When it’s the middle of the workweek and your desk is crammed with project deadlines, empty drink containers, and sticky notes galore—sometimes you need a saving grace. Zerocater was developed not only to bring catered meals into the workplace, but also to promote employee appreciation and collaboration around the lunch table.
Today, many people are working in a fast-paced environment, where clocking the standard eight hours a day is a thing of the past. Lunch breaks rarely have a set schedule and it can be downright difficult to make time to collaborate, bond, and share ideas with your fellow colleagues during the workday. We bring workplace socialization back. Evidence shows the importance of team unification. In the book, The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande, Atul describes the first-hand experience in the operating room and the correlation between successful teamwork and creating personal relationships with your colleagues.
In this non-fiction read, the author sees a shocking jump in the number of lives his trauma unit was able to save. Why? It’s simple, communication. The medical team scrubbing in for the surgery gives short introductions of who they are, and what their role is throughout the procedure. In the operation room, every second count, and when medical professionals barely know whose name to call out for medical tools and action items, precious seconds are lost. A conversation can make a huge difference, especially when lives are on the line. One of the many takeaways from this book is that social engagement offers a better way to promote productivity, regardless of your line of work.
Perhaps, the next time you debate with yourself whether or not to quickly run out and order your measly deli sandwich across the street, take a moment to invite a few colleagues with you for some friendly lunch conversation. Or better yet, picture the fruitful possibilities of bringing the whole team together for a catered meal and the ideas that might come from it.
Sometimes it’s not just a delicious bite, we seek out during those frantic or mundane workdays, but the collaborative moments we create that go that go beyond the “lunch table.”
