Corporate executives are searching for creative ways to lure workers back to the office this fall. They recognize many white-collar workers resist returning to the office and instead work at home or in a hybrid environment. From Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to Havas SA, smart managers might have found the golden ticket to persuade workers to return to the office: woo them with food.
Bloomberg reports Goldman Sachs is offering complimentary breakfast, lunch, and ice cream as part of a new amenity for employees in New York, London, and Hong Kong.
Goldman isn't the only one. Several top Wall Street banks are offering company-subsidized food programs for employees who return to the office.
Robin Mills, U.K., and Ireland managing director at catering company Compass Group Plc, said, "food is playing a much more central part in office life and businesses are using their food offers to try and influence behavior."
"We are now fully part of these reopening conversations and part of this new world as companies think about how to get people to come back," Mills said.
Companies offering free or subsidized meals are not new. Silicon Valley tech companies have been doing this for over a decade. Havas, a French multinational advertising and public relations company, a Compass client, uses food in the office as a perk to bring employees back in. They're offering "Wellness Wednesdays" and global cuisines inspired by cultural events.
"We've prioritized the kind of amenities that make being in an office attractive – and food is a really important part of that," Xavier Rees, chief executive officer of Havas London, said. "This isn't new – it was a huge...