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If nutrition & eating are central to good health (and mental acuity), then the TUC's finding that one in six workers are skipping meals because they cannot afford the food, is not just a health issue (which may be contributing to the UK continued health crisis), but also could be (yet one more) factor underlying the productivity puzzle...
Incremental productivity gains often come from the shopfloor, but hungry workers seem less likely to innovate!
@ChrisMayLA6 I remember visiting the Google campus in the early 00s and marveling at the free food … which is something I gather they've cut right back on in the past couple of years. Yet another indicator to add to the list of "corporate death spiral" signs …?
a canary in the cafe?
@ChrisMayLA6 Cutting the catering is like union-busting and going after whistleblowers: short-term justifiable b/c it makes the bottom line go up, but in the long term it's burning the seed corn.
A lot of large sites with cafes and canteens moved from it being a joint benefit of cheap food and stopping people going off-site for longer and drinking in pubs, to a profit centre that was outsourced to the usual suspects who lowered quality and staff wages.
#FBPE @TonyJWells @cstross @ChrisMayLA6 Many years ago now Bath University canteen had culture issues training new staff.
New staff who'd previously worked in commercial operations were used to minimising the size of portions to the extent they could get away with. They had to be taught "we're here to feed the students, not to make as much profit as possible: give them as much as they want."
I wonder whether they are able to retain that attitude these days.
@TimWardCam @TonyJWells @cstross @ChrisMayLA6 I once worked for an organisation with a canteen, where if you felt you didn’t have a full portion you could complain and they’d weigh it. You might get extra to make the full portion size, but if your meal was over, they’d scrape the surplus into the bin. A publicly funded outfit.
@TimWardCam @TonyJWells @cstross
If the cost pressures were the same as my old institution, then I'd say they'd be back to minimising portions.... at my university they also squeezed out the only independent contractor offering breakfast (so they could monopolise provision & raise prices)