Every organization, regardless of size or specialization, faces one key problem at some point: how to improve and sustain overall employee productivity and performance. If your remote team is facing that challenge right now, remember one thing: productivity is closely tied to employee engagement. Therefore, it’s important to provide regular, quality opportunities for everyone to bond and collaborate in an informal setting.
One way to accomplish that for your remote team is by consistently hosting virtual team-building activities. But not just any trivial virtual team activities will do! After extended periods of working remotely, note that people are generally tired of online time. As such, it’s crucial to plan your online events very carefully and choose activities that suit your team’s interests and sensibilities. Also, since the goal here is to foster collaboration and team bonding, try to incorporate ideas that also involve learning and skill-building.
Lacking inspiration? Then you’re in luck! This list combines 27 of some of the best virtual team-building activities available on the Thriver platform, so check them out to get your team bonding ball rolling!
Note that all ideas shared in this article have a recommended duration, format, group size and budget. Final cost and activity specifics may vary depending on your company and team requirements.
27 Immersive Team-Building Activities to Host Over Zoom
Before we dive into the virtual office game ideas themselves, here’s an important event scheduling tip to remember: try hosting activities around the middle or during the last hours of the work day. This will help your team avoid extended Zoom times which will add to the overall positive experience! Alright, let’s get to it.
Check out Thriver’s list of team-building activities for more fun at the workplace.
Virtual Icebreaker – Around the World
Have you ever seen Around the World in 80 Days? This virtual team-building icebreaker is like that but designed to help your team network and learn more about other cultures and each other! This is the perfect virtual game for coworkers that are new to the team or haven’t met up in a long time.
Duration: 60 minutes
Group size: Minimum of 8
Budget: CAD $40 / person
Name that Tune
You don’t have to be an expert at musical genres to enjoy playing Name that Tune, but it certainly helps! This online game is great for team-building because it naturally incorporates collaboration as teams compete in over three rounds of musical trivia!
Duration: 60 minutes
Group size: Minimum of 30
Budget: CAD $40 / person
Escape Room: Escape From the Alternate Dimension
As hard as it may be to imagine, escape rooms can also work online! This team-building activity is designed to promote teamwork and problem-solving, making it a fantastic game for remote teams. Participants must draw deeply on their critical thinking skills to escape from an eternity of being trapped in an alternate reality.
Duration: 90 minutes
Group size: Minimum of 4
Budget: CAD $35 / person
The Wilting Peony: Mystery Game
Who doesn’t love a good Whodunnit? In this virtual team game, detectives must work together to unmask the murderer. Until then, the innocent can’t rest easy!
Duration: 90 minutes
Group size: 9 – 12 persons
Budget: CAD $35 / person
Virtual Trivia
One of the easiest team-building activities to plan for remote teams is a trivia game. The rules are pretty simple: divide people into teams, choose a few topics, and ask questions. While fun and engaging, it’s also an excellent opportunity to incorporate collaborative problem-solving!
Duration: 90 minutes
Group size: Minimum of 12
Budget: CAD $35 / person
This virtual game idea is another option for teams who enjoy question-and-answer-style activities. Teams will compete in groups of 5-8 over three rounds of competition inspired by all-time-favorite game shows like Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.
Duration: 60 minutes
Group size: Minimum of 20
Budget: CAD $50 / person
Virtual Survey Says
Inspired by Family Feud – the Online Game Show, this fun virtual activity will inspire your team’s competitive streak! Participants will work to outperform each other over several game rounds with the guidance of a live, interactive game show host.
Duration: N/A
Group size: 10 – 50 (or up to 1,000, at additional cost)
Budget: Starting from CAD $1,965 (plus $375 for each additional 25 participants)
Taboo, Team Jeopardy, and Coffee!
As the name suggests, this virtual group activity involves highly collaborative rounds of two different games, Taboo and Team Jeopardy. Get ready to ignite some team spirit like never before!
Duration: 60 minutes
Group size: Minimum of 8
Budget: CAD $35 / person
Online Office Olympics
If you’ve seen any of our previously published list of group game ideas, you’ve probably come across this suggestion a few times. That’s because this remote team-building activity never disappoints! Guided by a live host, this event brings together a fun collection of popular games and challenges that will challenge your team’s problem-solving, critical thinking and collaborative skills.
Duration: 90 minutes
Group size: Minimum of 10
Budget: CAD $45 / person
The Apocalypse
This fun, immersive team-building virtual activity will usher your team members into an imaginary world where they will solve unique challenges and riddles using real-world elements, making it another fantastic option for sharpening everyone’s problem-solving and collaboration skills.
Duration: 60 minutes
Group size: 3 – 50 persons
Budget: CAD $35 / person
Improv Team Building Workshop
Improv is one of the best games for remote team building because it is a group-based activity where no one is singled out, making it perfect for introverts and extroverts alike. This activity will help your team to connect through icebreakers, word association, storytelling games, and more.
