Break Some Rules: With A Breakroom Designed For Productivity
Color, design and comfortable furniture should not stop at reception. Inventive breakrooms that encourage engagement among your team and provide fun opportunities for team events can make your office more productive than ever by expanding interaction and engagement among your team.
Taking a mental break is a significant part of productivity. Focused tasks can be draining on the eyes and sitting for long stretches of time is not good for circulation. Enticing your team to take breaks will improve attitude, recharge creative thinking and might even start an inspired conversation between unrelated departments.
Creating a well designed breakroom that presents a comfortable opportunity to connect, and is designed to be a departure from the traditional breakroom fare, will be a step in the right direction. Persuading a staff that is used to working late, skipping lunch and avoiding social contact in order to get everything done before the weekend is a challenge most offices face. Creating a destination within your office is the goal of a well designed breakroom.
First of all, take some cues from coffee shop entrepreneurs: Interaction over coffee and social media has been the start of some incredible business deals and start ups. Trusting that process as a method of idea sharing and dialog among your staff might generate some amazing forward thinking. Tolerance increases, friendliness takes the place of cordial office banter and people relax their opinions about things. Someone from the other side of the office might have a suggestion you never thought of on a project or task.
Next take a look at the snacks. The usual breakroom snack fare is not always conducive to energizing your afternoon or getting your morning started. Consider a slight departure buy providing recharging power foods like nuts, seeds, berries and yogurt for mid-morning pic ups. Then add additional fruit, dark chocolate, selections of green tea, chai and regular tea for that afternoon slump. Keurig coffee machines have changed the usual coffee break into a gourmet moment. Many offices have them and you can make it personal and bring your own flavors. Look at it as an investment. Encouraging your teams to meet over coffee in an edgy breakroom might spark a really great idea.
About a quarter of employees don’t take lunch breaks outside the office. They may live too far to go home for lunch and eat at their desk. Enticing them away from their desk with a great area to recharge with a meal could add a much needed lift in their productivity. Turning the obligatory weekly meeting into a power lunch is a great option. Providing easily accessible opportunities for sandwich delivery and monthly lunch gatherings that allow for everyone to reconnect is a great motivator as well.
Pleasant lighting, comfortable furniture and neutral stress-reducing pastel colors can add to the ambience you are trying to create. You might consider offering a technology free zone, however it works both ways. Providing a free wifi hot spot for social media check-ins might be a better enticement for them to step away from their desk. You know they are checking their cell phones, so why not provide an open-ended offer to allow them to plug in and reconnect at breaks. Comfortable seating that is more lounge and less utilitarian would also be a nice departure from the norm as well.
Being mindful of all aspects of your office and how teams and coworkers interact is important to any business. Increased productivity increases the bottom line. Providing adequate breaks is to your benefit and theirs. Breaks should be designed to improve health, happiness and productivity in the workplace. Get some feedback from your employees so they feel that their voice is heard on the decision. And make your breakroom a hub of activity.
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MEET TERESA ALVAREZ: Teresa is an office furniture specialist who can help your startup select the best value from our Good, Better and Best selections. With 12 years experience in the office interiors and office supply business, she can get your breakroom design started. Her email is teresa@officefurniturenow.com or give her a call at 888-910-3769 x139.
