When you think of an office, you rarely conjure an image of people playing ping-pong or watching TV. It’s often an image of people hustling and bustling, keyboards clicking, phones ringing, and printers printing.
But more and more companies these days are actually realising the importance of giving their employees the opportunity to let off some steam. This is why they are integrating break rooms in their office units, modular buildings and other facilities.
The benefits of a break room
The corporate world is changing its ways. If you get the chance to walk into a customer care company, you’ll see proof that CEOs and managers are more open to letting their employees have fun. Inside their office spaces, you’ll find recreational rooms where you can watch TV, and play billiards or videogames.
The reason behind this is that companies have found that employee productivity improves when recreational rooms are provided for them. This makes sense because employees are people, and people naturally need to take a break.
Recover from work
Working 9 to 12 hours straight can take its toll on any person. When you let your employees take a break and play games during their downtime, they can recover more quickly and be more productive.
Also, giving employees a chance to have fun even during work hours can help minimize the strain of doing repetitive tasks. When a person’s task is monotonous and repetitive, it can put a strain on their mental health. This is because what they’re doing is no longer stimulating their mind.
It’s also the reason people in prison are given the opportunity to play sports, work out, or even just walk around during the day. It’s because if they were placed in a cell for the whole duration of their sentence, they might go mad.
Stimulate creativity
Another benefit of having a break room in an office is that recreational activities can stimulate the mind to become more creative. People who work long hours in an office will eventually develop stunted minds because they aren’t receiving any stimuli from their environment. Writers often suffer from this dilemma when they work too long in front of a computer.
Some writers develop writer’s block, which is the inability to write anything. What most writers do when they encounter this is they go somewhere else to do something totally unrelated to what they are writing about. Some writers go for a walk, others play tennis, and others even clean the house.
The mere act of doing something other than writing is the trigger that they need. When writers do something else, like clean the house or walk the dog, the distraction often jumpstarts their brains to think creatively once more.
This is applicable to any kind of employee, not just writers. If you want your employees to work harder, feel better, and be more creative, you should create a break room in your office.
Having a break room in an office can do wonders to workplace productivity and the well-being of employees. So, don’t write off a break room as an unnecessary facility. If you truly value your employees, a break room is a good investment for them.
