Are Your Employees Hoarding the Work Snacks? Try This

“People are hoarding the fruit and snacks!” a client told me as we toured their break room. “I saw someone walk away with a handful—more than they could eat in a day—and stash them in their desk drawer.”

This is more common than you might think, and sometimes even happens in our own office. After all, it’s human nature: you’re not ready to eat but you see a snack or fruit you’d like, and you don’t know if it will be there when you come back in a couple of hours, so you take it plus two or three others. And voila, welcome to “snafruhoarding” (the hoarding of snacks and fruit; I’m sure the term will catch on).

So, how can you encourage team members to only take the work snacks they need and leave some for others? I have three suggestions.

1. Rightsize your orders.

Make sure you’re getting the right amount of fruit and snacks for your team. Employee population in the office can vary greatly day-to-day, so if your fruit or snacks are disappearing faster than anticipated, you might need to make some adjustments. If you’re not sure which amount of fruit is right for you, we have this handy chart to help you determine how much fruit you may need based on your headcount.

This chart is just a starting point—if you’re already getting this much fruit and it’s still disappearing, you may want to size up!

2. Adjust your delivery days.

Many of our clients spread their work snack deliveries throughout the week. This ensures they always have plenty of healthy treats to go around. For example, they might get fruit on Mondays and snacks on Wednesdays, or fruit on both days, to ensure a steady supply all week long.

3. Post ‘Be Fair & Share’ signs.

If you have the right quantity of fruit and snacks and your delivery days are working, then you can always leave your team a friendly reminder. We developed “Be Fair & Share” signs specifically for clients who wanted to post something in the break room to encourage team members to just take what they needed. You can download English and Spanish signs for your office here.

If you’d like to adjust your delivery amount or change your delivery days, reach out to customer service at info@fruitguys.com or 877-378-4863. We have a team of real people waiting to serve you Monday–Friday, 6 a.m.–5 p.m. PT.

I hope these steps help prevent snafruhoarding in your office. But if your break room treats are still going fast, consider taking it as a compliment. It means that your team members are enjoying the benefit you chose, and they’re bettering their health and productivity along the way.

Who knows—they may even start getting into the office early on fruit/snack delivery days to get the first pass at your FruitGuys box(es). That’s a snafruhoarding win in my book!