No More Nagging Notes: Why Office Meals (and Your Employees) Deserve an Organized Break Room
Posted by Sara on Thursday, May 8th, 2014 with 2 Comments
Offering a comfortable, welcoming break room for employees is a wonderful thing — with a lot of benefits! Taking breaks from work can actually boost productivity, and providing a communal space can encourage social interactions between coworkers that can contribute to happiness within the office. And, of course, having a dedicated place for office meals makes it easier to incorporate employee appreciation lunches and healthy snacks into the workplace.
The office fridge doesn’t have to be a scary place.
Image source: Flickr user bark
But if your office break room is poorly organized, you could really be missing out on some of these exact benefits! When employees walk into an untidy break room, relaxation and comfort are likely to be the last things on their minds. Instead, those positive social interactions are replaced with grumbling about who always forgets to wash their dishes, or why there’s never a clean fork to use at lunch… and if not stored properly, those healthy snacks and leftovers from office meals can quickly become a nuisance instead of a perk.
Of course, employers want to get the most out of their investments — including their break room. With that goal in mind, here are a few tips for maintaining a better break room:
1) If your break room has become a magnet for passive aggressive notes about cleaning, take them down. They set a negative tone in the space, and nobody notices them anyway — or they wouldn’t keep showing up!
Now this is the kind of note that you should see on an office fridge!
Image source: Flickr user Riccardo Cambiassi
2) However, if employee messiness is a significant, ongoing problem, create a rotating schedule of responsibility for keeping the break room clean and tidy, preferably in small teams (2-3 people per team, depending on the size of your break room). Post a sign thanking the team members for tidying the break room each week to encourage accountability, and buy them lunch at the end of the week! Hopefully, taking part in the cleaning responsibilities will help every employee be more respectful and invested in maintaining a nice environment. And if an upper manager is willing to take the first shift to set an example through servant leadership, all the better!
Designate a team to take care of daily tasks like running the dishwasher.
Image source: Flickr user Andy Melton
3) When it comes to office meals, make it easy for employees to label their leftovers: a magnetized pad of sticky notes and a pen attached to the door of the fridge will do nicely. On Friday afternoon, the rotating cleaning team can deliver any “leftover leftovers” right to their owners’ desks, and unlabeled items chucked in the trash (a surprisingly therapeutic way to end the week!).
Attractive, clear storage containers will make it easier (and more likely) for employees to store food in an organized way.
Image source: Flickr user Rubbermaid Products
4) Provide both refrigerated and non-refrigerated storage: labelled baskets and lazy Susans can help keep the back corners of the fridge clear of forgotten items. Clear Pyrex containers or Tupperware can help cut down on the piles of plastic takeout bags that tend to accumulate in office fridges. If you provide heart-healthy nuts, fiber-rich fresh fruit, and other brain-boosting office snacks (and you definitely should!), consider purchasing special colorful baskets or bowls to store the communal food in, so it’s perfectly clear what’s up for grabs.
5) On that note, provide bottles of condiments like ketchup, mustard, soy sauce, and hot sauce for everyone’s use — and when you place group takeout orders, request that no individual packets of condiments be provided. Not only do those little packets seem to clutter up the table and counters of any break room, but the individual packaging is quite wasteful and may contradict your company’s ambitions to become more environmentally friendly.
Providing bottled condiments cuts down on waste and clutter.
Image source: Flickr user Pedro Lozano
6) Provide a matching, abundant set of actual plates and cutlery so employees can enjoy their office meals without eating of cardboard takeout boxes or Styrofoam. Again, paper and plastic aren’t good for the environment, and eating on a real plate will help employees engage with their food a little more mindfully.
7) Make it easy to access cleaning supplies. One pleasant-smelling bottle of all-purpose spray kept next to the sink with a fresh cloth (or roll of paper towels if laundry isn’t an option) is much more likely to be used than a pile of half-empty cleaning supplies in a crowded, scary, under-the-sink cabinet.
Nobody wants to reach into this cabinet.
Image source: Flickr user Keith Williamson
Sharing a communal space requires teamwork and respect — and there’s no better way to set the tone than by kicking off your newly-organized break room with a celebratory lunch. With easy online ordering and prompt delivery, Waiter.com is the no-brainer choice for your office meals in your shiny new space!
When it comes to feeding employees and coworkers, make your company's food program really count! If your workplace dining plan needs to take it up a notch — or if you don't have one at all — Waiter.com is here to help. From Virtual Cafeteria Service to diverse menus to local takeout & delivery, Waiter.com offers customizable dining solutions for every business and budget. Contact us today to get started!
I have worked in a place where passive aggressive notes we left up all the time in the break room. It can be amusing at first, but eventually it becomes old and definitely creates a negative atmosphere. I think this article makes a good point about having a labeling system for leftovers. There were many times when leftovers would disappear or be thrown out. I think with proper labeling there would be less confusion. Having proper cleaning supplies is also essential. I found that employees are more likely to clean up after themselves if supplies are readily available and easy to find.
Thanks for your thoughts Ben! It’s true, one bottle of all-purpose spray on the counter is worth a cabinet full of different cleaning supplies… out of sight, out of mind, especially when you’re busy at the office.