We all know about companies like Google and Facebook that have nap rooms, cafeterias with sushi, and doggy daycare for their employees. Well, obviously that sounds amazing, but not all offices can incorporate that type of culture due to size or budget. That doesn’t mean you can’t create a really fun environment to help your employees thrive, you just have to be a little creative! Here are some ideas that we’ve implemented here at SAGE to help you get the ball rolling!
Play A Few Games: We have an events committee that volunteers their time every other month to come up with a company wide game that everyone can participate in. This doesn’t require a lot of time or money and it’s great for team building, so this is positive every way you look at it! For example, we have had Taboo tournaments, our own variations of Wheel of Fortune and Minute To Win It and we even give out prizes to the winners! The prizes can be anything from a $10 Starbucks gift card to fun and quirky promotional products.
Have A Snack: Everyone loves food, right? We occasionally hire a food truck or bring in Tiff’s Treats (fresh and warm cookies delivered!) or gourmet popcorn and it’s a huge hit! Also, potlucks and pie or chili cook off contests are a fantastic and inexpensive way to get people involved and provide food for your whole company.
Spread The Spirit: We love holidays around here, especially if involves dressing up! Holidays like: St. Patricks Day, the Fourth of July, Halloween and a tacky holiday sweater day are always the most popular. Plus, our office is located in Texas so football season basically counts as a holiday and we wear our favorite team jerseys on big game days!
Community Service: We also have a community service committee that seeks out and organizes opportunities for us to spend a few hours every couple of months volunteering. We also regularly incorporate food drives and silent auctions to benefit different charitable organizations in our community.
Employee Appreciation: We have two of these events a year. One is held in the summer on a weekend and is typically family oriented where employees can invite their significant others and children to participate. We usually go bowling or play volleyball or mini-golf. It doesn’t have to be expensive to be a great time for everyone involved!
Our other appreciation event happens toward the end of the year to recognize individual employees for their contributions to the company. Our president and CEO speak about the state of the company and personally present peer & management voted awards to the winners. In addition, we recognize those that have tenure with the company and they receive little tokens of appreciation for their time spent with SAGE. On that day, we have a catered lunch for everyone to enjoy, a slideshow of all of the year’s hilarious photos from around the office or on the road and that evening we have our annual holiday party where everyone can relax and get to know each other better outside of the office.
Never underestimate the value of spending a little quality time with your employees. Click To TweetAfter all, we spend more waking hours in the week with our colleagues than we do our own families. Getting to know people on a more personal level fosters a healthy and pleasant working environment where employees learn to work better together, build trust and just have a little fun once in a while!
