While many companies have hosted happy hours as part of the strategy for team building, employee field days are quickly taking over. While bringing your staff out for drinks after hours can be a good way for them to get to know each other better, when alcohol is involved, problems can and often do arise as it promotes a culture of work-related drinking. In fact, the Business Insider reports that alcoholism is a big problem within the legal industry for this very reason.
There are many other reasons hosting an employee field day is a much better option. A field day is a concept that’s taken from elementary schools, where children are divided up into teams to participate in various sports competitions in a friendly, upbeat atmosphere. The adult version is similar, aiming to get everyone of all levels out of the office for a while, participating in games, activities or even embarking on “field trips” outside of the workplace.
1- Boosting Employee Engagement
Participating in employee engagement activities that don’t feel like a day at the office, where workers can spend time together, sharing an experience or working towards a common goal, encourages bonding to happen more effectively and more organically. They’re aimed to boost employee engagement which brings a wide range of benefits to improve company culture and the business’ bottom line.
2- Improved Communication, Stronger Teams
An employee field day helps to improve communication, which leads to more efficient collaboration on work projects, stronger teams as a while and greater overall employee satisfaction. When staff members like who they work with, they tend to be more motivated to wake up in the morning and go to the office, bringing more energy and enthusiasm to the workday. Productivity is increased too.
3- Less Turnover
When you have employees that are engaged, your business will naturally experience lower turnover rates. When staff members are proud to be a part of a good company, have the right tools to do the best job possible, are respected and made to feel appreciated, they’re going to be happy and stick around. A field day allows employees to have fun occasionally instead of having to follow strict rules, with every minute on the clock felt like drudgery. In the end, there is less turnover, customers enjoy a better experience, shareholders do well, and the company can achieve greater success.
On the other hand, when employees are disengaged, research has found that performance dips and there is a much higher likelihood of turnover. Workers that exit the company can cost an employer 1.5 times their original salary. Engaged teams, on the other hand, result in 17% greater productivity and 21% higher profitability.
Related Reading:
7 Tips to Reduce Employee Turnover
The Bottom Line:
The relationships between coworkers plays a vital role in organizational success; the better connection between employees doesn’t just increase productivity, but may even improve the retention rates. A company field day can be a great way to give your employees a fresh way to enhance communication, improve engagement and build better connections with each other. As a fact of the matter, when the coworkers see each other for a fun activity outside of the office,they open up new lines of communication.
