Designing a Recreation Room for Your Employees
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A rec room is a space where your employees can get rid of the stressful moments they experience when at the office and refresh themselves when they feel tired. Recreational rooms are essential for businesses that need their employees to use their creativity to create innovative products. In order to understand if your employees need a recreation room you should study their work patterns. If you notice that they have a pause in work during a certain interval of time, that are moments when they lose their concentration and they need stimuli to revive their creational skills. There are times when a break room can improve the mood of employees but there are also moments when it can break their morale, it all depends on the facilities it offers.
People work from eight to ten hours, or even more in an office, and they do it daily. It is understandable that it comes a moment when physical fatigue kicks in. The best way to help them refill their energy is to offer them access to an area where they can relax and socialize with their colleagues.
Work with Prints and Colors
It is important to start from a basic level. Focus your attention on how the walls are designed and what colour scheme is used in order to make the space feel like a relaxation oasis. Recreation rooms have a single purpose, to make people take a break from their work and to get rid of stress. A well-designed interior will enhance the purpose of the room and will offer the mind a diversion. One great idea is to change the actual look of the room, and to ask the constructor design it like a room made from red bricks. This is a charming look and it makes people feel more relaxed. In case this is a complex design, then you can paint the walls of the room in a neutral shade and hang on walls prints of activities that help people relax.
You know better the interests of your team so you should make sure that the prints share their hobbies. You can even ask them to bring in the prints they consider inspirational. If you work with a small team, then the recreational room is the canvas they can use to express their creativity.
Recreation rooms need quiet areas
There are persons who want to have fun during their work break, but there are also people who want to relax and catch their breath. The recreation space should meet multiple requirements. Modern recreation rooms feature two types of spaces, a loud one and a quiet one. One option is to include a café-like seating area. Coffee makes people feel more relaxed, and if you place in the recreational room a coffee machine with grinder it will offer people the opportunity to enjoy a fresh cup of coffee every time they need a break from their work. A coffee machine will enhance the design of the space and it will make it look better. And where you count that the smell of freshly grinded coffee makes people feel more relaxed.
A workout zone
In case your employees are known for having an active life, then a workout zone will be perfect for them. Working out helps people stay focused and getting into a relaxed state when they are getting ready for a stressful event. Working out helps people relieve themselves from stress and physical strain. Not all your employees may be workout addicts, but they will definitely enjoy a light workout. The workout zone should feature treadmills, yoga mats, dumbbells and exercise balls. People tend to exercise together with someone, and this will help them socialise and bond. The workout zone should be used exclusively for this purpose, because if other people walk around when someone exercises, they can get hurt.
An in-house kitchen
If you do not have a limited budget when creating the rec space then you can design it as two separate rooms. In this way, one of the rooms can serve as an in-house kitchen. If you work on a tight budget then a great idea to keep the employees entertained is to organise food parties, or to offer them healthy treats. If they are pizza fans then you can establish a day when all of you gather and eat pizza in the kitchen. The break room is ideal for people to enjoy their lunch together and to share ideas.
Use creative furniture items
Decide a theme for the recreation room. If you do not have ideas, you can ask your employees to write down suggestions. The suggestion that receives the greatest number of votes from the members of the team will be the ones that will decide the design of the recreation room. For example, a camping inspired rec space will help people relax the moment they step in. Replace the traditional chairs and tables with wooden picnic tables and bean bags. Mattresses are also a good alternative to chairs. Another idea is to design the break space to look like a coffee shop. This idea is perfect for the employees who are passionate about drinking coffee and tea. All you have to do is to bring inside some coffee machines and to collaborate with a local caterer to deliver you patisserie products.
Bring in puzzles and games
The best way to make people socialise and know each other better is to offer them the opportunity to have fun together. Playing games in the break room is one of the best ways to have fun at work. Design a play zone, isolated from the quiet area, because you have to make sure that no one gets disturbed from their work when people are getting thrilled about their win. According to your budget, you can bring in a basketball hoop, a foosball table, a snooker table or video games equipment. Employees can unwind with a board game or card game on a stressful day. Fridays can be more enjoyable at the office if you can play scrabble with your co-workers during your break.