Your break room might serve purposes other than breaks for tired employees, but its most important function is to provide employees a place to relax. It is important that it becomes a place employees want to go.
The simplest ideas are the best ones and here are tips that are inexpensive and provide BIG pay offs.
Make sure the coffee is good coffee: If you are intent on only buying the cheapest coffee on the shelf, it is better to not even provide it. Coffee is an amenity that most employees expect. It is also very important to have it available to offer guests and customers. This is not the place to go cheap. Bad coffee leaves employees sour and feeling unappreciated. And bad coffee leaves customers with a terrible impression. It is not that expensive to provide good tasting coffee and your coffee service provider should have the expertise to help you brew coffee the right way to insure it tastes good. Why go cheap here when it is so easy to do it right. There are better places to cut expenses.
Add some color to the walls and décor. Plain white walls, bright fluorescent lighting and stale smells make a break room look and feel like an institution or hospital. Put warm colors on the walls, and make the break room inviting. Purchase inexpensive artwork that works with a theme and consider live plants to boost morale and add color.
Provide comfortable seating. Couches and lounge chairs in the break room will make the room more inviting. I am often amused at the hard uncomfortable chairs I find in many break rooms. They seem to say, “don’t get too comfortable”!
Provide magazines or other reading materials. Employees that choose to eat lunch alone will appreciate something other than the walls or the TV to look at. With the new technology, employees are probably checking their smart phones instead of relaxing. Magazines offer interesting articles from a variety of subjects and provide a nice distraction. Take a poll of your employees to see what magazine subscriptions you should put out.
Ask employees what they want. Your employees are the ones using the break room most, so their feedback is an important tool to designing the ideal work environment. If you are designing a new break room, renovating an existing one or just want to offer a few more amenities, ask the team.
Keep it clean. A clean fresh place to sit down and take a deep breath is vital for employee morale. Think “escape” and insure that the break room is not neglected.
The simplest ideas are the best ones and here are tips that are inexpensive and provide BIG pay offs.
Make sure the coffee is good coffee: If you are intent on only buying the cheapest coffee on the shelf, it is better to not even provide it. Coffee is an amenity that most employees expect. It is also very important to have it available to offer guests and customers. This is not the place to go cheap. Bad coffee leaves employees sour and feeling unappreciated. And bad coffee leaves customers with a terrible impression. It is not that expensive to provide good tasting coffee and your coffee service provider should have the expertise to help you brew coffee the right way to insure it tastes good. Why go cheap here when it is so easy to do it right. There are better places to cut expenses.
Add some color to the walls and décor. Plain white walls, bright fluorescent lighting and stale smells make a break room look and feel like an institution or hospital. Put warm colors on the walls, and make the break room inviting. Purchase inexpensive artwork that works with a theme and consider live plants to boost morale and add color.
Provide comfortable seating. Couches and lounge chairs in the break room will make the room more inviting. I am often amused at the hard uncomfortable chairs I find in many break rooms. They seem to say, “don’t get too comfortable”!
Provide magazines or other reading materials. Employees that choose to eat lunch alone will appreciate something other than the walls or the TV to look at. With the new technology, employees are probably checking their smart phones instead of relaxing. Magazines offer interesting articles from a variety of subjects and provide a nice distraction. Take a poll of your employees to see what magazine subscriptions you should put out.
Ask employees what they want. Your employees are the ones using the break room most, so their feedback is an important tool to designing the ideal work environment. If you are designing a new break room, renovating an existing one or just want to offer a few more amenities, ask the team.
Keep it clean. A clean fresh place to sit down and take a deep breath is vital for employee morale. Think “escape” and insure that the break room is not neglected.
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