If you’re reading this, then your business doesn’t currently have a breakroom. These rooms are special areas designated for taking a break from work. It’s where employees will usually settle down for lunch or a mid-afternoon break. Without one, your employees tend to do all of these things at their desks.
Initially, you don’t see a problem with that – but the more you think about a breakroom, the more sense it makes. You’re still not entirely convinced, so here are four reasons it’s a great addition to any office workplace.
Reader's Roadmap
Creates more hygienic workstations
What happens if you don’t have a breakroom in your office? When lunchtime comes around, your employees will do one of two things:
- Go out to eat
- Eat at their desks
A lot of them will opt for the second option, which creates the most unhygienic workstations possible! You’ll see crumbs in keyboards and food particles lingering on or under desks. It makes the whole office work area less hygienic for everyone.
On the other hand, a breakroom gives employees somewhere to eat. They no longer eat at their desks, so you end up with more hygienic workstations. You won’t see desks with food or rubbish around them, which actually makes it easier for employees to work. Having chip packets or crumbs on your desk is extremely distracting; a breakroom removes this, improves hygiene, and makes it easier for people to work.
Encourages your employees to hang out
It’s always good to have friends in business. You understand this, which is why you’re always networking with other business owners to forge connections. But what about your employees? While networking outside of your business is beneficial, you should encourage employees to talk to one another.
You want to cultivate a friendly office environment. There shouldn’t be awkwardness between team members, as this can impact work quality. Adding a breakroom area to your office will force employees to sit down and hang out together. It fosters a better sense of community in your business, which translates to better communication and productivity when everyone’s working.
If your employees feel comfortable around each other and hang out during their breaks, then you’re way more likely to create a unified team that works towards the same goals.
Leads to fewer distractions
What if you offer a slightly flexible way for people to work in your office? Some employees take their lunch at 12pm while others want to work until 1pm. These staggered lunch times work in a lot of offices, as they ensure employees can work to their most productive schedules.
However, this does present a big problem when there is no breakroom. If everyone eats at their desks, some employees could end up chatting and distracting those who aren’t going on lunch yet.
That’s where a breakroom comes in handy. It’s a separate place away from the main desks where people can hang out and eat. You can utilize Plymold commercial furniture to set up a breakroom booth with soundproofing, which means you can isolate people on their breaks from the people still working.
It creates far fewer distractions in the office and allows people to work at their peak productivity. Those who need to work can do so in peace, and those who need to take a break can do so separately.
Makes the office look more professional to visitors
Think back to the point about people eating at their desks. Not only is this unhygienic, but it’s terribly messy. Imagine what this looks like to anyone visiting your office! What if a prospective client comes in for a meeting and they see everyone eating at their desks? You’re creating a terrible first impression – it gives the illusion that your business is unprofessional.
Once again, you see the huge benefit of a breakroom. This separate area is hidden from view, making all the desks and workstations look clean and professional. Since no one is eating while they work, you create a much better first impression when someone visits.
Also, and this is an underrated feature of breakrooms, they manage to restrict the smell of food to the room itself. There’s nothing worse than walking into an office and smelling someone’s microwave meal. It gives off a bad first impression, so you completely negate this as well.
So, yes, your office probably does need a breakroom. It’s beneficial for all kinds of reasons, and you’ll notice huge improvements in office productivity. You can either convert a separate room into a breakroom or build a sort of breakroom pod to keep separate from the workstations.