The best offices have common spaces where employees want to spend their free time. Your team works hard, so it’s only right that you give them a great place to relax, regroup, and enjoy a few moments of downtime. So, whether you call it a staff break room, staff lunchroom, or employee lounge, what matters most is that it’s an area where your employees can truly enjoy a break.
Choose the Color Scheme
Try limiting the room colors to three, but four at the most. If you have too many colors, it becomes a little too much for your brain to absorb. Breakrooms should energize, relax, and fit with the aesthetic of your business. Make sure the room compliments your business and brand. Otherwise, it will confuse employees and potential customers entering or passing the area. Colors are an important aspect of design. They can add or take away from the mood that you’re working towards. For example, red raises room energy, pumps adrenaline more than any color, creates excitement, and stimulates conversation. At night, it becomes more refined. This is a good option for a breakroom.
Add Plenty of Seating
You need to create a space in your break room where your employees can sit down and enjoy their lunch, coffee, or simply break time. Some tables and comfortable seating can be extremely helpful. But you should also consider your actual team and the space you have available in your break room since you want to create a space that will encourage your employees to sit together and talk, which can then encourage collaboration in the office as well. Your furniture should complement but not match the room. On breaks, some employees like to sit down, while others like to rest their heads. Try to have enough seating for everyone in your office to use the staff break room at the same time.
Stock it With Snacks
No break room is complete without a coffee machine. And if you want to create a break room that your employees will love, you can add some extra options as well. A tea kettle, cappuccino machine, and a fridge or pantry stocked with healthy snack options can help your employees get an extra energy boost in the middle of the day. And they’ll appreciate the extra options too. Creating a snack bar with healthy food items can help give employees the pick-me-up they need on their breaks. Not only is offering free snacks to employees a great workplace perk, but it also can help them stay productive. Make sure to include a refrigerator where your employees can store their snacks and drinks that they brought from home. This will also give you a place where you can stock fresh fruits and water bottles. Compact refrigerators are about half the size, so they don’t take up much space.
Make it Large Enough
Daily, your break room might just be in use by a few people at a time. But it can also be a great place to have your team gather for things like birthdays or other events. So if possible, make sure it’s large enough and laid out in a way that can facilitate activities involving your entire team.
Keep it Updated
Putting together a break room can be a fun activity. But if you want your employees to enjoy that break room over the long haul, you need to maintain and update it. So you need to make sure to have the space cleaned and organized regularly. And you should also update any outdated features or add cool new gadgets or decorations that you think might appeal to your team. When designing or updating your break room, the most important thing you need to keep in mind is how it can benefit your team. So you should take their thoughts and opinions into account when making decisions. You can learn a lot by simply talking to your employees. Or if you have a few different options you’re considering, you could even use a survey or questionnaire to gather feedback from your team.
Consider Quiet Rooms
Not everyone wants to socialize on their breaks. Try adding quiet rooms to your office common space so introverted employees who are interested in mindfulness and meditation can rest and recharge. These are spaces that promote peaceful atmospheres to help employees manage their stress and well-being. Good quiet rooms might include dim lighting for employees that want to close their eyes, yoga mats for those interested in meditation and yoga, or couches and reclining chairs for resting.
Add and Office Library
Promote learning and development at your organization by adding a bookshelf or library to your common space. Employees will naturally seek out things to do on their breaks, so why not allow them to improve their skills? All you need to do to create your office library is set up a bookshelf and fill it with different skill-based books that your team might find interesting.
Your break room can be an incredibly important part of your office. If you want your team to be productive and satisfied at work, they need a place to take occasional breaks and relax or even have some fun.
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