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Your employees are the backbone of the business. They deserve the best you can give them. Sure they want the usual additions—salary, benefits, etc., but it’s the creature comforts that make a workplace feel more comfortable.
There are already dozens of studies and articles that discuss the benefits of ergonomic office furniture for employee productivity and satisfaction. But there are other ways you can boost morale and help your worker bees to do their best. One underappreciated area of any office is the break room.
If you are the boss, you may not use the break room that often, but many mid-level and entry-level employees choose to eat here. The millennial generation is especially prone to eating in office as a means to save money by bringing lunch from home. But what should you put into the break room? Isn’t a microwave and table enough?
Here are a few ideas to help spruce up that recreational area and make it a desirable place to be.
According to the National Coffee Association’s 2013 survey, over 83% of adults drink coffee in the US. In San Francisco alone boasts over 2,600 coffee shops — ranking it at number four in the nation for the city with the most coffee cafes.
Adding a small coffee pot with free offerings to workers will provide the much needed energy boost that employees are craving throughout the day and now they won’t have to leave the office for a quick coffee break if they don’t want to.
The obvious purpose of the break room is to provide an area for workers to step away from their desk and have a snack or lunch. To this end, we need to include nice tables that are easy to clean with plenty if accompanying seating. Even a small office can benefit from including dedicated lunch tables.
Lunch tables also help to build employee relationships, so be sure to have ample seating at eat table for workers to sit together on break.
While the main purpose is for eating, you want to dedicate seating that is comfortable to sit on and relax. Many office areas serve dual purposes, as the lunchroom, event area, and even a meeting room at times. If you are a company with a multi-purpose room like this, consider purchasing some couches or sofas.
From an employee’s perspective, the break room should be an area that feels as if I am getting away from my work at the desk. To help create that feeling of "breaking away from work", we need to cultivate a space that is distinctly separated from the rest of the office. This can be done a few different ways.
The first that comes to mind may be to have the break room be its own room. This works well, but a bland recreation room can make it obvious you are still in work mode. Try to create a warmer atmosphere in here by bringing in warm colors and making it easy to keep clean. A warm, bright, clean space to get away from the busy work of the day will do wonders for your employees!
