The workplace isn’t meant to be a play zone, but workers who feel a sense of camaraderie tend to be more effective and satisfied. That is especially important in an office where employees come from diverse backgrounds because it serves to build a common bond, which should lead to better working relationships. Try to promote that sense of camaraderie through occasional company-sponsored events. Here are some ideas that will be free or relatively cheap for you while encouraging your employees to have fun together and build relationships within your company:
- Have potluck lunches with a theme.
- Have a game day where employees come dressed in sports team gear. Have employees bring in hot dogs and hamburgers and pasta salad. Maybe you could afford to buy a small grill or someone could volunteer to bring one.
- Encourage management to straighten up their areas and offer to help each individual “get organized.” Work together to get things filed and organized.
- Put up a brag board. Employees can pin up pictures of their kids, pets, new homes, or cars or announce events like musical performances or plays they’ll appear in. This will allow your employees to share the things that are important to them, generate conversation, and help create a sense of community.
- Get local retailers and businesses to give your employees discounts on their services or items.
- Have small contests, and give employees a free paid day off. Contests don’t have to be work-related — you could do a “Guess Who” picture contest where people bring in baby pictures and you have to guess who’s who. If you can’t offer a paid day off, that’s OK. The prize doesn’t have to be significant — you can buy a small trophy for under $10 at a local trophy or sporting goods store.
- Set up a trivia board in the break room on which employees during their free time can write trivia questions for others to answer as they walk by. Everyone has a chance to test his or her knowledge of trivia.
- Hold a “Who can dress in the most colors?” day.
- Develop a “fun calendar.” Schedule fun events on a regular basis, and get your employees to carry them out. Or better yet, let your employees decide what events belong on the “fun calendar.”
- Select (or ask your employees to select) and promote a theme for the year. Build store events, perks, and awards around the theme.
- Have a cookie (or cake, or dessert, or any other dish) contest. Tell entrants to bring enough for everyone (if possible, or if you are a larger operation, encourage entrants to at least make a double batch) and make “secret ballots” on which your other employees can vote for categories such as “Best Traditional Cookie,” “Most Unique Cookie,” and “Best Chocolate Cookie.” Have small kitchen-related awards for the winners (a set of measuring cups, a cookie cookbook, or a kitchen apron).
For more low-cost ideas for engaging your workforce and showing employees that you appreciate them, download the free white paper “Giving Thanks: How to Show Employees They’re #1 Without Breaking the Bank.”