The first startup I worked for had the usual free coffee, but the only food they offered was the entire salad drawer of the refrigerator filled with every candy bar imaginable. Refilled twice a day.
Within a month of us moving into that building we'd all put on about 20lbs. Every coffee break was also candy bar time. We demanded they remove them all, for our own safety.
That's what I wish the tech companies had, a way to limit the free snacks. I'd much prefer to have to tap my badge and have the machine tell me that I exceeded 300 kcal in snacks today so no more.
I'm usually very good about just not eating the random snacks and candy in the office kitchen, but every now and then they bring madeleines into the rotation and I can't resist those :) it's always a mild relief when they're in the off-again phase.
They should have filled entire salad drawer with... good salad. Put up a bouldering wall or give their employees free/cheap entrance to nearby gym and give them time to actually do it. Ie I almost never go on lunch breaks if I can go to gym instead, once it becomes a habit its trivial to keep it up. Massive efficiency boost in my own private time, at 6pm I am over and worked out already.
IT more than anything else (maybe apart from true art) is not about hours put in but efficiency of time spent. Breaks often help overcome blocks. Decent workouts and healthy lifestyle helps with better focusing mind since all is connected in each of us. Also helps with sleep which then goes back to mind and all.
Im sure the free market will help develop a solution for mammals overeating because there is no impulse control for that - ah, and here it is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trocar
I've worked from home for 20 years. Is office coffee still as horrible as it was? I thought startups all upgraded to $20,000 Clover brewing systems or something?
A bunch of them did, but they don't all maintain them to exacting standards over the long haul.
If you want decent coffee out of one of those fancy grind-and-brew-in-place automatic espresso machines, they need to be deep-cleaned on a regular basis, and someone needs to be actively stocking good, fresh coffee beans...
My office now has an automated machine. I’d give it a 4/10. Not great but much better than the 1/10 from the old drip machine (and the occasional 0/10 when someone brewed with a double quantity in a misguided effort to coax a more pleasant flavor from those burnt beans).
Within a month of us moving into that building we'd all put on about 20lbs. Every coffee break was also candy bar time. We demanded they remove them all, for our own safety.