We often talk to people about the importance of the office coffee area and what it means to employees and workplace production. It really is a value to the office to have employees taking their breaks, in the office,to increase productivity. Below is a great article from the New York Times touching on the importance of office breaks in the office and providing good quality coffee.
Communal Breaks: A Chance to Bond
By
PHYLLIS KORKKI
Published: July 14, 2012 New York Times
O.K., maybe it’s not quite as earth-shattering as, say, hiring a C.E.O.
or choosing which products to make. But well-designed beverage areas are
a surprisingly important contributor to productivity, according to Ben
Waber, president and C.E.O. of
Sociometric Solutions, a workplace consulting firm.
“In general when we look at what makes people happy and effective at
work, it’s being able to spend time with a close group of people,” Dr.
Waber said. “You need to structure work in such a way that people have
those opportunities.”
As I wrote in
my last column,
taking frequent breaks allows workers to recharge their internal
energy. Individual breaks — a walk around the block or quiet time alone
in a conference room — enable a worker to return, refreshed, to arduous
pursuits.
But social breaks are also important to a worker’s — and a company’s —
well-being. They reinforce bonds, improve morale and increase
possibilities for collaboration.
Which brings us back to beverages. Sociometric recently worked with a
pharmaceutical business that had many different pantry areas with no
seating. And employees apologized to Dr. Waber about the awfulness of
the coffee.
This represented “a big opportunity lost,” he said. After analyzing
worker communication patterns, Sociometric recommended that the company
remove many of the small spaces and create a big, central gathering area
with ample seating — and better coffee.
As a result, people began mingling with a wider array of co-workers, and
levels of collaboration and performance improved, Dr. Waber said.
Breaks are also meant for venting. Consider Sociometric’s experience
with call centers at a major bank. The bank had thought it would be more
efficient to stagger workers’ breaks so that not too many people from a
team were off at the same time.
Somewhat counterintuitively, Sociometric advised the bank to schedule
breaks for a team together, with an alternate crew filling in. The
results were a 25 percent improvement in the number of calls answered
and a reduction in employee stress, Dr. Waber said.
No one was forced to socialize during the breaks, but the new schedule
created a natural way for employees to vent about problems and seek help
from one another, he said.
THERE’S little sense in ordering employees into the break room.
Requiring employees to socialize can bring stress, and while it may
further work or career goals, it can run counter to a break’s function
of restoring energy, said
John P. Trougakos, an assistant management professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough and the Rotman School of Management.
Technology companies have long embraced the concept of voluntary group
breaks as a path to creativity and collaboration. In fact, the idea for
Gmail was first conceived by a small group at one of Google’s cafes,
said Katelin Todhunter-Gerberg, a senior associate on Google’s
communications team.
In addition to cafes and coffee bars, Google provides Ping-Pong tables,
pool tables and video games. It even has a bowling alley that can be
booked like a conference room. Employees can also hike, bike and train
for races together, and form groups for activities like wine tasting.
Breaks are also good simply because they propel people out of their
chairs. The evidence is overwhelming that prolonged sitting endangers
workers’ health, and that people who move often throughout the day are
healthier than those who stay seated.
That’s why
Dr. Toni Yancey,
a professor of health services at the University of California, Los
Angeles, supports group exercise breaks. Her studies have shown that
such exercise can reduce sick leave and workers’ compensation claims.
She developed a range of exercises for people who are “your typical
overweight sedentary adults,” wearing almost any attire. Ideally, the
exercises are to be performed in two 10-minute sessions during the
workday. People might dance to salsa music, say, or mimic the motions of
pitching and batting in a baseball-themed program.
Dr. Yancey favors voluntary participation in a structured program that
is supported by management. The force of the group, she says, is much
stronger than individual good intentions.
New York Times, July 15, 2012
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