Member Article

Food for thought: Equivalent of 40 million ‘meal deals’ stolen in UK office kitchens in last year

• New research estimates that the equivalent of 40 million meal deals, or 3 meal deals per office worker, were stolen within UK offices during the last year*

• Almost half of office workers have had their food stolen by colleagues in the past 12 months

• A quarter of office workers think that ’revenge theft’ is an effective way of dealing with food items being stolen

21 November 2018: The equivalent of 40 million* meal deals have been stolen from UK office kitchens in the last year, according to new figures released by serviced office specialists, Workthere.

The research, conducted by independent research agency Sapio, found that almost half (46%) of the UK’s estimated 12.5m office workforce have been a victim of food theft in the last 12 months, with an estimated £121m** worth of food stolen from the relative safety of the office. Men have borne the brunt of the activity, losing 25% more than their female colleagues.

With food theft a prevalent threat to office harmony, what steps are co-workers taking to protect their food? Top of the list (57%) is labelling food with names so no one is a faceless victim to the thieves. Taking it one step further, 47% say that attaching light-hearted sticky-notes addressing the would-be assailants is also a good way to put them off. However, while some may wish to avoid face-to-face encounters through scribbled notes, potential office thieves should be aware that as many as 44% of their colleagues would confront the main suspect directly.

A considerable amount of office workers also do not seem to shy away from more extreme measures: almost a third (32%) believe an effective way to prevent snack-theft is by booby-trapping the food (e.g. shaking fizzy drinks pre-opening), while 31% think that installing CCTV cameras would do the trick. Additionally, nearly a quarter (23%) take an ‘eye-for-an-eye’ approach, saying revenge theft is the best protection method.

The most effective ways to protect food against office thieves: Named labels on boxes - 57% Hiding your food- 52% Funny, light-hearted sticky note - 47% Confronting the suspect directly - 44% Locking tupperware - 41%

Cal Lee, Head of Workthere, said: “Office food theft is closely connected to a sense of ‘anonymity’ in the office, where treating the office fridge as a self-service bar is almost seen as a victimless offence. In that sense, these numbers tell us a lot more about a work environment than we would immediately think.

“We can see some interesting initiatives to overcome the challenge of this disconnect among colleagues, especially from serviced office providers. Here, the focus is on creating a sense of community and belonging among the people who work alongside each other day in and day out. This starts with communal food items being provided, such as cereal, milk and even free beer in some cases.”

NOTES: Research was conducted with 1,013 UK Office Workers, through independent research agency, Sapio.

*This estimate was calculated by dividing the overall value stolen (£121m) by the average cost of a UK supermarket meal-deal, which is £3 (as seen in Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda & Morrisons).

**This figure is based on the mean £-value of food items stolen from office workers in the last year. It assumes that there are 12.5m office workers in the UK (see below).

The amount of UK office workers was based on the latest ONS statistics on the number of full-time employees in the following professions:

Managers, Directors and Senior Officials Natural and Social Science Professionals Engineering Professionals Information Technology and Telecommunications Professionals Research and Development Managers Conservation and Environment Professionals Legal Professionals Business, Research and Administrative Professionals Architects, Town Planners and Surveyors Quality and Regulatory Professionals Media Professionals Design Occupations Transport Associate Professionals Legal Associate Professionals Business, Finance and Related Associate Professionals Sales, Marketing and Related Associate Professionals Public Services and Other Associate Professionals Administrative and Secretarial Occupations Customer Service Managers and Supervisors

The data set on the number of UK full-time employees can be accessed at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/employmentbyoccupationemp04 (released 16 August 2017)

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This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sally Jee .