Using Food & Hospitality to bridge the gap between Live-in Work Life and Home Life

Across Australia in a diversity of sectors, employees that have live-in accommodation and food provided by their employer, as part of their working life, experience a gap in living standards. The gap in expectations is continuously fluctuating with everyday home life, no more so than from the perspective of millennials and Gen Z who have high expectations. A greater diversity and quality of food has become infinitely more accessible now more than ever and comfort levels in the home (large format TV’s, high speed WIFI, quality beds, plush bathrooms etc) can be easily improved by each person to meet their own needs, personalising their own comfort levels and amenity. It can be a tough act to follow.

In contrast, the work-life provision of accommodation, food and hospitality is bound by a different framework and has often been reduced to the lowest cost or best value for money model for the masses of employees with minimal to no customisation. The ‘work-living’ gap in accommodation and food needs to be bridged by new and modern standards or risks becoming a major source of dissatisfaction for employees resulting in higher turnover and in some case a barrier to employment. Bridging the modern expectations and quality considerations from home life to work life is essential to attract and retain the modern, diverse work force.

Food, accommodation and hospitality standards on the high street have continued to evolve and improve at an accelerated rate in quality, diversity and accessibility in line with an increased level of media and entertainment coverage, which then translate to the home setting. In contrast for employers, these same ‘services’ in a working context have remained dated and structurally under prescribed, suited for an employee demographic which was once almost exclusively male and viewed through a culturally ‘western’ lens.

The world around is always evolving and while no employee expects that organisations will be able to invest to the same level that they would at home from an accommodation perspective, there is still an expectation that there is a continuous process of evaluation and adjustment in the accommodation amenity. The food landscape is much the same, as the traditional catering model of food suits the F&B operators to deliver a ‘bulk’ generic food offer, which is out of step with employee expectations of a modern, on trend, on demand food offer that resembles a quality that can be achieved at home or through their local F&B neighbourhood outlets.

In the past, it might have been a ‘take it or leave it’ approach to food, hospitality and accommodation when the potential talent pool was seemingly more plentiful in Australia. Over the last 5 years, exacerbated by COVID, the recruitment process has been challenging and every organisation is looking for a competitive advantage to attract the best and brightest.

Modern food and hospitality should be used to bridge the gap and support a live-in work context comparable to home life. The numerous benefits include:

  • Attracting a Diversified Talent Pool in Recruitment

  • Longer Employee Retention

  • Improved General Health, well-being & resilience

  • Improved quality of team socialisation and team building

  • Improved nutritional outcomes

  • Higher levels of satisfaction with the complete work life

  • Increased productivity

  • Greater levels of loyalty

Diversifying the workforce in any organisation is critical to create a respectful variety of perspectives that lead to better outcomes in problem solving and generally achieving organisational goals. The ability to attract a diverse range of prospective employees is often contingent on the reputation of the organisation and in the case of a live-in work context the accommodation and food provision for the ‘captive audience’ is critical to convey a sense of balance with the home life. With diversification comes an implied expectation to meet many different cultural food backgrounds and generally meet dietary requirements. Authentic food plays a significant role in satisfying the needs of the diversified workforce, validating and respecting their cultural diversity. Food outcomes that are inauthentic and poor quality can have a detrimental impact, as employees who are naturally proud of their heritage and by extension cuisine, become disheartened by the poor execution of food in the work-life experience which can be internalised to reflect badly on their culture.

Once employees are in the system, retention strategies become important and consistent standards for accommodation, food and hospitality driven by the introduction of key strategy drivers that govern the framework will provide direction over the long term. The consistent standards provide a reliable and trusted basis to create and maintain employee expectations which lead to better general health outcomes. Accommodation provided for each employee, creating a personal and private space to retreat to and rely on is important to maintain well-being. These spaces provide not only a refuge each day but also provide for the consistent opportunity for sleep in a comfortable and familiar environment.

The food in the dining areas is a frequent high touch point every day and again provides stability in the daily routine where employees can look forward to more than just refuelling and share ‘Eating Experiences’ using the time to bond informally as a team sharing a meal. The daily ‘Eating Experiences’ should not be diminished by out-of-date food scopes, practices and dated dining spaces but instead must be elevated to be a positive experience. Positive experiences can be improved through modern food scopes, a diversity of menu choices, cooked to order options, a focus on health and nutrition, special theme menus, a variety or mix of service styles, planned ‘surprise’ concept menus and employee food participation activities that engage hands on with employees. These initiatives remind employees of the connection with ‘home life’ with similar experiences with family and friends back home.

Consistently creating these moments of opportunity in the work-life through a careful curation of the accommodation, food and hospitality services will lead to overall higher satisfaction levels, productivity and greater levels of loyalty. Employees often judge their worth to companies through subtle and more tangible investments in their overall work experience, especially when it directly affects their personal circumstances. Subtle changes and improvements to accommodation, food and hospitality can result in large behaviour changes that set the scene for work bridging the gap.

Food and hospitality are often considered to be intangible and difficult to consistently assess, as every employee would interpret experiences through their own lens and have a different opinion. Yet more often than not at ‘the moment of truth’ when the services are delivered there is a tangible reaction from employees who understand now more than ever what is possible and that they can have it all – a work-life equivalent with home life.