6 Tips for Creating a Quiet Room for Your Employees

With stress-related health problems and employee absences on the rise, it is no wonder that an increasing number of companies are looking for low-cost solutions for reducing the stress levels of their employees.

One such solution is to provide a “quiet room”; a place of refuge where frazzled employees can “unplug” for a few minutes and regain their mojo.

A couple of months ago I conducted a reader survey that asked respondents that had Quiet Rooms to share their experiences and lessons learned. Steve Bassett who works in Facilities Management for Wachovia Bank said that his company has a quiet room in each of their 13 call centers (6000 employees). He wrote, “Quiet Rooms are considered an important facility need to create a ‘Great Place to Work’ environment. You take care of the call center agents and they’ll take care of your customers. This is proven true for us since we have received #1 customer service award eight years in a row in our industry.”

6 Tips for Creating a Quiet Room for Your Employees

1. When it comes to rules, less is more.
The vast majority of respondents said they do not have many formal rules for using their quiet room. The employees who use Quiet Rooms understand the need to respect others and maintain silence.

2. Avoid allowing the room be used for other purposes.
Resist the temptation to use the room as a break room, meeting room, a place to make phone calls or access the Internet.

3. Involve staff in the creation of the room.
“Many individuals added items to the room from their own homes to make it comfy and fun,” wrote one contact center manager.

4. Locate the room adjacent to the call center and include a window to the outside, if possible.
One respondent said that when they moved their Quiet Room to a more visible location they noticed a significant increase in usage.  A surprising number of respondents said a quiet room was actually included in the design of their new facility.

5. When furnishing the room focus on comfort.
According to the survey, standard furnishings include: comfortable chairs, a small table, lights on dimmers, a small clock, soothing colors on the walls (green was popular) and an area rug. Fish tanks, lava lights and bean bag chairs were also mentioned.

6. Not all employees will use the room regularly, but those who do consider it vitally important.
Over 40% of the respondents said that their room was used by 20% to 40% of employees during same period. “The Specialists appreciate the fact that management supports them and understands what they experience every day; providing them with a quiet room communicates that management “gets it.”
If your company doesn’t have a designated quiet room where employees can go when they need to get away from it all, why not suggest it to upper management? If you are fortunate enough to have a room at your company, take advantage of the opportunity by using it yourself and encouraging others, as well.

Make it a great week.

Barbara Burke    
2011 © Barbara Burke. All rights reserved.

(Look for the next Monday Aha! on 10/24/11.)