As restrictions and regulations begin to lift around the world and gatherings between coworkers become increasingly common, organizations are looking for ways to build team morale and encourage communication between peers.
Corporate team building events are the natural solution.
Yet not all companies are back to “normal”. In fact, the “new normal” is probably changing for a number of companies. Some businesses are still fully remote, other companies are enforcing hybrid workforce models and other organizations are slowly bringing all team members back into the office.
That means when your organization is looking to plan a team building event for your employees, you probably have one question:
“Should I host a virtual team building event or a physical team building event?”
In this blog, we answer all of your questions about how both live physical team building events and virtual team building events work. We hope this helps your business make a strategic decision that maximizes the ROI you realize from a live team building event.
Why is team building important for business?
Team building should be an ongoing strategy by your organization that aims at transforming your employees from a group of individuals contributing to your business, into a cohesive team that is working towards achieving the overall goals and values of your brand.
There are a number of ways you can enhance your team building strategy, from structured activities that promote communication, the creation of a ‘company culture’, weekly team meetings and many other initiatives that focus on team development.
One way to optimize your team building strategy is to host team building activities. These can be either in-person or virtual events.
What is a live in-person team building event?
Corporate team building events are company-wide, or department-wide, activities that aim to motivate your employees to work together, to develop their strengths and to address any weaknesses they have as a team.
In-person events take place in a venue (it could be something formal like a hotel or something informal like your office), with your team members all in one physical location.
Corporate team building events are designed to be fun, engaging, exciting and highly interactive. These events could include anything from charity events, game shows, quizzes, escape games, health and wellness events and so many other activities that get your employees working collaboratively together.
What is a virtual team building event?
In this world of remote work, your business doesn’t just have to rely on in-person team building events to build relationships across your business. Virtual team building events provide the same benefits.
Virtual team building activities are essentially the same as in-person activities, but with one main difference - they are online.
Teams still take part in fun and exciting activities that help them build stronger bonds, communicate with one another and develop their strengths, but instead of doing this in person, they are instead face-to-face through a video conference call instead.
What are the benefits of hosting an in-person or virtual team building event?
Hosting an exciting and collaborative team building event for your staff members can bring huge benefits for both your business and your employees. Here are just a few of the main benefits you can expect to realize:
- Better communication and collaboration between employees.
- Improved staff loyalty, resulting in decreased turnover and less absenteeism.
- Increased confidence that results in improved decision-making and out-of-the-box thinking.
- More productive team members.
- Enhanced company culture and the creation of a more enjoyable work environment.
- Employees have greater respect for your organization and the leaders within it when money is being invested back into them.
- And so many other benefits!
What is the best team building event for your business?
So, now you know the difference between an in-person team building event vs. a virtual team building event, as well as the benefits that both activities bring your organization, what type of event is the right choice for you?
This truly depends on the makeup of your business and the goals you are looking to achieve. If your workforce is spread out across a large geography with the majority of your workforce then it will probably be easier and more effective to host a virtual event for your team.
On the other hand, if your employees have now moved back to your office and the vast majority of your workers are all in one location, and current regulations allow, then it might be more effective to host an in-person corporate team building event.
Unsure which is best for you? Get in touch with Teambonders today. Our team of skilled corporate event creators would love to hear what your company’s objectives are and help you find an event that helps you achieve those goals.
