Employee Recreation Benefits: An Application Designed for the Employees of a Ceramics Research Center

Employee recreation can be used as an effective tool to mitigate the negative effects of working life on employees and provide multifaceted benefits. For this tool to be widely adopted, both society and the business world may need to experience or recognize the benefits. Implementing employee recreation practices in workplaces with different sectors and characteristics and sharing the results may be effective in this regard. In line with this necessity, the aim of this study is to reveal the perceived benefits of an employee recreation program after its implementation. The research process was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, an employee recreation program prepared based on information obtained from workplace employees and managers was applied to the employees of the ceramics research center for nine weeks. After the structured recreation program was implemented, qualitative data were collected through in-depth one-on-one interviews. When the data obtained were evaluated, it was seen that the 48 codes that emerged were collected under 18 categories and 7 themes. Themes and categories are listed as follows; “psychological well-being” (emotional well-being, psychological renewal, and escape), “personal development and self-awareness” (individual awareness and inner development, personal competence and self-efficacy, learning and experience acquisition, and multidimensional development), “physical and mental health” (physical health and activity, and cognitive and mental health), “job performance and productivity” (performance and productivity, and time management), “social relationships and organizational commitment” (social interaction and relationships, collaboration and team dynamics, sharing knowledge and experience, and belonging), “organizational and cultural structure” (corporate culture and recreation, and inclusion) and “environmental and sustainable approaches” (interaction with nature and environmental awareness). This shows that employees gained multifaceted benefits. Participants stated that the program broke the monotony in the work environment, strengthened interdepartmental communication, and enhanced organizational commitment. In conclusion, the research reveals that structured employee recreation programs are not a luxury expense, but rather a strategic human resources investment that protects the mental and social resources of the workforce and improves organizational performance. Cite this article as: Mercanoğlu, A. O. (2026). Employee recreation benefits: an application designed for the employees of a ceramics research center. Research in Sports Science, 16, 0022, doi:10.5152/rss.2026.26022.