Have you ever noticed how quickly your day-to-day work routines can become monotonous? Unfortunately, this can happen even within companies that have outstanding office cultures. The pandemic worsened this problem by confining most people to mundane patterns that have left them drained and uninspired. If you’re struggling to manage a disengaged team, it may be time to switch things up. Offsite events, adventures, and retreats are becoming an increasingly popular way to accomplish that!
Here’s a list of our favorite company offsite event ideas, perfect for a team that needs to recharge outside the office. Use it to help you think outside the box and arrange unique ways to connect your coworkers!
Why are corporate offsite events becoming so popular, anyway?
With COVID-19 pandemic restrictions easing (or lifting altogether), many companies are trying to address an important question: what are the best ways for their teams to function going forward?
Whether a company chooses to bring employees back onsite or keep them remote, one fact remains crucial: employee engagement levels are vital for determining overall company success. A recent workplace poll by Gallup revealed that higher employee engagement produces several positive company outcomes, including:
- 18% higher productivity
- 23% higher profitability
- 18 – 43% less employee turnover, depending on company size
- 81% lower absenteeism
With that data in mind, prioritizing employee engagement should be a no-brainer! However, finding suitable activities to engage your team meaningfully can be challenging.
We recently ran a LinkedIn survey, asking managers to share their biggest challenge when planning offsite team-building activities for work. The results were pretty unanimous: 58% of managers stated that the most challenging part of organizing team events was finding activities that everyone could enjoy!
Offsite events and activities are becoming increasingly popular with companies because they help promote employee engagement. Why? Activities and events create opportunities for teams to meet and connect, which is especially important for remote-first teams.
Some key benefits of offsite team activities
Team offsite ideas can focus on any critical company need, such as corporate training, team-building, important meetings, and orientations for new employees. Companies also often theme them around fun, rest, self-care, and relaxation. In short, offsite team-building activities and events have amazing potential to help your team improve creativity and collaboration in a post-COVID world. QuickBooks highlights five reasons to arrange offsite activities for your employees:
🎯 Clarify goals and roles, which will help put your employees on the same page.
🤝🏽 Strengthen relationships, which builds trust, increases camaraderie, and makes employees feel more like a team.
💡 Inspire creativity, as retreats create an environment for employees to share ideas for improving work processes, productivity, and working environments.
💪 Motivate employees, as they would appreciate your investment in and care for them.
🙌 Improves morale, as employees will leave feeling refreshed, full of energy, and motivated to pursue the shared company goals.
11 ideas for offsite team activities
So, it’s one thing to get excited about offsite company activities; it’s quite another finding what works best for your team. Fortunately, Thriver’s marketplace is chock-full of creative ideas for offsite meetings! Although many of these events are technically “virtual offsite activities,” you can easily bring them offsite by renting an event space or party room.
And to make your life easier, we suggest Thriver’s polling feature to help you better identify which of the following company offsite experiences your employees love.
1. Custom Comedy Show
There’s nothing like laughing and bonding to recharge your employees and put a new spark in their step.
A customizable comedy show is a unique offsite idea for virtual teams. Employees fill out a survey before the show, detailing their comedic preferences. The event curators will then use that feedback to create a personalized comedy show for your team! What’s even more exciting? This event showcases comics previously featured on Conan, Late Night with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and many more widely-known TV shows!
Price: starts at $1,080 (plus any offsite space or supply rentals).
2. Rediscover Your Purpose
After a long season of working from home (with the pandemic leaving little else to do), many employees may feel like they’ve lost their sense of purpose.
If your team is feeling a little aimless, you might consider hosting a workshop to help your employees rebuild a purpose-driven culture upon their return to work. This event allows employees to rediscover their inner motivators, tap into their innate strengths, and align their values with the company’s.
Price: starts at $2,285 for a group of any size.
3. Managing Up Workshop
Have you ever heard of “managing up”? Most employees aren’t consciously familiar with this skill, but it’s crucial for anyone who wants to improve their workplace relationships and network their way up the ladder.
