You might have seen the back-and-forth taking place on LinkedIn recently. First, somebody writes a heartfelt publish about how distant work modified their life, gathering tons of of likes. Then another person hits again with a publish about how they miss their colleagues.
As dozens of individuals battle it out within the feedback part, just one factor is evident: the distant work debate is much from black and white. However with many firms specializing in worker retention and worker turnover because the COVID-19 pandemic, making a optimistic work tradition and holding worker well-being in thoughts is essential to forestall burnout.
At TravelPerk, we had been curious how most firms have been approaching crew constructing and in-person occasions because the pandemic. We reached out to admins, workplace managers, and journey managers to deliver you a number of key team-building and collaboration statistics. The professionals we surveyed come from a worldwide pool of various organizations, various in measurement from 1-25 workers to 1000+ workers. We requested them what sorts of occasions they’ve been planning, how they arrange these occasions, and the way typically they plan to deliver their groups collectively.
Because it seems, working remotely and seeing your colleagues face-to-face aren’t mutually unique: most individuals love each! We discovered that the majority firms are actually organizing extra in-person occasions than they did over the previous 12 months. Even for distant groups and distributed groups, “IRL” (in actual life) contact nonetheless issues.
Right here’s what we discovered in our latest Groups Collectively survey:
Key crew constructing statistics for 2022
- 81% of respondents are organizing extra face-to-face occasions in comparison with the final 12 months
- The preferred occasion varieties are crew lunches/dinners (70%)
- A very powerful issue when selecting an occasion venue is discovering a location near the workplace (33%)
- When organizing crew occasions, respondents care most about staying inside price range (62%), planning enjoyable actions (49%), and making certain as a lot attendance as potential (37%)
- Probably the most troublesome factor about occasion planning is making last-minute adjustments (37%)
Most firms organize crew get-togethers month-to-month
Our survey included distant, hybrid, and absolutely in-person groups. Our analysis reveals that every one all these groups get collectively for company occasions, with most doing so regularly. Over 1 / 4 of firms mentioned they prefer to get collectively as soon as a month, whereas 22% want each three months.
Common occasions assist organizations keep per their team-building packages. To construct a powerful firm tradition and crew tradition, it helps if colleagues know once they can count on to see one another in individual subsequent.
Whereas weekly meet-ups make sense for sure sorts of groups (9% of survey respondents mentioned they met weekly), most groups discover that month-to-month, quarterly, or bi-annual meetups provide the right stability between unbiased work and in-person collaboration.
Groups love particular meals and seasonal occasions
Who doesn’t prefer to bond over meals? Almost 70% of our respondents mentioned crew lunches or dinners had been a preferred occasion possibility, whereas practically 60% mentioned they’re planning seasonal events (like a Christmas social gathering or summer time social gathering).
However there are many different occasion choices that groups love. Half of the respondents mentioned they’re planning team-building actions, whereas 46% are planning after-work socials, and 44% are planning workshops.
When selecting which sort of occasion to host, you’ll want to think about time, location, relevance, and crew members’ preferences. In the event you’re undecided what individuals wish to do, take into account sending out an organization survey to search out out.
Want inspiration on your subsequent crew occasion?
Most firms are reserving enterprise journey on web sites designed for leisure journey
Do you know there are particular instruments designed to streamline enterprise journey reserving? In the event you answered “no”, don’t fear—most firms are nonetheless utilizing client platforms to guide their enterprise journey.
In the case of organizing journey, the info present an identical pattern: most companies don’t use specialised collaboration instruments to prepare their occasion, with 79% utilizing electronic mail and 58% utilizing Outlook Calendar.
If this appears like your organization, you’ll positively wish to look into enterprise journey reserving instruments. These instruments provide many unique advantages for organizations, comparable to group reserving reductions. Most companies (55%) say they don’t at present get particular group reductions when touring.
However enterprise journey reserving software program, comparable to TravelPerk Occasions, will assist your organization lower your expenses on occasion journey with company reserving charges. It may additionally aid you talk with occasion attendees successfully, with out the effort of lengthy electronic mail chains. With TravelPerk Occasions, you may simply guide journey and lodging, share schedules and actions, and hold everybody up to date on adjustments—all on a single, easy-to-use platform. To be taught extra, try our information to bringing your crew collectively, with out the stress.
