Modern offices strike a balance between working hard and playing hard. They also try to bring together people in a fun and collaborative way to make the workplace a more interesting and desirable place to be.
Breakout areas are popular, with the likes of Friday beer cart, pets in the workplace or even exercise bikes. Small startups to mega-corporations like Facebook and Google are utilizing this strategy now, understanding that a workplace is at its best when the people in those workplaces are active, happy people.
A phenomenon has been dominating these breakout areas in the office – the centuries old game of Ping Pong (Table Tennis, or ‘TT’ for short’).
Here we run through some of the top reasons why buying a ping pong table for your office would be a wise investment.
A Fun Workout, in the Office?
Many people are intimidated by the gym, or simply cannot fit time in their schedule to go. Playing TT is known and proven to do wonders for the body. Short bursts of high impact sport that challenges your core, lower and upper body does a great deal for a reasonably small amount of effort!
Small incentives like this help people in the office become more active, and actively push employees away from their desks and to the table for bursts of effective exercise without hitting the gym.
No costly memberships here either.
The Brain Game
TT is a physical exercise of considerable skill, but did you know that it also one of the few indoor sports that promotes active and strategic thinking?
Following most time out activities, employees are 15% less effective than when they started, feeling tired or more stressed out having come back to work.
Just like table-football or even basketball, TT improves concentration, stimulates tactical thinking and significantly improves hand-eye coordination.
What company wouldn’t want their employees happier and sharper?
The Social Game
TT is a great reminder that uniting the office does not have to come in the form of coordinated events and meetings.
Simply pick up the paddles, and off you go! It is a fantastic way of bringing people together that some companies are even using for regular meetings and after work activities.
Even if you don’t incorporate the TT table into daily company policy, it brings people together in a fairly easy manner – certainly not forcibly anyway. TT has always been known to be one of the best social sports out there and if there is a table in the office, it is no doubt going to be utilized at all times of the day.
Bringing people together in today’s world is a challenge all companies of different shapes and sizes face, so it makes sense to incorporate TT into an office.
Bringout that Inner Competitiveness
Competition is a concept that not all people understand they are familiar with, yet do it every day. The work place is a highly competitive environment in the first place, so having a sport where you can even play doubles in the office allows people to vent some steam or just have fun.
Many people thrive on friendly competition in the workplace, and TT is a perfect way of utilizing this trait for everyone benefit. Even if it’s a heated competitions, TT Paddles are hard to break!
Somewhat ironically, it also helps people wind-down after a stressful streak or day at work. Having a coffee or beverage over a casual, competitive game is not uncommon. It also lets the player compete without fear of competing with a customer, which in the global workplace today can be very tough in different ways.
Low Setup Cost
Compared to other indoor sports like pool, foosball etc, Ping Pong involves relatively low upfront and ongoing cost. A decent ping pong table costs around $600. You can get a table for as low as $400 but we recommend getting a sturdier table so that it can withstand fair amount of abuse. You can get a good pair of ping pong paddles for around $50. And the balls cost less than dollar a piece. And that’s it.
Roughly under $700 you have a fully functional ping pong setup.
Shorter game duration
Did you know a game of Ping Pong at beginner to intermediate level lasts less than 7 minutes? Well yes! Your employees would not be spending hours on a match (like in pool) and they can very much be back to their seats in under 10mins.
Best Use of Office Space
Space is often at a premium at an office. A ping pong table does not require much space for set up and play, with the benefits being immediate and substantial.
You can use it at all times of the day, even after work. Some offices now use their tables for extra dining space! Sometimes they are transformed into community hubs for less-serious meetings or special areas for competitions after work.
As little as 10 minutes of Table Tennis can improve your physical and mental shape, while utilizing space effectively and being a handy social tool. It comes as no surprise that offices around the world are incorporating them into their employees’ daily routines.
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