1. BREAK OUT
THE
BREAK ROOMKeep Your Break Room
Equipped for
Enthusiastic Employees

2. SOME BACKGROUND ON BREAK
ROOMS
• A break room is where employees keep their
lunch, eating utensils, cleaning supplies, etc.
• A fully supplied break room is essential to the
office; after all, employees need to eat!
• A break room can be starkly
functional, containing only the essential list
of cleaning and break room supplies, or it
can be a nice, brief getaway for employees
from their desks.
– For more information about Break
Rooms and Morale, check out Slides
8-17!

3. EVERY BREAKROOM STARTS AS
A ROOM
• Cabinet space
• Countertop space
• Appliances
– Refrigerator & Freezer
– Microwave
– Coffee maker
• Keurig or Drip Coffee Maker
– Toaster (Not necessary, but a nice perk!)
Before a break room becomes a break room, it must
first contain…

4. NOSHING SUPPLIES
You never know when your office is
going to throw a party, or when you
might forget a fork!
• Keep break room supplies fully stocked
• Paper plates and bowls
• Plastic forks, knives, and spoons
• Napkins
• Serving trays (for goodies!)

5. CLEANING SUPPLIES
• Sponges
• Rubber gloves
• Disinfectants
• Trash liners – for general garbage and
recycling purposes
• Dish and hand soap
To clean up after your office party…or to clean
up after an accidental coffee spill! Keep
cleaning supplies in

6. COFFEE/TEA SUPPLIES
• Tea
– English Breakfast, Caffeinated and Decaffeinated
– Green or Lemon Tea
• Coffee suplies
– Keurig K-Cups
– Ground coffee for drip coffee makers
• Milk
– Whole, Skim, or 2%
– Soy and/or Lactose Intolerant Milk
• Sugar, Artificial Sweetners, and honey
• Stirrer (not necessary, but a perk!)

7. A break room can be
more than just a break
room…
BREAK ROOMS CAN
BOOST OFFICE MORALE

8. BREAK ROOMS &
OFFICE MORALE
• A good break room gets people out of their chairs, which is
extremely important for employees’ health
– Studies show that remaining seated throughout the day is detrimental to
employee health, morale, and overall perception of their career
• A break room can be one of the contributing reasons that
compel employees to stay at their job. It is important that
employees want to stay at their job-- literally.
– Employees who are itching to end their work day will most
likely quit, thereby decreasing a company’s employee
retention rate
• Studies show that accommodating a social break rooms can
increase employee productivity by 25%
– Breaks enable people to vent and chat with their coworkers
– Develop a personal relationship with their work space
– Recharge their mental energy to pursue new tasks more
vigorously

9. TIPS FOR
CREATING AN
Engaging
Employee
BREAK ROOM

10. ADD GAMES
+Adding games to employee break rooms
increases productivity.
+Employees that spend too much time
gaming ALREADY struggle with time
management both away and at their desk.
• Ping pong
• Foosball
• Air hokey
• Dry Erase Boards (For playing hang
man, pictionary…or brainstorming ideas for
the break room!)

11. ADD A TELEVISION
• We know that adding a TV sounds like
the worst idea possible, but it’s actually
not so bad! Television grants
employees a window to the
outside world and takes their mind off
the monotony of working in the office.
– Remember, control of the television
should be handled on a first come first
serve basis!

12. PROVIDE COMFORTABLE
SEATING
• Again, the break room is about taking a
“break” from the office.
– Allowing employees to relax in comfortable
office furniture gives them the ability to
regain their strength to work harder when
they reenter the office
– Without comfy chairs, employees will most
likely exit the office premises for their lunch
break, but with comfy seating, employees will
feel encouraged to stick around during their
lunch break to socialize with the coworkers.

13. ADD DÉCOR
+Adding décor to the break room distinguishes it
from the rest of the office
– Employees view it as a real “break” room – a
break from the office space
– Adding décor can help boost employees’
moods, relaxing them from the stress of the office
• Bring in some potted plants
• Hang pictures
• Paint the walls with a pop of color
• Tip: For seasonal holidays, use scissors and
office paper to cut out
snowflakes, flowers, hearts, suns, etc. to hang
on the walls
• PS: The background image is from Free
People’s home office!

14. ORGANIZE A BREAK ROOM
POTLUCK
Potlucks can bring employees together
because, as we all already know, food
brings people together. Hosting seasonal
potlucks will help inspire a close-knit
office culture and keep people loving
their work!

15. PROVIDE HEALTHY SNACKS
AND FREE LUNCH ITEMS
• Healthy Snacks
– Keeping employees healthy is important!
(This means less sick days)
• Free Lunch
– At least once a week!
– Free lunch can achieve a mild office
culture (Potlucks are more successful!)
• Free lunch does not necessarily entitle workers
to stay in the break room, but it certainly does
give employees something to look forward to

16. MOST IMPORTANTLY:
FREE COFFEE
• Although coffee was listed as a basic
essential to every break room in slide
6, we cannot emphasize enough how
important it is that employees not feel
burdened to bring in their own coffee
– Many employees rely on caffeine to
get through their day – providing free and
readily available coffee is a
must, must, must, must, must!!

17. REMEMBER…THE BREAK ROOM IS
not THE OFFICE
Haven’t we emphasized that enough? The
break room is not a room filled with office
supplies and file cabinets. It’s there to help
fortify office culture. Don’t bring work into
the break room!
AND ask EMPLOYEES ABOUT WHAT
CHANGES OR ADDITIONS THEY WANT TO
SEE IN THEIR BREAK ROOM
Take out notebooks and list the things that your
employees care about. Guaranteed, your
employee retention rate will soar!

18. EXAMPLES OF
SUCCESSFUL OFFICES
WITH THE BEST
BREAK ROOMS
(to name just a few!)+Google
+Yelp (the background image of this slide!
+Free People
+Discovery Communications
+Hearst
+Principle Financial Group (PFG)
+American Society of Association Executives
+Wieden + Kennedy
+Microsoft
+PopCap Games

19. SOURCES
• http://www.foodservicewarehouse.com/education/top-10-
ways-to-boost-morale-in-the-break-room/c27761.aspx
• http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/jobs/group-breaks-
can-raise-workplace-productivity.html?_r=0
• http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/10/1014_office_co
llaborative/index_01.htm
• http://mashable.com/2012/02/14/yelp-nyc-office/
• http://smallbusiness.chron.com/improve-employee-break-
room-21314.html
• http://www.brighthub.com/office/human-
resources/articles/86763.aspx
• http://www.lorensworld.com/business/5-ways-to-boost-
morale-in-the-office/