Self-care apps and the need for employees to pause, eat and relax

We recently conducted research, in partnership with loyalty provider Yoyo, into the challenges that corporate canteens are facing. With the majority of employees spending a considerable proportion of their lives working and assuming a full-time worker sleeps for eight hours each night and a 40-hour working week, this means people spend half of their waking day at work. For most, the lunch break represents an opportunity in the middle of the day to pause, eat and relax.

In our ‘always-connected’ world, switching off is becoming increasingly difficult. And what it shows is that the lunch hour could be something much more powerful than a quick chance to grab some food.

The growth of self-care apps

The emergence of self-care apps is one of the best indicators of our growing desire to find some peace and calm in our busy, digital lives.

Calm and Headspace are two of the biggest apps focusing on wellbeing and meditation. With millions of downloads worldwide, workers are effectively using the cause of some of their stress to help alleviate it. In the first quarter of 2018, the top 10 grossing self-care apps in the U.S. earned $27 million in worldwide revenue.

Even the iPhone’s new Screen Time feature is built around the idea of helping users to manage and limit the amount of time they spend on their phone. Time limits can be set for certain apps, and it’s seen by commentators as a reaction to the growing criticism that smartphones are making many of us too connected.

The importance of the lunch hour
The lunch hour has an incredibly important role to play in helping employees to switch off. With employees reachable around-the-clock through their devices, the lunch hour could be an opportunity to genuinely disconnect. Whether that’s through a self-care app, reading a book, chatting or listening to music, we’re likely to see a growing thirst to pause, eat and relax.

According to our research:

• Only 19% of people they say they want to get more work done at lunchtime
• At the moment UK workers are sociable: More than half of UK workers (56%) say they spend their lunch break socialising with colleagues or friends and 30% say they would like to socialise more
• Across the UK 44% of workers say they read a book or magazine during their lunch break at the moment and 34% say they would read more if they could
• When workers were asked how they would prefer to spend their lunch break, 60% said they would like to do something active, either walking (38%), running errands (32%), or going to the gym (31%)

Corporate canteens are perfectly placed to accommodate this trend to switch off more at lunchtime. But to do so, they need to make ordering food as quick, seamless and simple as possible. That results in less stress for employees, and less stress for you.

Download our report to find out more corporate catering trends.

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