Gutting and rebuilding your breakroom to look like a football field is one way to drive up the fun factor in your workplace. But you don’t need to completely renovate the space to make adjustments that will help your workers feel more refreshed, priming them for heightened engagement. Here are three tuneups you can make to your breakroom that improve productivity.
Add Digital Displays
Digital signage helps companies relay important information to their employees, and a breakroom is a great place to add a display. Breakrooms are where employees from different departments congregate every day, and you have their attention because they’re not caught up in their work.
“There are endless opportunities to utilize breakroom signage as a communications tool,” says Bryan Phann, senior business line manager for commercial digital displays at ViewSonic, a company that specializes in digital display technology. You can feature messages from executives, employee recognition, company activities, safety initiatives and urgent news. “It can boost team morale and make employees feel valued, which in turn may increase productivity,” Phann says.
Add Charging Stations
We’re constantly using laptops, tablets and smartphones to get our work done, all of which have something in common: They need power! And according to research from Gartner Group, workers typically spend only 40% of their time at their desks.
When employees want to work away from their cubicles, the breakroom can become a convenient alternative with the addition of charging stations. Encourage employees to bring their own chargers and tech from their desks for less inter-employee sharing of tools, reducing the potential spread of germs.
Create a Healthy Food Station
You’ll want to offer the usual grab-and-go snacks and nutritious treats that employees expect, but the breakroom can also be the ideal location to inspire health and wellness. A healthy diet improves brain function, which increases performance.
These initiatives are a great way to get employees feeling their best. Designate a part of your breakroom — like a section of the counter — as the official healthy food station. Holwegner says you’ll need to consider the equipment you require, but much can be done with kitchen basics you might already have, such as cutting boards, good knives, toaster ovens and blenders. And don’t forget to ask your co-workers to help with cleanup after these monthly occasions. A clean breakroom will help colleagues bond and stay safe from germs.
