Break Room Essentials

Break Rooms are extremely important for employee satisfaction and productivity. In fact, studies show that giving your employees small breaks leads to a dramatic increase in focus for prolonged periods of time!
A break room should be a comfortable space for employees to get away from the stress of work – even if it’s just for a few minutes. Here are five essentials to create the ultimate break room for your workplace.

1. A Calming Atmosphere:

We do everything we can to have an enjoyable work experience, but let’s be real: work can be stressful. Having a space to decompress is essential.To create a relaxing ambiance, make sure your breakroom is in a quiet area, use cool colors for decorating, and have lots of greenery! Psychology tells us that cool colors like blue evoke peaceful and imaginative emotions, while greenery evokes feelings of safety and stability. The goal is to make the break room an area where employees can truly get away – an oasis, if you will.

2. Sturdy Lunch Tables:

Sturdy tables make or break the break room. A basic necessity, but important nevertheless! There is nothing worse than a lunch table that wobbles or a chair that breaks a month after it’s purchased. Equip Inc. has a wide variety of commercial grade lunch tables and chairs that are warrantied, affordable, stylish, and built to last.

3. Conversational Prompts:

The break room should be a place where employees can talk, laugh, network, and connect. One way to encourage community and discussion is to include an announcement board in your break room. An announcement board can serve as a built-in conversation starter, and subtly encourages a culture with open communication. Another way to promote conversation is by having games available to employees! Simple games like Jenga or a puzzle can be worked on in a group and require teamwork!

4. Comfortable Seating:

Typically, break rooms only require stable lunch tables; however, more and more companies are starting to add other forms of seating to their break rooms in addition. Having a comfortable space in your breakroom promotes community and casual discussion while setting the room apart from the rest of the office.  “Even a small change, such as cushiony, comfortable chairs around a glass table, can give your break room the injection of originality it needs”

5. Caffeine and refreshments!

According to Villanova University, 90% of Americans consume caffeine in some form every single day. With a statistic like this, it’s clear that caffeine is a requirement for every breakroom. Having a coffee machine, or even some other options like a tea kettle or cappuccino machine will surely be appreciated by employees. In addition, you can stock a fridge with healthy snack options! Give your employees the energy boost they need to get through the day.