{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"The Power of Cheese","description":"On this week's Keepin It Real, Cam and a client discuss employee retention issues and he shares and idea that may get you through any business turmoil that may lie ahead.  ----- On a call with an upcoming client this week I was discussing one of their challenges. They\u2019re having a hard time recruiting and retaining young talent. \u201cBut here\u2019s something we did recently,\u201d my client said, \u201cthat may have some sort of impact. We added a snack pantry to the office kitchen and it\u2019s been a huge hit.\u201d "Tell me more," I said. \u201cWell,\u201d she said. \u201cOur young employees know they should have health insurance, and they do, and they know they should have a 401k, which they do. But neither of those items are very important to young people who seldom need those things right now. They\u2019re like a boxes that needs to be checked \u2013 and they are - but they aren\u2019t very fun. So, we decided to add something that our young employees could use right now. We added a snack panty and included a new refrigerator.\u201d She said, \u201cI fill the pantry each week with new and different snacks. Some healthy and some not healthy. They love it and have told me so.\u201d Other than people happily snacking in the kitchen, I asked, has there been any other benefit? I mean a snack pantry and a new refrigerator is a high price to pay just to get happy snackers. \u201cWe invested in a fancy coffee maker,\u201d she said. \u201cIt grinds the beans for each cup and it can make hot chocolate. It takes a moment or two to make each cup. In the kitchen we added an island. And while people are waiting for their coffee, they stand around the island and talk.\u201d I reminded her that during the pandemic, a big complaint from corporate types was that creativity in the workplace was taking a hit due to a lack of spontaneous interactions. There are no spontaneous interactions over Zoom or on a Teams call. Bumping into someone and catching up often stimulates new ideas and there are buckets of business school case studies about this. The Pixar movie Toy Story, in fact, was supposed to be as good as it was due to Pixar people and Apple people chatting in common areas when they were making the movie and shared office space. They\u2019d bump into each other and talk about the plot. \u201cThat\u2019s happening,\u201d she said. \u201cAround the island, they catch up with each other and discuss their work and projects. It\u2019s become an unexpected benefit of the snack kitchen. We\u2019d be foolish to shoo them away or hurry them back to their desks.\u201d Back in the day the tech companies offered pinball machines and foosball tables in break rooms? Remember this? I thought that was crazy. Could it be, though, that this iPhone in my hand was conceived by two workers standing next to each other at a foosball table discussing an idea that eventually led to this phone? And could it be that the next major business breakthrough comes from a pack of string cheese you put in the office fridge and then sent a Teams message that read \u201cFree string cheese in the fridge. Please help yourself.\u201d Worried about tariffs? Worried about a recession? Consider the potential of string cheese. It\u2019s an idea so powerful you\u2019d think it originated in Washington DC. I\u2019m Cam Marston and I\u2019m just trying to Keep It Real. ","author_name":"Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston","author_url":"https:\/\/cammarston.com\/keepin-it-real-with-cam-marston\/","html":"