With employee retention always a hot topic, finding different ways to keep graduates engaged and motivated is a huge priority for employers across every sector.
Time and time again, we talk about how company culture is the key to successful graduate recruitment and retention – helping to build morale, develop interpersonal skills, and increase collaboration.
Whether it’s a sporting challenge, a charity fundraiser or a trivia night – here’s our ultimate list of team-building activities to build a great company culture.
Corporate team-building activities for your company
1. Escape Room
Escape room team building is a rising new trend, that encourages players to work together to solve a mystery and escape from a room within a set amount of time.
For teams, it can have a number of great benefits; like encouraging leadership skills, resolving conflict and inspiring collaboration between even the most unlikely team members – making it a great activity for team building.
2. Office-Based Trivia
If you’re looking for corporate team-building activities on a budget, office trivia is a great choice, which involves quizzing your team on what they know about each other.
As well as helping those on different sides of the business learn more about their colleagues, office-based trivia can also improve communication and listening skills.
If you’re looking for 5-minute team-building activities that will help boost collaboration, you could even try presenting a few questions every day.
3. Treasure Hunt
Scavenger or treasure hunts are one of the most valuable team-building ideas in terms of improving team relations.
Try putting people who wouldn’t usually work together in the same team – it’ll give them a better idea of how the other works, and vice versa.
There are plenty of companies across the UK who will set one up for you – but if you really want a challenge, organise your own.
4. Sushi Making
Team building doesn’t have to come in the form of mental or physical challenges – work social event ideas can be as simple as trying something new as a team, such as a cooking class.
As they go, a sushi-making class is one of the best – as they’ll usually be able to cater to all dietary requirements.
5. The Crystal Maze
Inspired by the famous 90’s game show, the Crystal Maze sees teams pitted against one another and tasked with a range of mental, physical and skill-based challenges in order to win a crystal.
Open to any number between 10 and 1000 people, and a perfect group activity for adults, the Crystal Maze is a perfect corporate team-building activity to get your team working together on complex challenges.
6. Ready, Steady, Bake!
Perfect for novice bakers and wannabe professionals alike, your team will receive a short demonstration, followed up by a challenge to bake a specific treat.
‘Ready, Steady, Bake!‘ is planned out so that the ‘best’ team (the one that uses the strengths of each individual most effectively) wins.
7. Sponsored Walk
Want to help your team bond while also helping others?
A sponsored walk or other fundraising activities can be a great way to boost your CSR policy – as well as help boost team morale and job satisfaction – all while having fun.
8. Murder Mystery
Do your employees have the problem-solving and listening skills to work out whodunnit?
Perfect for an evening after work, a murder mystery is not only a lot of fun, but is actually a great way to improve morale and help employees understand each other better – making it one of our ultimate favourite team-building activities.
9. Bowling
One you can plan on your own, bowling is a great idea for corporate team building because it can be played individually, or in teams.
Bowling is a great way to encourage team morale, boost positive reinforcement, and have some fun.
Plus it’s not just for companies in London; you can find a bowling alley to host your team-building event wherever you’re based in the UK.
10. Go-Kart Racing
Go-karting is a great way to get your employees working together – and the adrenaline pumping!
Fun corporate team-building activities such as go-karting are a great way to get different employees together, from your new graduate hire right up to your C-level employees – there are no holds barred here!
11. Virtual Reality
If you’re looking for a corporate team-building activity that will challenge your employees and improve communication between teams, VR can offer a range of different team-building experiences to suit your requirements.
Virtual reality is a great way to take your employees out of their comfort zone, and will certainly be memorable!
12. Sailing Day
One of the higher-end in terms of price, a team-building sailing day requires teams to work together in a high-pressure situation in order to get results.
Open to teams of 4 right up to 400, a sailing day is an exciting, challenging corporate team-building activity that will see your future business leaders emerge.
13. Field Games
Take your team ‘back to school’ with games like the egg-and-spoon, sack race, relay race and rounders.
If you’ve got a green space near your office, it’s the perfect corporate team-building idea to get your employees together, help them stay fit, and have a laugh as a team.
14. Beat The Clock Challenges
‘Beat the clock’ style challenges are a great opportunity to assess how well your team performs under pressure.
Even better, these kinds of corporate activities allow team members to nominate themselves or others to play particular roles or undertake particular challenges, some physical, and some mental – playing on the strengths and behavioural styles of employees.
15. Circus Skills Workshop
Sometimes it’s a good idea to take everyone out of their comfort zone – and what better than a corporate circus skills workshop to do so?
One of the more unusual team-building activities, your employees will get the chance to learn a range of different skills to bring back to the office.
16. Robot Wars
Inspired by their namesake television show, Robot Wars-style events are hosted in cities right across the UK.
They are a great team-building activity to encourage critical thinking, teamwork and problem-solving skills – just don’t put all your engineers on one team!
17. Archery
A quick win, archery doesn’t have to take up an entire working day, and just a Friday afternoon can be beneficial.
Offering a real range of benefits, archery is an outdoor team-building activity that can really help to boost individuals’ confidence and improve concentration.
18. Paintball
Corporate paintballing is not only a great day out, but it does have real benefits for team building – including boosting staff morale, productivity, and teamwork – all of which are transferable to the workplace.
19. Movie Making
Hoping to encourage creativity within your team?
Movie making is a great indoor team-building activity, which will see teams tasked with thinking up a concept, planning, directing and producing a short movie or video.
There are many companies that will help you plan the logistics – but if you’ve got a couple of iPads lying around, and you’ve downloaded some video editing software, it’s possible to plan the day on your own.
20. Go Ape
Maybe not one for the whole team, but if you’re looking for a physical challenge that will see your employees take on obstacles, zip lines and crossings, Go Ape is a great choice – and one that will really take your graduate hires out of their comfort zone.
As corporate team-building activities go, this is one that will get your graduate employees’ adrenaline pumping – a great way to boost morale and motivation in your team!
21. Guided meditation
Looking for a corporate team-building exercise that will also help reduce stress levels and improve performance?
A guided meditation can be a fantastic team-building exercise for all members of staff, encouraging employees to be aware of their emotions, and ultimately increasing productivity across your business.
If you’re concerned with junior talent acquisition, engagement, and employee retention, team-building exercises need to be a central part of your graduate recruitment strategy.
With activities ranging from physical challenges to mental tasks, there should be a team-building exercise to suit your team and your unique goals.
Looking to hire graduates for your business? We are the grad recruitment Agency with a difference – get in touch today to find out why we’re the best recruitment agency in London.
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