Duration: 60 minutes
Group size: Minimum of 15
Budget: CAD $30 / person
Laughing and Bonding
Since laughter is said to produce many health benefits, you can count on this remote team-building activity to deliver lots of cheer every time. The performing comics have been featured on Conan, The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, and other comedy show classics, so you already know this is going to be good!
Duration: 30 minutes
Group size: Any order size
Budget: CAD $1,130
Mini-Games Adventure
This live-hosted event will deliver highly entertaining, fast-paced activities that your team will absolutely love, including a word puzzler, a scavenger hunt, and other fun virtual games for teams. Participants will be able to connect and build relationships as they collaborate in teams to find answers and complete challenges.
Duration: 60 minutes
Group size: Minimum of 20
Budget: CAD $40 / person
Guess-My-Sketch
This exciting Pictionary-style group-based game will help your team bond as they unleash their collective creative energy to sketch and guess images.
Duration: 60 minutes
Group size: Minimum of 20
Budget: CAD $35 / person
Celebrate Your Teams Wins
As you brainstorm team-building activities for work, don’t forget to include ideas that intentionally promote wellness. This event will help participants celebrate their successes as they pause, contemplate, and acknowledge the team’s wins, both individual and collective.
Duration: 45 minutes
Group size: Maximum 50
Budget: CAD $600
Paint Nite
Get creative with your team building! Paint Night is your opportunity to unleash your inner artist while enjoying some beverages and banter with coworkers.
Professional artists will guide you through completing your version of the featured image, step-by-step.
Duration: 90 minutes
Group size: Minimum of 15
Budget: CAD $40 / person
Get Drawn Together
During this sketch-and-sip event guided by a live instructor, team members will spend time together chatting and connecting as they follow step-by-step instructions to bring their art ideas to life.
Duration: 60 minutes
Group size: Minimum of 10
Budget: CAD $35 / person
Chocolate Tasting
Few people dislike chocolate, so you almost can’t go wrong with this virtual team-building activity. It promotes audience engagement through sensory exploration of some of the world’s best chocolate brands. Not only that, but participants will also learn things about the ‘Chocolate Revolution’ as they enjoy their sweets!
Duration: 60 minutes
Group size: Minimum of 15
Budget: CAD $135 / person
Classic Bourbon Cocktails
During this activity, participants will learn how to prepare some easy versions of classic cocktails. This get-together will please your cocktail-loving team members and introduce the idea to those who are curious to try them!
Duration: 45 minutes
Group size: Minimum of 10
Budget: CAD $120 / person
Meal Prep 101 Cooking Class
Cooking is arguably the most important skill for every adult to master! With the help of an award-winning nutritionist, your team will learn how to brainstorm, plan and prepare a fridge full of delicious, healthy meals with minimal stress.
Duration: 60 minutes
Group size: Any order size
Budget: Starting from CAD $595
Hot Sauce Making Class
Pass the sauce, please! Those words will become commonplace around many a dinner table once you treat your team to this class. An expert will take participants through all the steps and tricks necessary for preparing a delicious hot sauce from scratch. They’ll even learn about various methods of canning, prolonging shelf life, and more.
Duration: 60 minutes
Group size: Minimum of 12
Budget: CAD $50 / person
Virtual Chair Yoga
Help your team members bond, relax, strengthen their joints, and boost their overall wellness through this virtual class led by an expert instructor.
Duration: 30 minutes
Group size: Minimum of 10
Budget: CAD $10 / person
Creativity and Collaboration
Most of us found creativity easy as kids, but over time, many of us have lost that ability. The good news is creativity is a skill that can be re-learned! This fun, interactive workshop will help your team unlock their creative power and strengthen their collaboration skills.
Duration: 90 minutes
Group size: 10 – 30 persons
Budget: Prices are available upon request
Building Stronger Teams and Client Relationships
This workshop is another perfect opportunity for team bonding in a virtual setting! It focuses on strengthening the emotional intelligence (or EQ) of participants, which will help with customer and team connections.
Duration: 60 minutes
Group size: Minimum of 1
Budget: CAD $2,105
Virtual Communication Skills
This virtual team bonding activity specifically aims to hone your team members’ online communication skills. Participants will learn techniques and best practices for virtual delivery and engagement, improving overall team relations.
Duration: 60 minutes
Group size: Any order size
Budget: CAD $2,110
The Connected Team
Studies show that psychological safety impacts productivity. As such, this workshop is a must-do team-building activity! Participants will learn to create instant and deep connections that foster team-wide psychological safety for all.
Duration: 120 minutes
Group size: Minimum of 40
Budget: CAD $55 / person
Chess 101
Lastly, we can’t talk about virtual team games for the workplace without mentioning one of the most engaging games ever invented: chess. While chess can be highly competitive, this class creates a light-hearted atmosphere where participants can strengthen their strategic and critical thinking skills.
Duration: 60 minutes
Group size: Minimum of 10
Budget: CAD $35 / person
There you have it, 27 remote team building games and activities designed to sustain a cohesive, well-bonded remote team that will communicate and collaborate more effectively.