FLAVIA CREATION 200

Enjoy café-style espresso in the comfort of your own home.

If you entertain frequently, have clients in your home office or run a small company, this machine is perfect.

It has the capacity to serve coffee for up to 49 people, but is compact and only heats the water for individual cups.

Combined with its energy-saver mode, it won't boil away all your electricity.

What's more, there are tea and hot chocolate sachets for use in the machine too.

Words: Aimee Chan
Photo: Gerald Goh Photography

(hint: it just might be the coffee.)

And we’d like to raise a cup in their honour. Because in 2011, 1 in 4 of these companies chose our Mars Drinks Single Serve System, which offers Alterra Coffee Roasters^TM coffees, The Bright Tea Company^TM teas and Dove® Hot Chocolate, all delivered through the FLAVIA® coffee and hot drinks maker. We're glad to know that our office-only coffee service is helping to keep their employees engaged, productive, happy and connected.

Of course, we're not saying that our coffee alone makes the working experience an extraordinary one. But we’d like to think it plays a part. And we’re proud to find ourselves in such distinguished company.

Looking to reduce turnover and keep productivity humming at the office? Here are some strategies from Richard Hays, managing partner of Alston & Bird that can help.

1. Have fun together.
Aside from employee sports teams, Hays says, Alston & Bird staffers have come together to build more than a dozen Habitat for Humanity houses. That sort of teamwork serves to reinforce how well employees deal with one another, Hays says.

2. Don’t overlook the details.
Little things mean a lot. Respecting individual tastes is key. Offering stress-busters like Flavia Hot Drinks single-service system’s coffees and teas in the office break room, and chair massages 24/7, conveys to workers that you care, says Hays. Having a meeting place to connect is also appreciated.

3. Acknowledge that workers have a life outside the office.
Even the most dedicated employees can wilt under the strain of work. Hays says Alston & Bird offers perks that make life easier, such as a child care center located at company headquarters and restaurant-quality dining options.

Alston & Bird keeps its law staff happy and motivated by offering incentives—everything from on-site massages to cappuccinos.

There is a growing belief among management experts that happy employees are a company’s most potent competitive advantage.

It makes sense: If employees believe you care about them and what makes them happy, aren’t they more likely to care about your customers?

Richard Hays, managing partner of Alston & Bird, certainly thinks so. The law firm—one of the largest in Atlanta, USA —has a history dating back more than a century and employs nearly 1,000 attorneys across nine offices in the U.S. and one in Brussels. For the past 12 years it has been named to Fortune’s list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, a first among law firms.