Does Your Employer Provide Coffee and Other Beverages for Staff?

[suejai]

My office does provide coffee and tea and hot chocolate; although this is a recent thing. They provided a kettle and some instant coffee and teas, but one of our co-workers recently donated a Keurig so now we have proper coffee and the staff will provide our own cream.

 

[MIGrandma]

How do I edit the poll? I forgot to click the box to allow for multiple responses.

Yeah, I clicked on 3 and only 1 was recorded.

Where I used to work we were allowed to drink as much coffee, hot/iced tea and soda that we wanted for free. She did charge for milk, OJ and hot chocolate.

We could also eat from the salad bar for 75 cents and the full buffet for $1.50 per shift.

If we ordered something off the menu she charged 50% of the price.

 

[SC Minnie]

We are provided coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. A couple of areas even have the single cup coffee things. Before we consolidated offices they used to provide sodas and bottled water as well.

 

[goofyintoronto]

I would meet the staff halfway and provide water coolers as well as a decent coffee maker with a kettle....and let the staff bring in their own coffee, tea. Half the time the coffee that the employer provides is crap anyway, so the staff bring in their own. lol.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I can't really vote accurately because of the way the poll was set up.

I work for a software company. They provide coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and bottled (soon to be replaced with filtering machine) water.

 

[DebbieB]

Nothing. We arranged for a water cooler, we have to throw in $20 each about every 6 months to keep it going. Christmas Party we pay for ourselves.

 

[Tazicket]

My employer provides coffee and hot and chilled water (and ice). When it gets cold, they usually provide hot cocoa as well.

 

[cluvsdisney]

My company has a couple of those Kuerig (sp?) coffee makers with about a dozen choices for coffee & tea plus hot & cold water dispensers. We have a soda dispenser that is 25 cents per cup but it's pretty gross - the charge was only to reduce waste and goes to charity. There are canned beverages in our showroom but that is intended for the owners and guests only although I know there are people that help themselves.

We have pizza lunches about 4 times per year and our holiday party is a big buffet dinner in the showroom.

 

[PatsMom]

My employer provides us with filtered water, a regular coffee pot, a selection of Keurig flavors for coffee, tea and hot chocolate. We mostly make it by the pot in the morning and if anyone wants just a single cup or a different flavor they use the keurig.

We have canned soda in the fridge. The only requirement is that we make sure the fridge is always stocked with a few cold Diet Pepsi's. One of the owners is a big fan and he says that if he is paying for all of our soda, the least we can do is not take the last one of his favorite kind without restocking!

 

[Gigi22]

Used to work for govt. in another country. There were 'issues' with the water quality and safety in some of our buildings. The govt. was compelled to provide bottled water or water coolers in those buildings until the plumbing problems were solved and the water was tested and declared safe to drink. It was difficult to remove the extra water supply as the contracts were on a yearly basis.

 

[wendy46001]

Employer provides, cold filtered water and we have a keurig but you have to buy your own K-cups...every blue moon a box is donated.

Now the drug reps on the other hand provided breakfast, lunch and occasional snacks

 

[Angelhalo]

I have had numerous office jobs in my life and have yet to work anywhere that did not provide coffee.

There is also tea available though I've never seen anyone drink it. We have a hot water dispenser on the side of the commercial size coffee machine. We have a sink and cabinets so people can use real mugs if they like and wash and store them in the cabinets. We have a small fridge that has canned sodas in it. People can buy them for a small fee and the money goes to our office charity.

We also have a large fridge with freezer that has an ice maker so there is always ice available and you can bring you orn jugs of beverages from home and put them in the fridge if you like.

 

[Mickeyluver37]

Last night, my partner and I were talking about employer provided amenities for staff. I mentioned that my employer provides (i.e. pays for) coffee, tea, and hot chocolate for staff consumption. He thought that was very generous and I was surprised by his reaction. My partner is a federal employee and it does not surprise me that government employees do not get those amenities. I do, however, consider at least coffee to be standard in the private sector workplace.

What beverage amenities does your employer provide?

I used to work in a public accounting firm as an auditor and travel to a lot of clients. This was always a topic of discussion because it's interesting how much it would vary from client to client! I had clients with industrial size Keurigs and many flavors to choose from, plus snacks, to non-profits with a single coffee pot and a can of Maxwell House, and everything in between. I never worked on a government client myself, but I remember my co-workers talking about being on a county government audit and being asked to chip in for the water filtration system for the month! Apparently the county doesn't provide it so everyone working there paid a few dollars a month for the water dispenser.

My biggest gripe about my current employer is that they only provide the cans of generic powdered creamer. Blech. But they do provide cofee, tea, and hot chocolate at no cost. Old job had much better coffee and a variety of creamer flavors in the little cups.

I could go on and on about the differences between working for a revenue producing group and being support staff. It's not just the coffees, it's the outings, the alcohol, the dinners, the parties, etc.

 

[Pakey]

Our company provides bottled water, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, sugar, cream, cups, plates, plastic silverware, etc for the 1500 employees who work at the main facility.

There are vending machines for sodas, gatorade, snacks, sandwiches, ice cream that the employees have to pay for.

 

[kamik86]

I work for a government contractor (so a private company but our customer is the government).

We get free coffee, hot tea, and hot chocolate (little packages that go in a single cup maker, kind of like a Keurig but not Keurig) They have several flavors.

They also provide sugar and a non-dairy creamer although most just bring in milk/half and half/whatever they like and keep some in the fridge.

They also provide hot and cold filtered water, and ice (the newest fridge has an ice maker). As well as the fridges, microwaves etc.

There are vending machines with soda and snacks but there is a group in one office that gets soda in bulk and sells it cheaper (company is fine with this) so not many use the vending machines.

We also have a cafeteria on site although the food is only so-so.

 

[jen0610]

We have a water fountain and that's it.

Every once in a while they will buy pizza on a friday. When we have our 4th of July cook out and Christmas lunch carry in, they will open the pop machine and let every one take a free drink.

But on a daily basis, no freebies here.

 

[Pumbaa_]

water fountain (yes like in the schools) only 'free'beverage

soda in machines is $1.50 a bottle (same price for water)

Cafeteria is pricey - ~$8 for sandwich, beverage ($1.59 there) and chip bag

 

[bettymae1121]

Coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. But the free coffee is so lousy that most people go to the company cafeteria and pay $1.50 for a cup of the good stuff.

My company leases our cafeteria kitchens to an outside catering company and in addition to providing food/drinks for all our in house meetings (we have tons of meetings so this is actualy cost effective for us to do) also sells hot breakfasts and lunches along with a ton of cold and pre-packaged items. Employees have to pay (prices are comparable to a Chiplote or Panera and the quality is pretty decent), but it's subsidized by the company in a round-about way due to the catering side.

In addition to the free coffee/tea/hot cocoa the company has several break rooms with microwaves, refridgerators, and dishwashers so employees can bring and heat up food from home, and wash coffee mugs and other dishes at work. It's pretty handy!

 

[marcemc]

We provide coffee variety (have a Keurig coffee maker), teas & hot cocoa.

For meetings that involved all employees we provide breakfast & when we hire someone new we take everybody out for lunch that day.

 

[Karalea]

I work for a small, privately owned company. We have bottled water,coffee, tea, hot coco & sodas all provided free of charge. These are replenished monthly and if there is a specific flavor you want, you just have to make a note for the delivery guy.

We don't have snacks as such but our candy dish is usally kept full of chocolate at all times as well.