Employees tend to have their level of productivity peak when their employer makes provision for a nice and comfy break room.
It's simply natural for these workers to have a go-to place where they can take a breather and get energized ahead of their next task. After all, consistent work with little or no rest is detrimental to our health.
All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. It's no rocket science.
Employees need to bring the best out of their free time, and that's only possible with an all-inclusive break room.
Irrespective of whatever name you call it - whether a common room, café, eatery, bistro, or break room - all that matters is that it's a place for your employees to link up during their free time, relax, bond, and get fresh air.
To make sure no one is left behind, it will be a great idea if you can go the extra mile by asking your staff how they want the break room to look like. That'll give you a clue of how to go about it.
Let's flow through this piece together as we give you quick tips on making your staff relaxed and refreshed while still at work.
Fantastic Workplace Ideas For the New Year
Have you noticed that your break room is becoming unappealing and boring? Or does it not exude that aura of a relaxation area? Or your workplace has no break room at all? Then, this piece is just exactly for you.
If you think the first two questions apply to you, your break area needs a touch of redesigning. You need to give it a brand new look - one that entices.
Never forget that when you take time to create a break room at your workplace, you are indirectly spending on your employees and spending on your employees, in the real sense of it, is spending on yourself. So, it's worth the stress.
This article has you covered even if you want to set the break room right from scratch. Our team has compiled some fantastic workplace ideas as the new year comes closer. All you need to do is closely follow through.
Provide Coffee and Refreshments
What is a break room without a coffee maker?
Your office break room has to be fully equipped with not just a coffee maker but one that covers each employee's coffee preferences. This needs to be made available without creating a mess of milk discharges.
Getting a caffeine dose will also be a spirit lifter. It will go a long way to get them recharged.
You can get a cabinet and fill it with nourishing snacks that will put your employees at their best level of productivity throughout the day.
We recommend that you fill up your snack bar with protein bars and healthy items like apples, bananas, oranges, and other fruits your employees want.
Include a Fully-equipped Kitchen
Now that you've made provision for coffee and refreshments, it'll be nice to retouch your kitchen. All the kitchen cabinets in the office need to be stocked or restocked with necessary consumables.
You can also set up a station for liquid refreshments in the kitchen. That way, you're offering a myriad of consumable choices to your employees, and there's no better way to show that you truly care about them than that.
While setting up the kitchen, you can also include a recycle bin. This will send a loud and clear message that, as the management, you are very serious about sustainability and ecology generally.
Add a Bookshelf
Is your organization one that promotes and encourages a learning culture? Then, it'll be a nice supplement if you can spice up your break room with a bookshelf or mini-library.
You might be probably wondering if this is necessary. Follow through the following lines to get the puzzle solved.
It's expected that employees will naturally want to stretch their wings during their free time, so adding a bookshelf will serve that purpose.
A bookshelf or mini library is also an avenue to improve and develop your employees' skills.
It doesn't have to be stocked with books that directly relate to your line of work as an organization. At all.
As an employer, you owe your workers the duty of exposing them to activities that'll make them explore the complexity and diversity of the world through impacting books. Books will work like magic here.
Work on Decor
The break room is originally meant to be innovative. You get to share ideas and rub minds with your colleagues, and that's a sure way to become innovative.
But why not make the break room itself do the talking? All you need to do is integrate and reintegrate the room with the goals of the organization company through a simple but creative decor.
This is where the aesthetics of the room pop out and, in turn, become more attractive. You can paint the room with bright colors with a touch of artwork.
You can be more vocal by making the decor a little bit humorous. The key here is to unleash your creativity and do the magic. After all, a shared joke is the strongest magnet that brings people together.
Encourage Relaxation
You need to understand this idea while setting up a break room. Some employees do not want to socialize or make new friends during their free time. They want to relax.
The break room needs to be built in such a way that encourages relaxation. It doesn't have to be too formal or informal. Balance it.
Some might like to sit or lay down their back. So, this is why the seating arrangement in the room needs to accommodate every employee's choice or preference.
You can get reclining seats, couches, sleep pods, hammocks, benches, yoga mats, and others to make this easier. If you can afford it, stationary bikes will also be a huge advantage to the work environment.
You can also include some games and ensure that the network connection is not unstable. This will freshen up their brain and set their productivity at the highest pace.
What do you think about having some plants in the room?
