The Role of Coffee Culture and Coffee Breaks in the Workplace

This bachelor’s thesis examines the role of coffee culture and coffee breaks in the corporate environment of an automotive company. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate the role of coffee culture and coffee breaks in a selected automotive company and to determine how they relate to subjectively perceived work productivity, interpersonal relationships, and employee well-being. The research was conducted in two departments of a specific automotive company: logistics and engine development. Data collection took the form of a quantitative online questionnaire. Statistical analysis indicates that employees with creative job roles report a greater decline in productivity when they skip coffee; at the same time, the data suggest that they perceive a stronger link between alertness and coffee consumption than employees in logistics. In the area of social capital, the data suggest that informal conversations positively correlate with the perception of teamwork; however, the mere existence of shared spaces does not necessarily lead to their occurrence. The data also suggest that effective recovery and improvements in subjective productivity do not depend primarily on the frequency of micro-breaks, but rather on their sufficient duration. The study concludes with specific recommendations for practice in the examined departments of the automotive company.