Evil Genius FAQ

Staff Room:
  Staff Rooms replenish your minion's attention stats.  With low attention, 
  they'll set off your own traps and not notice tagged enemies near them.

  This room isn't available at first, but becomes available after you capture
  and interrogate the maid.
  
  Since it's harmless, you can put it near the entrance of your base, or even
  outside in a topside shack.  Be cautioned that many of the things you steal
  will automatically end up in the staff room, so if it's outside be sure to
  move them somewhere that agents won't have easy access to.  You may even
  want to have several staff rooms, both in and outside so that minions will
  be sure to bump into tagged agents at the beginning of the game.  After you
  get security systems though, you may find this to cause unacceptable delays
  in service in your control center.

  All of the items that you can place in a staff room have the same effect;
  they replenish the minion's stats when in use.  Arcade games, pinball, TVs,
  and egg chairs are all fairly space-conscious.