Office breakout furniture and multi-use breakout space is key to making your office a productive and healthy place to work. If your boss just can’t see the need for new furniture to help facilitate this, read this post (filled with links to further evidence) and change their way of thinking.

Speak To Your Colleagues

First, check that you aren’t the only one who can see the office breakout area needs a face lift.

Although your boss may not appreciate the majority of their workforce barging down the door and demanding some new breakout furniture, your argument will hold a lot more sway if you have the backing of most, if not all, of your colleagues.

Pre-empt comments such as, “Well, I’ll have a word with everyone else and see whether they think this is a priority.” If you’ve already done this next step, it stops bosses being able to delay making a decision.

 

Use Proof To Highlight How Proper Breakout Areas Boost Productivity

Once you know you’ve got the backing of the rest of the team, it’s time to get hold of some tangible data to back up your case.

There are an ever growing number of studies available to cite to your boss which highlight how important it is that workers have a place to recharge their mind during the lunch break. From Bupa to Time, it’s agreed that a proper break actually makes workers healthier and more productive.

A great place to start gathering data is this Department of Health paper titled Sedentary Behaviour and Obesity: Review of the Current Scientific Evidence.

This is because sitting at the same desk for all of your working day is as detrimental to your health as it is to your productivity. And whilst mental fatigue can harm productivity in the here and now, sitting in the same chair for eight or more hours a day, five days a week, can cause physical health problems in the long term.

There are links between a sedentary office life and major health problems like high blood pressure, back issues and a shortened life. Not to mention increased levels of stress.

Any number of these factors can stop an employee from working as productively as they should be or, even worse, cause the person to be absent altogether.

A proper breakout environment and furniture can alleviate this because it means that your breakout space is a comfortable and welcoming place to spend one’s dinner break. When the resting space is unwelcoming or not conducive to meaningful rest breaks, staff will stay at their desk instead.

But a well designed breakout area can be used throughout the day.

Breakout furniture can be chosen to facilitate informal working, ad hoc meetings and collaborative discussion. It doesn’t just have to be used for eating a packed lunch before getting back to work.

When workers are encouraged to use the breakout area as an extension of their main office, it allows noisy, disruptive tasks and staff to head to a separate environment. This leaves those who need to knuckle down able to do so in relative peace.

 

Show How Breakout Areas Can Impress

Like it or not, first impressions count and people are to a large extent superficial. Just like when putting forward the right first impression and outward impression when arriving for a job interview, your office breakout furniture and space needs to impress would-be clients and staff.

Most breakout areas are situated close to the entrance or reception area of an office, so visitors, prospective clients and interview candidates should be encouraged to wait in the breakout area and see for themselves how impressive the business is.

If businesses look after their staff with fantastic breakout areas, it shows they must value the work their employees produce.

Look at these recent breakout area examples which have been designed to recharge staff’s batteries and impress visiting clients in equal measure.

First, the slick, minimalist setup at Adams. And, below, Wiltshire Council blends breakout and relaxed work spaces perfectly.

Show Understanding And Be Realistic

Be prepared for your boss to be unwilling to yield to your request. There might not be sufficient budget for a radical overhaul and refurbishment of your office breakout area. The company might not be able to justify spending money on new furniture, when things in the main office also need replacing.

So be prepared to compromise and show some understanding that the business will have other plates spinning, besides furniture in the break room being a daily annoyance for you and your colleagues.

 

Suggest Options

The emerging trends for office design show that agile working is important in the office because it gives staff choice in where they want to complete whatever task it is they’re working on.

For further reading on breakout areas and when to buy office furniture, check out these recent blog posts:

• The Rise Of Breakout Areas: Why Your Business Needs Bespoke Space
• More Proof That Office Design Is Important For Morale And Happiness (This is useful because happy workers are more loyal and productive.)
• How Often Do I Need To Purchase New Office Furniture?

 

And Here’s Some Further Inspiration & Theory

This info packed guide shows you all the latest tech, furniture trends and office design theory. See why your office needs to offer choice and get inspired in how to do it.