What is a Team Building Event?

A team building event is a event where your employees and colleagues get together to collaborate on a task, compete against each other in a series of games, or just to hang out! There is a myriad of activities that can be done for a team building event that can get your employees and colleagues to work together and build positive relationships with each other.

Why are Team Building Events Important?

Team building events are important because it can help your corporation build a more positive corporate culture. Having team building events included in your corporation's operations builds your corporate culture by creating a corporation where employees will communicate with each other more effectively, employees will have a improved morale, employees will trust each other more, and employees will collaborate productively.

This all benefits your corporation as it increases the productivity of your corporation. This benefits you in the long term as it will greatly improve your efficacy at reaching your quarter, semi-annual, or annual goal.

How Would a Corporation Host Team Building Events During the Pandemic?

Traditional team building events usually has employees in close contact and interacting with each other, however, during this pandemic, this is no longer a plausible option. This should not deter your corporation from trying to host team building events. There are many virtual, social distancing in person, and hybrid options that allow your employees and colleagues to build their positive relationship through different events!

Quick Reads

Virtual Events
In-Person Events
Hybrid Events

Virtual Events

Have a Friday Happy Hour

Happy doesn’t always need to be in person! You can host a happy hour call with you and your colleagues or employees on Friday around 5pm.

You can have it be a BYOB (bring your own beverage) or have the company order from a cocktail delivery service to have cocktails delivered to all the employees.

This is a good time to bond with co-workers over drinks, and build positive relationships with each other.

Have Virtual Lunches

Virtual lunches are a great way for co-workers to hang out over food during the pandemic. It allows a relaxed environment for co-workers to interact with each other without the stressors of work. It allows co-workers to build a social relationship rather than purely a professional one, and often gives them a feeling of belonging.

Have Fun Challenges

Having fun challenges virtually allows a lighthearted aspect to a bit of competition. Virtual challenges for co-workers can include tracking steps to see who is still staying active even though they are working at home, or even who can dish out the most genuine compliments to their co-workers.

Having goals or competitions for employees that are not solely based upon work can lower their work stress and ensure more happiness and productivity.

Have a Satirical Awards Ceremony

A satirical awards ceremony monthly or quarterly with co-workers is a fun way for co-workers to have a good laugh about things that co-workers tend to do during virtual work. This is meant to be a lighthearted way for co-workers to bond and laugh together, so ensure the awards do not bring out things that may be sensitive to employees or colleagues.

Examples of awards that can be given is the employee that has the craziest or most interesting “zoom backgrounds” or has the most disruptive pets during meetings. Ensure that all awards do not offend or upset any member of the team or it could lead to derision instead of building positive relationships.

Do Crafts

Crafts can be done virtually and having an activity where employees make something together can be a good way to create and build positive relationships. Some craft ideas can be building gingerbread houses or learning to make their own reusable masks together.

Taking time out some time to do some arts and crafts allows employees to take their mind off work and reduce some fatigue from constantly staring at a computer screen. This can allow employees to re-energize during their workday to be more productive as the workday goes on.

Nature Photo Challenge

A nature photo challenge is a good team building event that does not need to take place in real time. Motivating your co-workers to take a photo outside is a good way to ensure employees do not spend all their time indoors. Since most people are working from home, they may not need to leave the house, but a change of scenery can always refresh the mind.

However, you would need to take into consideration that some areas of the world have the pandemic hit harder and may not be safe or legal to leave their place of residence. Take this into account when issuing a nature photo challenge so as not to exclude any colleagues.

Secret Santa

Secret Santa is a good way for people to share gifts during this pandemic. It may not be December yet, but sometimes in hard times, gifts can bring us joy. Hosting a Secret Santa event can bring joy to employees as the receive gifts from their co-workers that they have not seen in person since the beginning of the pandemic.

This is a good way to reconnect and tell your colleagues that they matter and deserve a gift, rekindling positive relationships with one-another.

MTV Cribs

Growing up in the states you may have seen the episode’s of MTV Cribs, but why not have colleagues give each other a tour of their “crib”? Since most corporations are still working remotely, where your co-workers live also functions as their workplace and it would be interesting and fun to see how your employees or colleagues have transformed their homes into their offices.

