One of my mentors used to say “The team that plays together stays together.”

Besides happy hours, here are some ways to increase employee morale and have fun together:

(1) Go Off-Campus: Taking a field trip is a great way to let your guards down and get to know each other freely. This can be as simple as an off-campus lunch or a trip to a baseball game.

(2) Volunteer Together: Getting together to give back is a great way to bond. Employees can get involved in kicking off the process by letting the team decide as a group what volunteer activity they would like to participate in.

(3) Friendly Competition: Get everyone moving and connecting without taking out a lot of time out of the workday. Hold a competition to see which team can build the tallest tower out of office supplies in fifteen minutes. Or have teams build a miniature golf obstacle coarse in a half hour and then spend the second half hour playing them.

(4) Take an Employee to Work Day: Build communication and understanding across departments by scheduling employees to visit another department for “Take an Employee to Work Day”. Employees are naturally curious what other employees do. This satisfies their interest and enhances cross department cooperation.

(5) Pop-Up Party: Planned or even more fun - unplanned - pop up parties keep an element of surprise in the workplace. At Hyland Software, their culture team spontaneously throws parties, announced through social media, to keep employees on their toes. Parties could include pop up Make Your Own Smoothie, pop up donuts and coffee, or pop up birthday party celebrating employees with birthdays that month.

Many forward thinking companies are moving from old HR roles to new Culture Management positions, where the focus is on building company culture, employee satisfaction and retention, and having fun in the workplace.

For more ideas about spicing up your workplace, contact me for a complimentary consultation.