How often do you gather your employees together for something that has nothing to do with business?
Creating camaraderie and a sense of social engagement in the office goes a long way to not only spreading your company culture but strengthening it as well. Giving everyone a chance to relax a little and get to know each other better can boost employee morale and collaboration.
Ultimately, you’ll need to hone in on events and activities that fit well into your current culture. But here are a few ideas to get you going.
Ice cream social: Invite an ice cream truck to pull up outside your office or buy a few gallons from the closest grocery story and set up a sundae bar on a Wednesday afternoon.
Chili Cook-off: Or any kind of cook-off. Assign a panel of judges and tell everyone to get cooking and bring their best. Just be sure to have a prize for the winner.
Pot Luck: Amp up the Friday afternoon happy hour by assigning snack, drink, and even dessert duty to different teams around the office.
Non-business meetings: Survey the office to see what folks are interested in and then bring in an expert. A sommelier could come in to teach about wine tasting or a local stand-up comedian could run an improv workshop.
Game Day: Ask everyone to bring in a favorite board game and spend an afternoon of a little friendly competition.
Start a Book Club: Maybe you read and discuss books related to your work, maybe you work through the latest NYT best sellers. Either way, it will bring folks together.
Office Talent Show: What are your colleagues good at outside of the office? It’s time to find out.
Afternoon Snack Time: Take yourselves back to your Kindergarten days and schedule afternoon snack time for all to come together. (We recommend gathering around the Bevi).
Afternoon at the Movies: Take everyone out to the local theater or pop some popcorn and bring one in.
Scavenger Hunt: Plot one out within the office or break into teams and take to the streets for exploration and team building at the same time.
Volunteer Together: Pick a cause everyone can get behind and then go out to make a difference for a morning, or the whole day!
DIY Awards Show: Think of fun office awards (e.g. best smelling lunch, first in every morning, best email sign off) or create your own based on inside jokes. Don’t forget to hand out trophies.
A Day of Pampering: Bring in a masseuse for seated massages, a barista to make coffee to order, and anything else that will leave employees feeling well taken care of.
Contests for Anything: Create a contest around anything that gets you all engaged—from a costume contest at Halloween to a friendly step-counting contest and beyond, there are countless ways to get everyone cheering each other on.
Bevi Taste Test: This one’s our personal favorite—an afternoon of ‘name that flavor!’
