The Key to Employee Happiness

According to Forbes, the happiest company to work for is UnitedHealthcare in Minnetonka, Minnesota. The 2016 poll was based on thousands of independent company reviews. One has to wonder what UnitedHealthcare is doing differently to prioritize employee happiness and how they’ve been so successful. This tie between employee happiness AND productivity boils down to something you may not expect. Studies have consistently shown that employee happiness is commonly linked to the company’s break room and UnitedHealthcare’s office certainly demonstrates this.

The UnitedHealthcare break room has made sure to give their employees the best. Their breakroom for over 18,000 employees consists of upholstered, comfortable modular furniture, ample lighting, and even a café that serves employees only the freshest, healthiest food (even their pickles are from scratch!).There are also outdoor patio seating and dining areas for employees to enjoy.

Here’s what OstermanCron believes about break rooms, and it’s quite a simple concept: Break rooms should truly be a break from work. Offering free coffee, painting the walls a relaxing color, or going the extra mile by offering entertainment such as television or a pool table are all great ideas. A happier office is a more productive one so give your employees the downtime they truly deserve.

While many office furniture stores focus less on break rooms and more on the nuts and bolts of office furniture design, (such as employee office desks, office partitions, etc.), OstermanCron sees the vast importance of a great break room. Although used office furniture might be a less expensive route, we believe it’s important to show your employees that you really want to provide them with a clean, bright, comfortable place to relax.

For example, this client of ours wanted “out with the old and in with the new” of the office furniture in their space. While we did gussy up their office cubicles and supply comfortable new office chairs, it was definitely the facelift that we gave to their breakroom that made the greatest difference to their space.