One of the biggest mistakes companies make as far as human resource management is concerned is looking at employees as a resource from which they have to exhaust and extract value. A shift in mindset where workers are viewed as resources to care for and nourish can benefit an organization tremendously. Workers who feel cared for tend to do exceptional work.
Your company must focus on employee well-being if you want to increase productivity, support wellness initiatives, and retain top talent. Perhaps you can start by availing healthy snacks, fresh foods, popular snacks, medical supplies, and specialty drinks at the office. Luckily for you, this is an easy program to launch. All you will need is an office vending machine.
Why Offices Benefit from Having Vending Machines
Everyone at the office is better off when they can adequately nourish themselves from the comfort of the office environment. An organization stands to benefit from having office machines in the following ways.
- An Immediate Boost in Productivity
Nutrition plays a critical role in both workers' ability to show up for work and the capacity to get work done. Knowing this, it is in your best interest to have food options within easy access. Office machines can boost workers' productivity by:
- Ensuring higher cognitive function as being well-nourished boosts the ability to concentrate and think
- Helping workers enjoy sustained energy levels throughout the day
- Minimizing trips people make out of the office to grab snacks and drinks, or critical supplies
If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, on occasions when an employee skips breakfast because of time constraints, an office vending machine may actually save the day. You want to have protein bars and natural carbs in the vending machine.
- Builds Culture and Keeps Talent Around
People like having a job that is beneficial to their quality of life. Over a lifetime, the average person will spend more than a quarter of their life at work. Providing special comforts, such as office vending machines, makes employees more content about spending many hours at the office.
These comforts can also reduce employee turnover and so help you keep your best people. In a world where some companies, especially tech companies, are offering free meals to employees, having office vending machines isn't too much to ask.
- A Chance to Influence Workers' Snacking Habits
Most popular snacks are unhealthy and may be detrimental to office productivity. Some, especially high-glycemic baked snacks, rapidly release glucose into the bloodstream, providing a quick energy rush. Following the rush, blood sugar speedily drops leaving the consumer in a low-energy unproductive state.
When you have office vending machines, you can stock them with healthy bites such as granola bars and actually create healthier workplace. Since people are going to snack anyway, you might as well make healthy snacking the more convenient option by availing healthy goodies in the office. By the way, there are so many vending machine ideas you can explore before purchasing anything for your office.
The Best Office Vending Machine Items to Vend to Employees
You will need some healthy snacks in your office vending machine and some sweet treats for the occasional craving. You have lots of options when it comes to healthy snacks today. Below are some good candidates.
Granola bars: made from seeds, nuts, and whole grains, these are super snacks. They can help workers feel satiated for long and fuel day-long productivity.
Branded nuts and seeds: seeds and nuts are excellent sources of proteins and good carbs. You can carry packets or bars of the following nuts and seeds
- Almonds
- Cashew nuts
- Pistachios
- Walnuts
- Macadamia nuts
- Peanuts
- Hazelnuts
- Flax seeds
- Sesame seeds
The products should be prepared healthily with no unhealthy additives - such as simple roasting and salting.
Dried fruits: natural dried fruits with no sugar added are a great choice for office machines. You can carry dried apricots, dates, figs, prunes, raisins, mangoes, and pineapples. Managing them in the office should be easy as dried fruits have longer shelf lives than fresh ones.
Water: some health-conscious people would rather stay thirsty than drink tap water. You want to have common bottled water brands in the office vending machines.
Sweet treats: consider having some sweet treats that don't leave people with a bad sugar slump. Sweets, candy, cakes, and cookies are a bad idea. Better options worth considering include dark chocolate and whole-food desserts. An even better option would be to get healthy protein bars designed to taste like regular sugary treats but don't contain anything harmful in them. Quest Nutrition, for instance, makes some good protein bars that taste like regular chocolate bars and cookies.
How Can Companies Get Office Vending Machines?
There are two ways an office can get good vending solutions:
- Self-managed option. This is where an office buys a vending machine and uses its in-house resources to stock and maintain the machine. They can go for best-buy vending machines or custom-made ones. In this case, there's no need to outsource vending solutions and it's best to search for affordable machines and to understand the costs involved with refilling.
-
- Outsourcing to a vending service company. Under this arrangement, a vending service company will install their machine on your premises, stock products and vending machine office supplies, and do maintenance. In return, vending services keep the money generated by the vending machine. At least, that's how most vending solution companies operate.
The option you choose - self-managed or vending solutions - will depend on how much control you want over the operation and whether or not you have the bandwidth to stock, restock, and maintain the vending machine office supplies. If you don't it's best to hire professional vending services.
If you choose the self-management option, you will have to order a machine and assign man-hours to see the project through. When buying an office machine, pay attention to the following issues:
- Cashless payment systems. At a minimum, the vending machine should have a credit card reader. The ability to accept mobile wallets such as Google Pay and Apple Pay is an added advantage.
-
- Narrow bodies. Where there isn't enough space in the office, narrow vending machines will serve you without taking too much square footage. Perhaps they won't be able to vend fragile or bulky items, but they'll do for most of other stuff. You may also want to go with a combo machine instead of separate snacks and drinks vending machines.
-
- Employee expectations. It is best to poll employees to ask what they want to have in an office vending machine. Some employees, having run vending businesses before, may offer very valuable advice.
-
- Reliability. You don't want a vending machine that will break down often and inconvenience the office. If you completely want to minize the risk of ever dealing with these issues, it's best to seek quality vending services.
Good vending machines from reliable brands cost between $3,000 and $7,500, depending on size and functionality. Popular vending machine brands worth checking out include:
The second option available to you as an office, aside from buying and running vending machines yourself, is to outsource the whole office vending machine operation to a third party vending solutions. There are vending solution businesses that can install vending machines in your office and then take care of maintenance and stocking. In return, they expect to keep all or most of the money generated by the machine.
Many of these vending services are cognizant of the fact that they shouldn't stock an office machine with the standard drinks and snacks found in most vending machines in normal locations. You will generally get a healthier product selection. Moreover, you can always make suggestions as to what specific products they should carry.
The following are examples of vending businesses with experience serving offices
Most of the vending service businesses you will encounter are regional. You can find good local vending services by checking reviews on listing sites or asking friends for recommendations.
Where to Put an Office Vending Machine
While vending machines make a valuable addition to the office, putting it in the wrong place may introduce some friction and harm productivity. When you outsource the operation to a vending business, they will want to put the machine in the most conspicuous place to record a lot of sales. Their primary goal is to maximize profit. You, on the other hand, just want the members of your organization to have easy access to fresh food and snacks.
The best place to put an office vending machine, therefore, is where employees would naturally retreat to rest, grab a bite, or quench their thirst. Consider putting the machine in the break room, waiting area, kitchen, or reception area.
