One Small Step for HR, One Big Step for Productivity

Behold the power of Coffee!

The human resources director at work has been making changes for the better. Since early this year our company now has online grocery shopping with delivery to the office, a dry cleaning service with pickup and drop-off from/to the office, new menu items in the cafeteria and more. One of the grass roots improvements is a coffee machine on each floor. We went from Farmer Brothers to Starbucks beans.

It was Christmas morning when the machines finally arrived on Tuesday. After large meetings and during lunch time, people gathered around the kitchenette like a celebrity sighting. People casually circled the shiny, new coffee maker in the kitchenette like a tiger sneaking up on its prey.

The audience watched as caffeinated or decaffeinated beans sank from the glass display portion into the grinding innards, magically producing a crisp cup of steamy coffee.

With all the hype, I waited a couple days to make my move and partake of the sacred bean. I’m not a drip-coffee fan, so I opted for hot chocolate. And I’ll be honest, I’ve been waiting to try the chocolate, but the shiny buttons and two-step process frightened me. I had to be alone with the coffee machine to figure it out. Like an old Western shoot-out, it was me against the machine.

I took my mug, not a Styrofoam cup as usual (http://ultracafe.blogspot.com/) and placed it under the spout. I pressed “short” then frantically hit cancel because I was sure a “tall” would fit into my chosen vessel. I pressed “tall” then, step two. I pressed “hot chocolate” and let it work its magic.

A few moments later I was proudly carrying a nice, rich mug of cocoa back to my office. I can say that I enjoyed every sip and even now, as I’m looking down into my empty mug, I am enjoying the chocolaty aroma.

As one may conclude, everyone in the office is now jittery and uncharacteristically energetic. People are cracking jokes in the hall. I think I saw a couple people making out in an office. Someone literally, just walked by my office and said …“it’s kind of like porn.” What is that? A corner has been turned! People here have changed. It will take a couple weeks before everyone becomes accustomed to the influx of caffeine in their systems. HR is brilliant. The creative juices are flowing and people are actually smiling.