If you’ve ever gone on vacation to a new place or have found yourself deciding on which restaurant to dine at among a plethora of options, you’ve likely based your selection on subjective and improvised criteria. The decision was probably based on feelings related to past experiences or situations that were particularly either pleasing or displeasing rather than with a concrete analysis of reality.
The same thing happens with first impressions we get from companies. In the tech industry, often times we try to evaluate the quality of software the organization develops. In my case, I use the criteria that almost never fails: the quality of coffee in the office.
The relationship between software and coffee has been around for decades but with no precise knowledge of its origin. If we look at Java, one of the most popular programming languages used today, its logo includes a coffee mug. There are a lot of versions to the story, but the hypothesis that resonates most with me is that Java owes its name coffee from a nearby café, and hence – according to this theory – comes the image that identifies it. Other thoughts point to it being a randomly selected name, before its creators later discovered that “Java” was the name of an Indonesian island and high quality coffee producer. Whatever the case, the popular beverage is present and the genesis of the relationship is no longer relevant: it simply exists.
In my experience, of the coffee I’ve tried in various organizations, the best ones are found in the tech/software business. To back it with some logic, we can infer that it’s because good coffee is a representation of how employees are treated.
I’ve read many articles recently related to talent shortages and employee retention. Many companies have big retention or talent attraction programs with different initiatives such as areas fr entertainment, flexible hours, after-office events, etc. The goal of these efforts is to create a pleasant experience for employees that will make them feel positive. Having happy employees lowers the risk of attrition, promotes a positive energy, resilience and helps produce great ideas.
Improving the quality of work of your employees will increase productivity and therefore turn into better business outcomes. The recipe is simple: as always, when the whole is successful, it is the sum of beautiful details…like the aroma of your morning Java.
