New research shows that company perks like free meals or team outings are more valued by frontline workers such as cashiers or shop assistants than health benefits or gym memberships, and will generate greater company loyalty, better customer service and higher sales.

The study, co-authored by Professor Jens Nordfält of the University of Bath School of Management, examined five categories of company-sponsored wellness benefits - food, social, mindfulness, physical and health - to see which resonated most with customer-facing employees.

Published in the Journal of Marketing Research, the research found food and social programmes helped employees feel more valued and develop a greater sense of loyalty to their employers. Free meals and events like happy hours and company picnics proved highly effective at inspiring workers to deliver better service.

Those workers were more likely to care about their company’s well-being and repay the investment with stronger performance, service quality and customer assistance. Better service, in turn, translated into higher sales, the researchers found.

“Our study showed food had the biggest impact on employee motivation, followed by social gatherings. Mindfulness activities also helped. But physical and health perks like gym memberships or flu-shot drives had the least effect,” said Professor Nordfält, who is also co-director of the Bath Retail Lab.

The researchers found that food benefits had a significant positive impact on sales, while social and mindfulness benefits had marginally positive effects. However, physical wellness benefits were associated with a negative effect on sales.

“The recommendations for any business, small or large, is when you’re having these wellness programs, the ones that foster nourishment and connection have stronger downstream effects on customer-related positive effect,” said the study’s co-author, Professor Dipayan Biswas of the University of South Florida Muma College of Business.

The findings draw on five studies, including a sales study at a large European supermarket chain, that showed wellness benefits tied to food, social interaction and mindfulness boosted annual sales. Biswas said the idea for the research grew out of the rising popularity of wellness programmes. More than 90% of companies worldwide now offer such employee benefits, with global spending projected to top $90 billion a year.

Professor Nordfält added that the study’s findings also pointed to a possible route to reduce food waste in grocery stores.

“Food waste constitutes a serious global problem and one of its major sources is discarded grocery items - instead of discarding aesthetically unattractive foods that many consumers do not buy, stores can provide them as benefits to their employees to make them feel more valued, which in turn might lead to more responsive customer service,” he said.