How important is social space in the workplace?

We all know that sitting at your desk for nine hours a day without a break can make us cranky, unproductive and lacking in motivation, so how important is it to have an area that you can get away to?

At Zenopa we have a separate area for employees to go and distance themselves from their desks for a short while. We think this boosts morale and productivity throughout the office as well as providing our employees with the well-deserved coffee break we all know they need!

We caught up with a couple of Zenopa employees and our MD Mark to ask why a social space is so important to them and the thinking behind it.

Daniel Newbury, Medical Communications Recruitment Consultant at Zenopa commented: “It is really good to be able to take a break from your desk and your emails half way through the day. The space allows me to sit down with colleagues and casually bounce ideas off each other, which is often unintentional but extremely useful.”

“I think employees are more productive when they get away from their desks for a while. It is nice to spare yourself some time to think and focus on other things than your email inbox. We are also seeing a huge increase in companies across Europe who offer these kinds of ‘recreational’ areas in their offices. And I think it is really important for employees to make the most of these spaces.” Says Beth Horsely, Team Leader and Senior Recruiter for Medical Devices Executives in Europe at Zenopa.

We also asked our MD, Mark Denton why it was so important to him to create a social space for his employees. He told us, “As an MD, a huge part of my role is to step back and look at the overall ‘direction of travel’ and business strategy.  But the same applies to everyone in the company; it is really important to remove yourself from the constant email interrupt and think about your own priorities, objectives and personal goals. This is particularly significant in an industry like ours, where employees can often spend 10/11 hours in the office – sometimes more than they spend at home.

“But saying this, there is no point escaping from your desk unless you are escaping to an area that you want to be in. So we went into the most well-known cafés and did some research into what they look like, what kind of furniture they have and what the general look and feel was. Those kinds of places spend lots of money and research to make sure they are presenting an environment that people want to relax in. Hence we replicated that for our employees.”

Does your workplace have a social area that you can get away to? Is a social area important to you when looking for an employer? We would love to hear your thoughts on this so tweet us @ZenopaLtd to share your comments.