Does breaking bread together make for better co-workers?
It happens every work day at the same time: a wallmounted bell dings and a roomful of people begin stepping away from work tables and computers and casually making their way to an airy dining hall.
It’s 12:30 p.m. and the start of the lunch hour at East Liberty-based language software company Duolingo. Rich benefit packages and free meals are not unusual at startup companies, where attracting and keeping a highly specialized workforce is a priority.
Duolingo stands out in its belief that people who eat together work better together. The company provides chef-prepared meals and a shared break during the workday to build a cohesive workplace culture.
And a more cohesive work culture can start with pan-seared duck breast, clam chowder or teriyaki pork loin, stir-fried bok choy or tacos. Work start times vary according to personal preference at the 6-year-old company, but everyone is encouraged to spend lunch with coworkers, and judging by a recent visit, few decline the offer.
Duolingo co-founder Luis von Ahn, a Guatemala native, said family meals were a “huge part of my upbringing, the most important part of the day,” which influenced his decision to make workplace meals a practice. Sharing lunch began with the founding of the company.
Engaged employees are more productive, research has shown, and sharing lunch is a way for employees to bond.
A 2013 study by Harvard Business Analytic Services, for example, found that a “highly engaged workforce can increase innovation, productivity and bottom line performance while reducing costs related to hiring and retention in highly competitive talent markets … Without exception, at the foundation of every successful business are engaged employees.”
At Duolingo, time shared getting to know coworkers over a meal is also part of a strategy to create a family-friendly environment.
And family members are allowed to join employees at lunch. Free take-out evening meals from the lunch buffet are also available, and meals are ordered out for employees who work past 7 p.m.
“It’s awesome,” said Natalia Castillejo, a 23-year-old product manager. “I really know everyone’s name, something about everyone.”
Other companies have used food as a way to foster teamwork and collaboration. Pine Township software company Lucas Systems Inc., which was founded in 1998, provides occasional free pizza lunches on the condition that employees eat with someone they don’t know.
Lucas CEO W.R. “Rick” Brown attributed his company’s 50 percent annual growth in recent years to a positive work culture, created partly by personal relationships built over pizza. Duolingo, which is not yet profitable, has raised $83.3 million in venture capital and has more than 170 million users of its products worldwide, including a video game-like app for cellphones.
Researchers who have looked
at the benefits of eating together in the workplace, which is called commensality, found that it fostered teamwork.
A 2015 Cornell University research paper that appeared in the journal Human Performance looked at firehouses, where meals are shared. The research concluded the “informal tradition of workplace commensality within firefighting units is significantly and positively associated with team performance.”
Free, shared lunches have been a Duolingo tradition since the beginning and it continues, even though the workforce has reached about 70 people, mostly in Pittsburgh.
“It started at the very beginning, when there were only four of us,” Mr. von Ahn said. “It has always been me pushing for this. You have to make enough room to each lunch. I think it really brings people together.”