Free food in the office is still a popular remote perk

Employers were forced to quickly adapt this year to the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, with much-loved benefits like free snacks and meals put on the back burner. But as employers look toward 2021, a return-to-the-office means rethinking how to provide perks that boost productivity and well-being.

“Employers really want their offices to be a place where employees are productive and where they can coach, mentor, collaborate and brainstorm, and food is a really important part of that,” says Ali Sabeti, CEO of ZeroCater, a corporate catering provider. “Hiring and keeping your talent productive is an ever-growing priority, even in the pandemic.”

Read more: 35 companies that boosted their employee benefits amid COVID-19

Pre-COVID, 32% of employers offered free food and beverages to employees, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. Sixty-seven percent of employees who had access to free food at work reported being “very happy” at their jobs, and 48% said this perk would be a deciding factor in choosing a new job, according to a survey by Peapod, a grocery delivery service.

ZeroCater partners with 500 food vendors to provide employees with 35,000 meal options, using data and artificial intelligence to tailor offerings to individual employees. Employers have the option to subsidize the full cost or a partial amount for each meal.

“We're looking to revolutionize the way employees eat through technology,” Sabeti says. “Any company can set up an account and have their employees download the app and have access to a huge variety of menu items they can pick out and the employer can pay for it.”

In order to adapt to the changes to corporate dining, the platform launched a new feature called Cloud Café, which provides employees in the workplace with individually boxed meals. During COVID, the company saw increased demand from fields like biotechnology, manufacturing and other essential industries that could not work remotely and did not have access to an on-site cafeteria.

“We saw this demand from manufacturing companies and from biotechnology companies that are making COVID tests that are working 100% every month and they want to give employees this benefit because a traditional cafeteria isn’t an option,” Sabeti says.

Access to nutritious food has been a challenge for workers during the pandemic: 27% of workers are snacking more and 15% said they are eating more often than usual, according to a study by the International Food Information Council. Forty-two percent have been relying more on pre-packaged foods, despite believing they are a less healthy option.

Read more: Meal program provides healthy lunches to remote workers

Inadequate nutrition reduces productivity and leads to dangerous — and costly — medical conditions, like prediabetes and Type 2 diabetes. According to the American Diabetes Association, the cost of medical expenditures and lost productivity due to diagnosed diabetes was $327.2 billion in 2017, the most recent data available.

“One of the challenges now is the traditional lunch hour is gone and convenience is the pinnacle. But we make poor decisions when we rely on convenience with our food,” says Michael Wystrach, CEO of Freshly, a meal subscription service. “How well our brain functions, how our emotions and hormones are released, how productive we are, it really does start with diet.”

As employers contemplate how best to support their employees in 2021, providing access to the benefits will keep employees loyal, productive and healthy, Sabeti says. These benefits will also be critical as employees adjust to a very different return-to-work environment.

“We definitely expect more companies to offer food as a benefit now. They want to be more competitive and have a more productive workforce,” Sabeti says. “There will be employees who return to the office, and for others, employees will be productive from home. It really comes down to, what is the role of the office and what makes a company unique.”