That's fantastic and inspiring. With plants added to the room, the environment will give some fresh air and pleasantness that'll make the staff feel at home and refreshed.
You also need to encourage that state of calm and serenity. The entire room should be reeking of tranquility through special scents. Lilac will perfectly do the job here.
Create a Napping Area
The break room at your workplace needs to be comfy and conducive - enough for your employees to take a nap conveniently.
This is where employees who want some quiet time to relax and meditate come into play. Never forget that the idea is to ensure no employee is left with his need(s) uncatered for, so the break room should be napping-friendly.
You need to ensure that the walls are soundproof enough to reduce the noise level to the barest minimum. Also, there must be consistent efforts to keep the room clean and sanitized at every point in time. Cleanliness, they say, is next to godliness.
It's a break room, not an actual office or cubicle, so it'll be a great idea if the lighting is not too bright to prevent the staff from comfortably closing their eyes. The lighting should be dim.
Shake Things Up
You should consider if you'd like to change the room's outlook. It might be a simple but creative change from contemporary and office-like decors to the festive spirit.
Now that the new year is around the corner, the best time is here.
To make the quality pop out well, you can use traffic-pulling words to explain the goals and objectives of the company. Just imagine how impressive it will be to give info through a space decked out with imaginative decors. You can feel that, right?
With this idea, the break room will become a point of contact to keep visitors informed about the company's updates or future announcements. At the same time, employees will be glued to the creative touches and colors.
You need to ensure that none of the walls is left empty. You can fill them up with photographs from the company's previous activities like team project presentations, corporate retreats, dinners, team lunches, among others.
Hanging on the wall, these photographs will be there to remind you anytime you enter the room how much fun you and your team had while together. They will remind you how loving and inspiring the team members are.
Allow for Personalization
This is one of the most creative and significant office break room ideas you will ever come across.
Dedicating a considerable portion of the break room to your team's works, the display comes with a relishing and pleasing effect.
You can also tell your employees to include photos of their colleagues and families in the collection. The effect of this singular action is that the break room becomes a home far away from home for your staff.
While personalizing these remarks, you can also ask for feedback and input from your colleagues. This allows everyone to recognize and appreciate one another and get inspired by each other.
The bottom line is that no employee will not appreciate the chance to personalize the shared office break room with his picture or anything that directly relates to him.
Encourage Mild Activities
The essence of break rooms is to temporarily lift our spirit from the pressure and workload and replace it with relaxation.
Taking a cue from the earlier idea of a bookshelf, you should know that getting your employees engaged in some activities during their free time will also keep them reinvigorated and highly productive.
You can encourage your workers to exercise regularly during their free time. This will help them lower their stress levels, heighten their mood, and boost self-reliance.
You can go a step further by asking your employees what kind of games or entertaining activities they would like in the break room. These activities don't have to be exhausting and brain-cracking; never forget that. Riddles are also welcome here.
Also, adding a television set to the break room is not bad. You might be thinking a TV set will cause distraction. That's not true.
In as much as the distance between the break room and where the workers do their actual work is considerably far, then you've got no cause for alarm.
This idea will also encourage intimacy and bonding among the employees through events like movie nights.
Seek Input from the Team
As an employer, do not underestimate or overlook seeking thoughts from your staff. Never forget that the greatest ideas are birthed when we rub minds and share ideas.
Encourage your staff to give their thoughts and opinions about the room's landscape, best decors to use, how you can maximize your budget, what should be in place and what should not.
FAQs
How can I identify a comfy break room?
What makes a break room great is how well and perfectly it gives your employees worthwhile relaxation during their free time. Any "break room" that falls short of this is not worth a break room.
What are the items in an office break room?
Though there's no specific outline of items that must be in a break room, all the tips discussed above give you all you need to have a perfect picture.
Generally, they include a fully-equipped kitchen, bookshelf, coffee machine, snacks corner, decors, comfy seats, some table games, and any other items your employees suggest.
How do you set up a break room?
Whether you want to build your break room right from scratch or you want to rebrand an already-existing one, you can use the fantastic workplace tips shared above. That's all you need.
To give it a more professional touch, you can employ the service of an interior designer.
What should every break room have?
A must-have for every break room is a corner for massage chairs. With these chairs, your employees will be able to enjoy their break to the optimum level and feel revitalized all through the day.
