Having to spend eight or nine hours in your office every single day is exhausting, so all good managers try to make things easier for their employees, and turn their office space into something special. There are lots of ways to do so, but providing your staff with a break room where they can explore their hobbies and interests is probably one of the most efficient ideas. Therefore, if you too want to give something back to your employees, and show them how much you appreciate their hard work, here’s how to create a great break room in just a few easy steps.
Table of Contents
1. Add a foosball table
Remember how Chandler and Joey in Friends had a proper foosball table in their dining room? And remember how happy they always were playing it? Well, that’s not an accident – this simple activity can improve one’s behavior in a matter of minutes, and your tired employees won’t really need anything more than a foosball table to turn their frown upside down. Playing foosball and similar games with co-workers makes people relaxed and happy, so introduce it in your break room as soon as possible.
2. Colorful design
Although office spaces always try to combine a professional look with a relaxed atmosphere, they’re often painted in earthy colors and shades of grey. However, this rule doesn’t apply to break rooms. These are the areas where people are supposed to take their minds off work-related issues and spend their breaks in an enjoyable environment, so don’t be afraid to apply lots of colors.
From purple, red and blue to orange and red, these vibrant colors are going to help your staff relax and reduce their stress level. After all, this is supposed to be the point of a break room – happy colors, vibrant design, colorful environment and peaceful tones.
3. Food and drinks
Besides working and taking breaks, there’s another thing your employees should do when they’re at work – eat and drink something. Unless you want to be one of those bosses who prevent their staff from feeling free and make them work all the time, you should add a small kitchen to your break room. Luckily, you don’t need too much to turn this idea into reality – a proper worktop, a couple of small kitchen appliances, a microwave, and one of those reliable Electrolux refrigerators that’s going to be big enough to fit all of your employees’ food.
This is the best way to ensure your staff eats healthy food every single day and remains happy and content with their lives – which is also going to make them perform better in the office.
4. Healthy snacks
Speaking of food and how much it can boost your performance in just a couple of seconds, another thing you should also take into consideration are healthy replacements for your everyday snacks. Instead of drinking soda drinks and eating sweets while taking a minute off work, you should explore healthier and more sustainable options. From basically all fruits and vegetables to healthy replacements and homemade cookies, pack your break room with the options that are going to suit the majority of your employees, but also insist on this food every day of the week.
5. Natural lighting
Our productivity heavily depends on the way we feel which is, in turn, influenced by the amount of natural light we receive during our working hours. A number of experts have been claiming that only this sort of lighting can successfully improve your performance at the office, which is why every employer and team leader needs to insist on these more than on anything else in the break room.
Ultimately, if you can’t provide everyone with enough natural light – this can be particularly hard for people living in cold areas – you should invest in LED light bulbs. These are significantly costlier in the beginning, but pay off quite a lot in the long run, so pack your break room with a bunch of these right away!
Besides these ideas, other ways to improve your break room quite easily include installing an HD TV with a Netflix subscription, adding a new Xbox and offering free coffee all day long – and if that doesn’t get your employees to fall in love with your new break room, nothing will!
