Why culture, not coffee machines, drives employee commitment

When organisations struggle with employee engagement, the first reaction is often to introduce more perks: free snacks, beanbags, coffee machines or occasional team outings/drinks. While all these fancy perks sound cool and look attractive (and tick box exercise down, successfully presented to tells leadership as a solution) they usually fail to address the underlying reasons of disengagement in organisations.

In one of the talks, Simon Sinek insightfully puts it:

“Companies have given up and are now just asking Millennials, what do you want? And so they say, we want free food and bean bags. And guess what? Nothing has changed.”

The problem isn’t the absence of perks — it’s the absence of meaning, empathy and an environment where people feel cared for.

Why perks fail to deliver employee engagement

Perks are easy to implement because they’re visible and measurable. Leaders can point to the new lounge, bowling outing or free pizza Fridays and say, “See, we care about our people.” But perks don’t change the lived experience of employees. They don’t fix toxic management. They don’t build trust.

Example 1 – The bowling night that backfired

 At one client organisation, a manager organised a bowling evening in response to low engagement survey scores. The most disengaged employees — the ones the event was supposed to re-energise –  didn’t even attend. As a result, it was  a fun evening for a few, but no improvement in morale, absenteeism or team cohesion.

Example 2 – coffee vs. flexibility

Another example comes from a large bank. A bank proudly introduced new coffee machines after surveying employees about their preferences. At the same time, they mandated a rigid increase in office attendance from two to four days a week without consultation. For working parents juggling commutes, childcare and etc. that came as a shock. The “perk” of better coffee was irrelevant when flexibility (a true engagement driver) had been stripped away. How does that new coffee brand improve employee engagement while a better perk was taken away? A one-off initiative or a shiny new perk may create a temporary distraction, but it doesn’t fundamentally shift morale or culture.

Engagement is shaped by the environment, not the individual – the Noah example

In the same talk, Simon Sinek tells a story about Noah, a barista who worked in two different hotels — the Four Seasons and Caesars Palace. Same person, same job, completely different attitude depending on the environment.

At the Four Seasons, Noah was upbeat, engaged and genuinely enjoyed serving guests. When Sinek asked him why, Noah replied:

“Throughout the day, managers walk past me and ask me how I’m doing, if I have everything I need to do my job better. Not just my manager — any manager.”

This kind of environment made him feel supported, safe and valued. The result? He delivered an outstanding experience for customers.

Now contrast that with Caesars Palace. There, Noah explained, managers were constantly watching for mistakes and correcting employees. The focus wasn’t on enabling, but on controlling. As Noah put it:

“When I work there, I like to keep my head under the radar and just get through the day to get my paycheck.”

Two radically different outcomes, from the same employee, doing the same work. The difference wasn’t Noah. It was leadership. Employee engagement is not something that individuals bring with them. It is something that leaders either cultivate or destroy through the environment they create.

What HR leaders should prioritise

1. Empathy in leadership

Engagement rises when employees feel seen and understood. As Simon Sinek says:

“Empathy is being concerned about the human being, not just their output.”

Other leaders echo this. Former CEO of PepsiCo, Indra Nooyi, famously wrote letters to the parents of her top executives to thank them for “the gift of their child.” She explained:

“The one thing I have learned as a CEO is that leadership at various levels is vastly dependent on how much you care for people.”

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, transformed the company culture by emphasizing empathy as a core leadership value. He believes that when leaders genuinely listen and understand their employees’ experiences, innovation and engagement naturally follow.

That’s empathy in practice — moving beyond performance metrics to acknowledge the person behind the work.

2. Psychological safety

Teams thrive when people can admit mistakes and ask for help without fear of judgment. But in too many organisations, fear dominates. Sinek points out the contradiction:

“Companies talk about trust and cooperation, then they announce a round of layoffs. Do you know the quickest way to destroy trust in a business? Lay people off. We come to work every day afraid… how can you ever feel safe to admit mistakes when you could be the first to be made redundant?”

In such cultures, people hide errors, fake confidence and avoid risk — because vulnerability could cost them their jobs. True psychological safety means creating an environment where employees know mistakes will lead to learning, not punishment.

3. Recognition and appreciation

Perks may attract attention, but recognition creates lasting commitment.

Think about a waiter at a restaurant. A customer can leave a £5 tip — a tangible reward — and the waiter will appreciate it. But imagine instead that the customer pauses, looks the waiter and says: “Thank you — you made our evening so enjoyable. Your service was outstanding.”

The £5 tip motivates in the moment, but the words of appreciation fuel pride and belonging long after the shift ends. Humans crave being seen and valued — not just compensated.

Behavioral economist Dan Ariely, in Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations book talked about one of his experiments. Participants were asked to complete a simple task: finding pairs of letters on a page. In one condition, when they handed in their sheet, the experimenter looked at it, nodded and set it aside. In another, the experimenter didn’t even glance at it before setting it aside. And in the harshest condition, the sheets were immediately shredded without being reviewed.

The result was that those whose work was acknowledged — even with a mere glance and nod — completed far more sheets than those whose work was ignored. In Ariely’s words:

“Acknowledgment is a surprisingly powerful motivator. Even the smallest sign that someone notices our efforts can dramatically increase our willingness to persist.”

Now compare that to Specsavers’ co-founder, Mary Perkins, who personally handwrites thank-you cards to employees. That small, genuine gesture of appreciation makes people feel noticed and valued in a way no free snack or coffee machine ever could.

4. Sustained cultural investment

Outings and perks can be enjoyable additions, but they only have impact when built on a foundation of trust, care and long-term leadership development. Culture is contagious: place a good employee in a toxic environment and they will eventually become defensive or disengaged; place someone struggling in a supportive, trust-filled culture and you often see them thrive.

Howard Schultz, former CEO of Starbucks invested in healthcare and education for part-time employees was not about flashy benefits but about sending a cultural message: we look after our people. The result was loyalty, advocacy and stronger performance.

Startups often take the opposite approach, relying on extravagant perks — from boutique beverages to in-office entertainment — in the hope of attracting and energising staff. While creative perks are not harmful, they cannot replace the harder work of embedding purpose and values into everyday practice. Culture is not what organisations say, it is what employees consistently experience.

Sustained cultural investment means building an ecosystem that rewards trust, collaboration and care. It grows through daily actions, consistent leadership behaviours and open communication. Perks may generate short-term gratitude, but only culture secures long-term commitment.

Conclusion: Perks don’t build engagement, people do

Free food, new coffee machines and occasional socials may create short-term goodwill, but they do not address the real drivers of engagement. Employees want to feel valued, safe, trusted and recognised. Engagement is built in daily interactions, not in the cafeteria.

As Bree Groff, organisational consultant, has argued, perks often serve to disguise overwork as fun. The future of employee engagement in UK workplaces lies not in surface-level benefits but in creating environments of empathy, psychological safety, appreciation and cultural consistency.

HR professionals need help educate leaders to stop masking disengagement with perks. They need to invest in people instead.

At Accelerator, we help businesses create workplaces where people feel valued, supported and motivated.

If your organisation is ready to move past short-term perks and invest in long-term engagement, get in touch with us today.