12 Fun Ideas for Your Break-Out Room

Here are some ideas to help you create a break-out room your agents really want to spend time in.

1. Turn your break-out room into a living room

Turn your break-out room into a living room, so that agents can relax between shifts as if they were at home.

Fill the room with big comfy sofas, a television, computer games and other home comforts.

This can help agents switch off from the stresses of the contact centre floor, as well as provide a welcome break from their desk chairs.

2. Have a cash machine on site to help make agents’ lives easier

UCAS have a cash machine on site for their agents to use.

Having a cash machine in your break-out room can help take some of the hassle out of your agents’ day – especially if you work on a business park without no shops or cashpoints nearby.

3. Add a splash of colour to your walls

Brighten up your break-out room by painting the walls different colours.

You could even turn it into a competition by allowing the agents with the highest sales or quality scores that week to choose the colours.

4. Put your trophies on display

Neopost proudly display their trophies in their break out room.

Celebrate your agents’ accomplishments by displaying their hard-earned trophies in the break-out room.

They can do far more for agent morale in the break-out room – rather than the office reception!

5. Create a wall of ‘why I love to work here’

Dedicate some wall space for your agents to write their own messages – centred round a theme such as ‘why I love to work here’.

These messages can be written on a white board or a chalk board, or on coloured card tacked to the wall with reusable adhesive putty.

This will help to increase a sense of ownership in your break-out room – and remind agents of the good times after a stressful shift.

6. Host a plant-growing competition to decorate your windowsills

Plants are a great way to add some life to a room.

Why not try hosting a plant-growing competition and filling all available windowsills with the pots?

The competition factor will encourage agents to nurture their own plants – without it becoming an office chore.

7. A good-news wallboard

Bring one of your wallboards into the break-out room.

Use it to showcase recent competition winners, great customer feedback and upcoming events – rather than your service level statistics.

You can also give your agents something to smile about by sticking photographs from recent social events up on the wall.

Reminding agents of the fun they had with their teammates can help them recharge their emotional batteries before heading back to the floor.

If your building contract doesn’t allow you to use adhesive putty on the walls, you could try using a projector instead.

8. Hold a photography competition and frame the winning prints

Experian have turned their agents’ photography into wall art.

Organise a photography competition for your agents.

You can then hang the winning prints up in the break-out room to help personalise the space.

9. Set up a board games area to encourage agents to interact

Create a board games area for your agents. This needn’t be more than a shelf of games and a few designated tables.

If you are unsure of which games to buy, ask your agents to put forward their suggestions during your next team meeting.

You could also try giant-sized editions of games such as Jenga – although these are noisier and aren’t necessarily the best choice if your break-out room is close to the contact centre floor.

10. Stencil motivational quotes onto the walls

Stencil motivational quotes onto the walls to help create a positive atmosphere.

You could also stencil on your team mantra, or kind words from your customers.

11. Have vending machines on-site for an afternoon pick-me-up

Why force your agents to leave the premises and waste their break finding the chocolate fix they need to survive the afternoon?

Set up vending machines in your break-out room and allow your agents easy access to a pick-me-up, as and when they need it.

12. Provide a breakfast area with free breakfast

It’s well known that people perform better when they have had breakfast. So set up a breakfast area with a toaster, hot water geyser, a fridge and a dishwasher.

Even better, provide free breakfast!

As well as keeping your agents motivated and energised, you will probably find that people arrive early for their morning shifts – meaning less shrinkage.

BONUS TIP: Don’t allow team meetings or one-to-ones in the breakout room

If space allows, try to use different rooms for one-to-ones and team meetings – and stay away from the breakout room!

The breakout room should be a haven where agents feel they can truly relax – not somewhere where they have to keep their voice down because an important meeting is taking place in the corner.