See how TravelPerk makes enterprise journey stress free
Location could make or break your occasion
When selecting an occasion location, most firms wish to keep handy and near the workplace. However selecting an fascinating location is a high precedence as nicely. Almost 13% of respondents named this as their primary consideration, beating out different elements like worth and lodging choices.
It may be robust to consider cool, inexpensive, and handy areas which might be accessible to everybody. To get some concepts, try our guides to the high 20 worldwide enterprise journey locations, and the high 15 retreat areas in Europe.
Staying inside price range is high precedence
Journey managers and admins know the way essential it’s to keep inside price range throughout an organization occasion. The price of venue bookings, transport bookings, and lodge bookings can actually add up.
So it’s no shock that practically 62% of respondents mentioned sticking to a price range was certainly one of their high three concerns when organizing a crew occasion. Another key concerns are planning enjoyable actions, managing attendance, selecting nice meals choices, and discovering an thrilling location.
When attempting to stay to a price range, it’s necessary to ensure your crew is reserving journey inside your firm coverage. Enterprise journey reserving software program can automate the approval course of for you, ensuring your vacationers’ journeys keep on observe, and your occasion doesn’t find yourself costing greater than deliberate.
Final-minute adjustments generally is a problem
Let’s face it: organizing a crew occasion isn’t at all times straightforward. There are at all times hiccups which will come up alongside the way in which. We requested our respondents to charge 9 potential challenges as “straightforward”, “okay”, or “troublesome.”
Probably the most difficult issue was managing last-minute adjustments, which 38% of respondents rated as “troublesome.” Different roadblocks included discovering dates that work for everybody (34%), discovering an acceptable venue/location (22%), and securing price range (22%).
Fortunately, these difficulties are removed from insurmountable—there are tons of options on the market that may assist. For instance, with TravelPerk’s FlexiPerk program, you may pay a small payment to make any journey refundable and get at the very least 80% of your a refund. FlexiPerk affords 40% common financial savings in comparison with conventional versatile fares, making last-minute adjustments so much much less anxious to take care of.
Major takeaways and subsequent steps
In brief, right here’s a fast abstract of what we discovered from our Groups Collectively survey:
- In a distant and hybrid world, face-to-face crew communication nonetheless issues. Firms are reserving extra in-person occasions than earlier than, as they search out new methods to be taught, develop, and bond whereas selling teamwork.
- At present’s groups like to journey for firm occasions, particularly social occasions like lunches and events. They usually journey typically, with many selecting to meet up on a month-to-month foundation.
- Firms care about selecting the most effective areas, planning enjoyable actions, and discovering the appropriate meals choices—however in addition they face challenges, like staying inside price range and dealing with last-minute adjustments.
- Most firms are utilizing websites designed for leisure journey to guide enterprise journey, despite the fact that they could possibly be lacking out on efficiencies and price financial savings.
P.S. The enterprise advantages of crew constructing
You might be questioning if firm occasions are actually value it from a enterprise perspective. The reply is: completely!
Crew constructing occasions assist create a optimistic work atmosphere the place collaborative work can occur. By way of icebreakers and different team-building actions, nice groups can get to know one another higher and develop wholesome communication patterns, bettering crew collaboration, worker morale, and job satisfaction.
By investing in office collaboration initiatives, like crew constructing initiatives and occasions, you’ll create extra engaged workers who use efficient communication methods within the office. Occasions additionally provide an excellent alternative to reward high-performing and efficient groups for a job nicely finished. As much as 55% of worker engagement is pushed by one of these non-financial recognition, in keeping with McKinsey. Finally, worker engagement and worker satisfaction can influence firms’ backside line and profitability.
Excessive-performing groups begin with shared tradition and values, in keeping with Harvard Enterprise Overview, and face-to-face contact may also help construct up this tradition in a extra direct manner than digital conferences or digital team-building actions. As well as, in keeping with Gallup, highly-engaged enterprise models get pleasure from higher crew efficiency, together with 81% decrease absenteeism and 14% increased productiveness.
