SMART WORK, SMART BREAK, SMART COFFEE

Preferences, needs and ways of working change, which becomes smarter.

But even in office 3.0 there is always one thing that will never be missing: coffee and its break.

Office 3.0

is multifunctional, eco-sustainable, agile and full of technologies. A place where you can go willingly and that increases people’s satisfaction, which evolves more and more in the direction of people’s needs and hospitality, with a boost to the “work life balance”, or else the ways that can facilitate the reconciliation of personal and working life.

An Accenture Interactive survey goes further: in the workplace of the future (not too far away) innovative ways of working emerge, capable of stimulating well-being and productivity. The workplace tends to reproduce the feeling of home to encourage dialogue and cooperation, thus consolidating interpersonal relationships, even during breaks.

It does not mean working less, but working better.

On the other hand, we know that performance, productivity and professional satisfaction are factors influenced by well-being.

In this context of well-being and productivity, spaces dedicated to activities not strictly working, such as break, entertainment and comfort areas for detaching and relaxing, grow within the office. Cozy areas in which the coffee break promotes the exchange of opinions and points of view, develops creativity and acts as a counterpart to the moment of work in the classic sense, when sitting at a desk.

If on the one hand the workplace reproduces the feeling of home, with the smart working, on the other hand, the home reproduces the feeling of office.

Smart working

Born for women who had to look after children at home, from an exclusive and almost elitist condition, it has become a plus for many companies and in a few years it will become the common feature of millions of workers.

The COVID-19 emergency made Italy discover working from home and working remotely which allowed productivity to flourish and perhaps turned this historical moment into a catalyst of accelerating the process of digitization of work.

The data say that smart working productivity increases by 40%.

But smart working is also a cultural change that presupposes the ability to adapt to liquid life as a smart worker.

The real challenge is to have the same level of concentration and mindset that you have in the office.

Even if there are no “instructions for use” that apply to everyone, in the apparent freedom and self-management of agile work, in order to always be able to keep the quality bar high, to achieve the objectives set by the company over established time and ways, in short, to remain the professionals we are, escaping the tentacles of an “extra-office life”, and at the same time avoiding the inverse fate of ending up crushed by a sense of duty, it is essential to establish rules.

Smart working survival manuals agree on:

1. times: a beginning and an end to be clearly established immediately.
   Sometimes staying at home makes time dilate and you don’t understand when you stop working. It is therefore necessary to concentrate, aligning with the others on the team and stop working when established.
   However, reserving the possibility of remodeling times according to the needs of the moment (there will always be a washing machine that finishes the spin cycle, the children to be recovered, the shopping to be done, the dishwasher technician who determines by himself when it is time to an intervention, a long personal phone call and so on). If not, what advantage would there be?
2. spaces: dedicated and organized, where you can put everything related to work, to avoid confusing personal time and professional time, and to make us feel in an office different from the usual, only more familiar.
3. dress code: sometimes the form is important and plays its part. It serves to communicate to body and mind that the day has started and that we are at work (even if physically at home).
   In addition, dressing appropriately and being found neat “at the desk” is always a good business card during digital meetings, conference calls and video calls.
4. objectives: there will be interruptions, calls from colleagues, e-mails to face or provide answers to managers or collaborators. So let’s avoid unnecessary and unreachable “to do” lists.
   Because after all, smart working is only a tool, a useful method to help us better balance professional and private life, not a derogation from constant discussion with other team members or with their managers. Necessary and precious relationships which, if properly cared for, still require time and energy.
5.  mode: unplug from digital life, silence our devices and leave notifications to try not to get distracted by social networks and Whatsapp. In the end we are the ones to pay for it.
6. breaks: take breaks away from the work station, changing rooms if you can, because you really have to unplug it for a few minutes, to then resume work even more charged and productive.
   After all, as in the office the need for a coffee leads us to take a break at the vending machine, even in smart working you have to take one (or more) coffee breaks.

The office changes, the ways of working change.

And so the moment of the coffee break evolves too

an increasingly occasion for personal and work exchange.

Remaining an essential ritual.
In fact, 2 of the 3 coffees consumed on average every day are drunk at work or during working hours.

There are many researches that support it: the coffee break is no longer considered a waste of time but, rather, a moment that helps to aggregate ideas and confront, increase productivity and work better.

Coffee is good for the job (without exaggerating). According to the European Food Safety Authority, those 75mg of caffeine (what is in a cup) have a concrete effect on productivity: you actually are more awake with greater concentration.

To the point that perhaps we should not even talk about a “break” anymore because the coffee moment is a return to the ritual, an energizing push that gives new (sustainable) gas to start again.

In short, if corporate and professional well-being could be measured in coffee breaks, we would be a people with chronic happiness.

A quality coffee helps the working well-being

In the coffee break we are increasingly looking for variety of choice, premium quality (also understood as the possibility of customization) and we are increasingly attentive to sustainability.

Whatever your coffee break is like, no matter if at office or in smart working, SpecialCoffee has thought of many ways in which to give a special flavour to every break, with everything you need to make the most of it thus meeting everyone’s needs and tastes.

• Fine blends of coffee beans, in which the organoleptic properties of the coffee remain intact right up to delivery, to offer a high quality espresso.
• The coffee pods, produced with the utmost care and attention, with something for everyone’s tastes, everywhere.
• The blends of ground coffees to rediscover the pleasure of making coffee with the moka pot and waiting for the aroma to flood the home.

A good coffee makes a difference. It allows a bit of me-time filled with good taste.

This is the art of the perfect break. Because a coffee break is a special moment to take time out for a few minutes of relaxation, a chat with colleagues, and replenish your energy levels so you’re ready to start again.

And if there are no colleagues in smart working, why not organize coffee breaks in a #socialdistancing video call while enjoying your own customized coffee?