While some previously-held opinions state coffee breaks may not do a lot for work performance, the huge number of businesses incorporating coffee machines into the office seems to suggest the contrary.
Various studies have suggested just the act of taking a coffee break helps to recharge and re-focus workers, meaning they achieve more in a shorter time. Across a wide range of industries managers also report that elements such as team building and culture change are vastly helped when colleagues spend time enjoying a quick break over coffee.
This view is shared by Ricoh New Zealand. Marketing Manager, Murray Clark, says the installation of Nespresso Business Solutions machines in their new building in Auckland's CBD had a noticeable effect on staff.
"In our old building in Parnell, we had a coffee machine no one liked much. It used powdered milk and the beans used were not popular, so most people tended to go out to buy coffee.
"When we were moving into our new building, we wanted to provide a positive working environment - and the Nespresso business machines were part of that. We thought providing café-quality coffee would be valuable to our people - and that's how it's proved.
Ricoh says they're investing in their staff and believe they deserved quality. This is demonstrated in the new machines and the response from their employees has been a positive one.
"In the old Ricoh building, the default for many people was to eat at their desks, drinking coffee in their own business areas, their silos," says Clark. "Now our staff go into the cafes within our building - we regularly see admin people having coffee and lunch with technical and sales staff; that would seldom have happened in the old building."
That kind of organic team-building and enhanced culture shows how coffee breaks help build job satisfaction. An employer who cares enough about staff wellbeing to provide good coffee is already on the way to being regarded as a good place to work.
Clark says Ricoh staff are also often surprised when they visit other workplaces and find no coffee machines: "That makes them appreciate they are being well looked after and that not everyone is treated as well as they are.
"New Zealand has a really strong coffee culture, stronger than many other countries and they realise when they see other companies' set-ups that they are working in a five-star, green-rated building, employed by a sustainable business and have good coffee. That has to be good, not just for productivity but also staff wellbeing."
Clark says there have been definite changes since the machines have been installed: "We are not clock-watchers or anything like that but, when people went out to get coffee, it could take them up to 15 minutes just to stand in a queue, get served and back to the office.
"Now it is quick and easy to get a café-style cappuccino, flat white, latte, short black, long black...whatever. It saves them money which they can put towards parking or transport - and they have a quality product at their fingertips."
Nespresso New Zealand's Country Manager, John Ciaglia, says the company delivers the same quality coffee Kiwis enjoy at home, but in the workplace: "We know New Zealand is a discerning coffee market. Nespresso Business Solutions allow employers to provide the highest quality coffee options to staff and customers - and the Ricoh experience demonstrates what a difference that can make."