up and provide a variety of relaxing environments from quiet corners to break rooms with comfortable seating options. Healthy snacks and fresh food in the break room will also help employees manage their health.

As the 2019 ends and 2020 approaches, how will your organization help employees reduce stress, improve their diet and find small moments to practice mindfulness? We here to help design a break room that encourages mindfulness and to create a customized refreshment menu with everyone’s favorite choices. For more information about our other break room services, please contact Marché at 833-627-2431.

Break Room Refreshments in New York City

Five Fun Ways to Celebrate Thanksgiving in Your New York City Break Room

November 21, 2019November 14, 2019 by Katie Waxman

Happy employees are 13 percent more productive. With the holiday season approaching, it’s a great time to use the break room to show your New York City employees how much they are appreciated, which just might increase happiness.

The ‘traditional’ break room is often an under used space. To reverse that trend and spread cheer and happiness throughout the workplace, consider using the break room as a place for fun, holiday celebrations that will convey employee appreciation.

Hold a Recipe Contest

Everyone has a favorite dish or two that they look forward to enjoying every November. Instead of only eating that favorite dish at home, offer your New York City employees an opportunity to share it with everyone via a work sponsored recipe contest. Everyone gets to try the entries and vote on their favorites. The winner enjoys bragging rights as well as a hard-earned prize.

Organize a Team Activity and Enjoy a Potluck Meal

Depending on the size of your organization or division, sharing a communal meal in the break room can be a fun way to build team or company morale. Each participant takes one piece of paper out of two different containers. The first piece of paper lists a potluck item that they are assigned to bring. The second piece of paper lists an item to donate to a prearranged organization such as a donation for a local food pantry or animal shelter.

Give Back as a Group or an Individual

Serve your local New York City community by participating in a volunteer activity as an organization. Organize a canned food drive, serve at a soup kitchen or volunteer at a local fundraiser. There are unlimited possibilities to get involved. If a group activity isn’t practical, make it easy for your employees to give back on their own. Give your employees designated time off to volunteer with an organization or help with a specific project.

Compete in Festive Games

Encourage your employees to relax and have some fun while celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday by organizing the Thanksgiving-related Olympic games. The following games should bring out the kid in everyone.

Pumpkin Bowling: Instead of a bowling ball, use the roundest pumpkin that can be found. Set up the “pins” (paper towel rolls, water bottles or anything tall and thin) in the parking lot or hallway and bowl away.
Pin the Feather on the Turkey: Just like pin the tail on the donkey, pin the feather on the turkey requires a picture of a turkey on the wall, feathers (or a paper imitation) and a blindfold.
Guess How Many: Fill a glass jar with candy corn, skittles or another small, favorite sweet treat and have participants guess how many are in the jar. The winner gets the jar full of sweets for the prize.
Mini Pumpkin Hunt: Instead of the traditional Easter egg hunt, plan a mini pumpkin hunt. Whoever finds the most mini pumpkins wins a gift card to a popular restaurant or bakery.

Holiday Grams

Another option is to offer to deliver holiday grams as a way for colleagues to say thank you to each other. During a specified period, employees are asked to choose several colleagues that they are thankful for and write a short note. The holiday grams are then delivered to the recipients and shared in a central location like a wall in the break room.

Lastly, there is one more way New York City employers can show appreciation for their employees around the holidays and any time of the year – offer a relaxing break room with sought-after snacks and beverages, fresh food and delicious coffee. Employees truly appreciate that.

For more information about updating your current refreshment menu or customizing a new one, contact Marché at 833-627-2431. We look forward to hearing from you.