This light-hearted satire on MTV could bring back memories and nostalgia for employees who grew up with the show, or introduce the show to employees who have not grown up with it. This team building event is a way to understand and get to know your co-workers or employees better as they strive prove that their “crib” is better than yours.

Socially Distancing In-Person Events

Social Distancing Grilling

Social Distancing grilling is a good way for employees to see each other face-to-six-feet-away-face. This is a relatively safe way for co-workers to see each other and interact with each other after not seeing each other for the past few months. Depending on how comfortable people are about the pandemic and their worries, you could have a grill-master who has recently taken a COVID test or have people bring their own food.

This team building event allows people to rebuild their relationships with their co-workers which may have gotten rocky after being isolated from each other for a few months.

Scavenger Hunt

A scavenger hunt is a team building event that can be done in person and socially distant while both exercising the mind and the body. Employees can be placed into teams where each employee looks for a different object for their teams, allowing the activity to be socially distant.

Having a bit of friendly competition while still working in teams can help foster a professional team that can be more productive and communicate more proactively and effectively.

Go on a Run, Hike, Bike Ride

Exercising is important in one’s daily life, however exercise when taking the proper precautions during the pandemic has other benefits as well. Exercising can reduce stress, boost the immune system, and improve sleep.

Going for a run, hike, or bike ride with your co-workers is a good way to bond because exercising helps your body release endorphins to create a positive feeling. This team building event is a good way for you and your co-workers to create meaningful connections while also working on your cardio.

Pet Playdate

Meeting up with your co-workers with your pets for a pet playdate is also a good way to make meaningful connections and building positive relationships not just for you but also your pet. Pets, much like your co-workers, have been stuck at home due to the pandemic and need to be able to go out and play.

Bringing your pets for a playdate with your co-worker's pets allows you to build a positive relationship while connecting on a basic love for your pets. This corporate team building event can spread creating meaningful friendships between co-workers and the pets.

Hybrid Events

Hybrid events allow for people who are comfortable to do socially distancing in person events meet up and people who may not be fully comfortable with the idea, or live in a further proximity be able to all interact with each other while not leaving certain co-workers out of the team building event.

Watch Movies

Watching movies can be a hybrid event especially using apps like Netflix party where the co-workers who do not feel comfortable or could not show up in person can stream the movie in real time with a livechat with the co-workers watching the movie together. Co-workers who do show up for the event in person can socially distance themselves and watch the movie on a projector in a co-worker’s backyard.

Share Recipes

Sharing recipes is also another hybrid event that can be a strong team building event during the pandemic. People who feel comfortable and are able to meet in person can meet for a pot-luck style hangout in an outdoor space. This allows for co-workers to interact with each other while sharing delicious meals they prepared for each other.

The co-workers who are not comfortable or able to attend will be able to get the list of recipes from their co-workers and make the food themselves. This keeps them in to loop and does not have any co-workers feel like they are left out of the team building events that they are on a team for.

Back to You

These are 14 different corporate team building events that you can arrange and set-up for your employees or colleagues during the pandemic. This can help you keep your team working towards the same goal as well as maintaining possible strained relationships from being so isolated from one-another during these times.

What to Keep in Mind

While planning these events you may need to keep some additional factors in mind. Some in-person events may not be comfortable enough for some of your employees or colleagues to show up. Do not disregard their concerns, because of the pandemic they have a right to opt out of the team building events. Ensure that you try to plan a event that encompasses as many team members as possible to build the strongest possible team dynamic without some co-workers feeling left out.

However, some of the virtual or hybrid events can include team members that may not have the ability to show up based purely upon location. This is a good chance for them to interact with the team, that they have never been able to before. These corporate team building events may not be what you perceive as traditional team building events but they have a chance to incorporate more people and allow better colleague interactions during these difficult times

Try it out

It is time for you to try some of these corporate team building events for your own corporations and teams! Let us know which ones people enjoyed the most or if you found other team building events that can be run during the pandemic. Stay safe, and create and maintain strong positive relationships with your team!

If you're looking for an all-in-one software that helps you set up events, webinars, manage contacts, and more, consider booking a demo with Glue Up to see how our platform has helped organizations like yours run amazing events and make smarter decisions.