Forget cakes in the office – it’s home workers we should be worried about

There has been a lot of chatter about office cake in recent days, after a po-faced interjection by the chair of the Food Standards Agency, Professor Susan Jebb.

Professor Jebb, apparently speaking in a personal capacity – lest it be thought her po-facedness were the result of having been institutionalised – expressed concern that regular office treats are impossible for workers to resist and thus have a detrimental impact on Britain’s obesity problem. She even went on to make a comparison with passive smoking, at least insofar as the choices of one individual (the cake-bringer) affect the health of others (the helpless cake-scoffers). Mr Kipling would be spinning in his grave, had he not been invented by an exceedingly good marketing executive.

The professor’s call to stop the endless supply of goodies has divided opinion. Those who agree have noted that our apparent inability to keep our hands out of a communal box of biscuits is as much to do with politeness as gluttony. After all, if someone brings in a gloopy gateau to mark their birthday, one can’t possibly say no to a modest slice or three. In this version, we have a collective responsibility to look after the health of the nation.

The critics, on the other hand, regard Jebb’s comments as pure nanny-statism. On the basis that all individuals must take responsibility for their own actions, those who eat cake cannot simply place their ills at the door of those who have shoved the sticky sponge into their greedy faces. And in any case, shared treats in the office can help to solidify relationships between colleagues, which must surely be preferable to back-biting between hangry desk mates.

What’s more, the cost of living crisis means that for some junior staff, a slice of Colin the Caterpillar is their heartiest meal of the day – especially if they’re lucky enough to get an end piece. Providing free sustenance to the Gen Zs who spend their entire income on rent and Netflix is the least any respectful boomer can do.

All good points of course, and as someone who finds all sweet treats hard to resist, I understand where the good professor is coming from. Then again, I’ll also hoover up curling sandwiches left over from someone else’s meeting: waste not, want not and all that.

Yet the debate has been missing a key element. In this post-pandemic age of hybrid working, how are the WFH brigade getting on? Depending on their point of view, they might be feeling jolly sad about missing out on the semi-stale buns that Sharon the accountant brought in to mark her 40th. Alternatively, they might be wildly relieved that they aren’t being force-fed Brian the foreman’s leftover Christmas choccies, and are instead feeling the healthiest they’ve ever been.

But critically, what have they got in their own cupboards and fridges? Last May, a long-forgotten prime minister, Boris Johnson, tried to encourage people to get back to the office by suggesting it was far too easy to be distracted by cheese and coffee when working at home. Echoing Professor Jebb’s concerns, Boris was clearly anxious about the challenge of resisting scrummy delights, although it wasn’t clear whether espresso and stilton were the former PM’s cake replacement, or merely a final course in a long break from actual work.

I cannot deny that on the days I work at home, I am just as likely to snack as I would be if faced with a tin of office biscuits. There will be a chocolate digestive at 10.30 with coffee, maybe a few squares of fruit and nut after lunch, and any baked goods are unlikely to be left unmolested by the end of the day. The only difference is that I really do have nobody to blame but myself for making these sugary items available.

Ultimately, most of us have a gazillion opportunities to eat, drink or otherwise consume things that are not good for us during the course of our lives – either at work or otherwise. Naughty treats are put in front of us by family, friends, colleagues, business acquaintances, advertisers and shop owners among other people. Even if we heeded Jebb’s advice and ditched office cake, I suspect most of us would find our sugar fixes elsewhere.

So, when it comes to treats at work, let them bring cake I say. And I’ll either eat it, or nibble on some pie from the fridge to make up for the fact that I’m working from home.