On your commute home from work, many of you probably reflect back on what kind of day you had at the office. Well, many of you think that is what everybody else does on their way home from work. The truth is that many people live their lives without paying much attention to the moment. They are simply on autopilot and blindly going through the day-to-day motions of what they are supposed to be doing at work, which is sad because this can have an effect on how productive an employee is throughout the day.
At the end of the day, when employees are headed home, they aren’t thinking about how their day went because they were on autopilot the whole time and have no recollection of the details of the day. But there is a solution to this, a way in which you can get your employees more engaged in the now and off autopilot mode. You do this by offering them more breaks at the water cooler.
During the breaks you give employees now, workers gather around the water cooler and converse about a multitude of subject matter. The water cooler break has always been a source of puns and the butt of jokes on the funny pages and often gets a bad rap. Many managers and business owners feel that water cooler conversation hinders productivity, but just the opposite is true. There is research that shows focused water cooler conversations build healthy employee relationships and grows your business.
Arctic Coolers Inc. offers reasons communication benefits when you have a commercial water cooler installed at your office in Maryland or New Jersey.
Communication Breakdown
Social anxiety is a real thing and it is experienced in the workplace. There are just some people who have a difficult time conversing with others. This leads to communication breakdown, missed opportunities, and a lack of focus.
Chit-chat around the water cooler helps bring shy employees out of their shells. It enables them the opportunity to mingle with people and talk with them about pets, hobbies and kids.
Casual Chat With Management
Many employees are hesitant to have casual conversations with their managers. They will be a lot more likely to open up and chat about personal interests around the water cooler. The conversation employees have around the water cooler help build healthy relationships across departments and gets employees more comfortable around management.
Improvements In Productivity
When employees gather around the water cooler and talk, it’s not diminishing their productivity, it is actually increasing it. When employees return to their workstations, they feel relaxed, de-stressed, and have a fresh mindset that leaves them to be more productive.
Stress Relief
There are days when stress starts to get the better of you. When this happens, you stop what you are doing and head to the water cooler. This is where you talk about your kid’s school holiday program, the great basketball game you watched last night, and the latest episode of Walking Dead. Talking about these subjects gets your mind off of deals and deadlines long enough to ease stress.
Great Ideas Are Hatched
When you are sitting at your desk gazing out of the window, great ideas are not popping into your head. All great ideas happen spontaneously, like when you are driving home from work, taking a shower in the morning, or talking with others at the water coolers.
Come Together
It is very likely that small social groups have formed in areas of the office where people sit relatively close together. What you wind up with is an office with several social cliques. If you want employees to spread out and get to know other people outside of their small groups, give them more time at the water cooler. A water cooler is a perfect way to get employees from all over the office together and face to face.
Employee Engagement
Employee engagement should be a priority for any business. The level of engagement within a company often determines performance and success. Disengaged employees aren’t employees coming up with great ideas.
A water cooler in your office is a great way to bring employees together. Contact Arctic Coolers Inc. today.
