In a previous post, we wrote about our top tips for surviving—and thriving—in the busy season. We discussed the importance of delegating, staying organized, setting boundaries, taking a mindful moment to yourself and keeping your team well-fed.

In most professional services industries, the busy time of year is around the holidays and in the new year until spring. Professionals often work 60-hour weeks—long into the evening and weekends. They’re often crunching numbers, slamming coffee and eating something quick (and likely unhealthy) alone at their desks.

Health and wellness take a backseat. But do they have to? If there’s just one thing that a firm or company can do for its staff, it’s keeping them well-fed with good, healthy food at work.

The importance of staff meals during the busy season

If two firms are similar to work for, but one provides free overtime family-style meals every night during the busy season and the other doesn’t (or sometimes orders a pizza delivery that takes hours to arrive)—where would you prefer to work? One quick look at employee reviews of various companies in the professional services industry and you’ll see that how well a firm deals with the busy season is often what sets them apart.

But beyond just attracting and retaining top talent with perks like free overtime meals, having a well-fed team keeps them from burning out—and getting sick, overstressed, unproductive and disengaged as a result. Free meals are easy enough to organize ahead-of-time and go a long way among overworked employees.

So why not lessen the intensity, stress and physical and mental toll on staff with great food at work? Check out our blog post on the importance of staff meals—and what companies can learn from the restaurant industry’s increasingly popular tradition—if you need more convincing.

How to keep your team healthy during the busy season

Instead of racking your frizzled, busy-season brain for unhealthy, greasy spoon take-out ideas every night (when your employees are already losing steam and can’t wait for deliveries) plan ahead. You already know that your team is working overtime for the next few days, weeks, or even months, so why not meal plan?

Throw in a few fun menu item options for weekend nights, warming soups and stews throughout the week, pepper in a few healthy salads and have a few “world foods” nights where you sample different Greek, Italian, Indian, American and Japanese foods, for example, that your city has to offer. Then rotate and try something entirely different the following week. Order family-style meals where team members can try a variety of foods or get them to choose exactly what they want.

Do the same with breakfasts, lunches, coffees, snacks and treats during the busy season in your office too. Why not sample different coffees from various cafes in your city? Get employees to vote on their favourite. Sometimes, it’s the little things that make a difference in boosting happiness and keeping the energy flowing. After all, you’re all in this together, so why not stop and acknowledge this by sharing a team meal, taking a break and having a laugh (or cry and vent) during this crazy time of year?

Here’s a shameless plug, but Foodee can help you out here. Foodee is a corporate catering company that only partners with local mom n’ pop style restaurants. No chains or super-fast food. No wasteful catering containers full of bad food. No more soggy brown bag lunches or day-old muffins. Only the best your city has to offer. Healthy, homemade meals for your team.

And here’s the best part. You can plan months, weeks or days ahead-of-time and have your team meals delivered to your office within a 15-minute delivery window. All you have to do is order for your team and choose a delivery date and time. Done.

Or, you can choose the restaurant and budget and get your team members to order their meals by a certain date. They can decide if they’re going to need an overtime meal and choose what they want. Then, they’ll have something delicious to look forward to.

Check out this recent blog post we wrote on how to order with Foodee. Or, go to www.food.ee to see which local restaurants we’re serving up in your city.

Plan your entire busy season’s worth of overtime meals and say goodbye to worrying about meals—or keeping your team happy and healthy—in the thick of your office’s crunch time.