At a managing up workshop, your employees will learn to “manage their managers” by identifying different management styles to achieve ideal outcomes for both parties! This workshop is online, but you are welcome to gather your employees offsite to engage them.
Price: starts at $1,499 for any group size.
4. Collaboration Workshop
After working from home for so long, it may be difficult for your employees to get used to collaborating in person again. This creativity and collaboration workshop available on Thriver’s marketplace will help your team get back into the spirit of teamwork and progress.
In addition to the workshop itself, participants will take home a document of brainstormed ideas and creative challenges to keep in their back pocket for the next time there’s an innovation lull!
Price: available upon request.
5. Trivia Tournament
Workshops and seminars can be wonderful and informative, but sometimes you need to cut loose from anything “professional” and activate other parts of your brain! A trivia tournament is a fantastic team-building activity for teams who need something fun, friendly, and competitive. The best part is this virtual team idea that can work offsite!
Price: starts at $25 per person.
6. Mindfulness Workshop
“Mindfulness” has become a buzzword lately, but it’s more than just a trend. Mindfulness (the practice of intentionally focusing on the present) can significantly improve physical and mental health and overall well-being.
This mindful leadership workshop is a perfect way to invest in your employees’ health and happiness and show that you care about their overall well-being. It will teach participants how to use mindfulness strategies to improve self-care, relationships, focus, and productivity.
Price: available upon request.
7. Improv Workshop
Another great offsite idea for your team is an improv team-building workshop. This light-hearted event encourages fun, laughter, and enjoying one another’s company. Best of all, it’s strictly group-based, meaning no one gets singled out or put on the spot, making this an excellent experience for introverts and extroverts alike!
Price: starts at $25 per person.
8. Self-Care Team Challenge
Your employees can’t effectively focus on office tasks if they don’t focus on themselves first. Using a self-care team challenge for your corporate offsite event will help your employees tune into how best to care for themselves.
How does it work? The self-care challenge is a virtual offsite activity delivered through daily emails, and internal communication prompts designed to leave your team feeling refreshed, recharged, and re-engaged. Participants will also receive resources to track their progress and hold each other accountable for wellness practices.
Price: starts at $1,500 for a minimum of ten participants.
9. Embracing Change and Uncertainty
Although we all hope that we’re moving toward the end stages of the pandemic, there’s no telling what other surprises the future of the workplace holds. With that in mind, you might consider hosting a workshop for embracing change and uncertainty.
This workshop uses highly relevant and engaging content to teach participants how to navigate change with the stages of grief. It also goes into the most common sources of change resistance and how to productively overcome them.
Price: starts at $1,900 for a minimum of three participants.
10. Creativity Workshop
According to a longitudinal NASA study, most adults are 96% less creative than they were as children. This loss of creativity is a personal disadvantage for many individuals and can significantly hinder companies hoping to be at the forefront of innovation and progress.
You can mitigate this by treating your employees to a creativity workshop designed to teach participants how to solve problems and draw from their creative strengths when encountering any challenge at work.
Price: Starts at $2,025 for a group of any size.
11. “Deluxe Offsite” Experience
If you’re struggling to settle on the right company offsite idea (or have no clue how to start planning your event), you can our offsite and retreat providers to build the ultimate experience.
This option allows you to work with experienced event planners who will arrange every aspect of your team’s offsite activities, from A to Z. That includes everything from flights and accommodations to refreshments and entertainment, all designed to fit your corporate organization’s unique goals and visions.
Price: available upon request.
Talk to Our Culture Experts Today
Thanks to the huge potential benefits, a rapidly growing number of companies are looking for work offsite ideas to boost ongoing employee engagement. If your team needs a change of pace to realign everyone’s focus, improve morale and get new ideas flowing, an offsite event may be the best method!
Still, knowing where to start isn’t always easy. Thriver’s Culture Experts are strategically positioned to advise you and suggest great offsite activities designed to take your employee engagement to a whole new level. Contact them today to plan a memorable event!
