When you lift that first cup o’ Joe this morning, give thanks to Kaldi the Ethiopian goat herder who made graveyard shifts possible. Without his accidental discovery centuries ago, 43 per cent of your colleagues at work would be less productive.
Pause for a moment to take in the heady aroma of furans, pyrazines, carbonyl, and alicycliin compounds, and the other ingredients that give coffee its distinctive aroma. Then drink up, and just because it’s National Coffee Day, have a cup more than the statistical average of 3.1.
You’ll have plenty of company. The National Coffee Association says 56 percent of Americans drink at least one cup a day.
If you have a donut with that coffee, make it a Dunkin’ Donuts in recognition of the company’s work with CareerBuilder to unearth the coffee drinking practices of America’s workforce. Without its survey, how would you know that 40 percent of American workers aged 18 to 24 say they can’t concentrate as well without coffee. Or that 43 percent of 18 to 34 year-old workers have lower energy without that cup of coffee.
What types of workers most need coffee? Nurses, physicians, hotel workers, designers/architects, and insurance and financial sales people. The survey has 12 occupations listed.
So recruiters, especially those of you in healthcare, don’t neglect the coffee bene when talking company culture. Armed with this survey, and the finding from the National Coffee Association that recession or not, gourmet coffee consumption is on the rise, you might also use that seat at the table to pitch broadening the choices in the breakroom. Look what free coffee did for Starbucks.