You know that burnout is a real thing. Sitting at the same desk, in the same place all day, can be tedious. It can be hard to get your head in the game when you’re just staring at a screen, bored and uninspired. But it doesn’t have to be this way! Your employees can do loads of fun activities to take their minds off the dullness and frustration of their daily grind.
1. Not So Boring Board Games
Board games can be a great way to get your employees to relax, have some fun, and relieve stress. So why not host a board game day? If you already have a table and chairs arranged in the office, all you need is some snacks and drinks to make this ideal. Board games tend to be quite social, so it’s also a great way for your employees to chat with each other.
2. The Office Cook-Off
Rivalry is healthy, as long as it’s fair. The rivalry between employees can be fun and add some competitiveness to the workplace. Get employees to enter a competition of who can make the best dish or dessert. They can get together with their colleagues, whip up something, or even purchase ingredients online. You could even have a theme each month, so they’re always trying to one-up each other.
3. The Escape Room
If you think your employees might like a challenge, why not host an escape room? This is one of the most engaging games around. It involves teams of people working together to solve puzzles to obtain a key needed to escape a room, all within a set time limit. Think of it as a high-tech treasure hunt. And the best part? You only have to spend a little bit of money, and this activity builds team-building skills.
4. The Karaoke with a Twist
If your employees feel a little down, host karaoke to help lift their spirits. It’s probably already on your office calendar anyway, so why not make it fun? Instead of going to another venue, hire a team to come in and set it all up at the workplace. Have some props employees can use and see who has the best voice. You could even let the employees bring their karaoke machines to get more involved.
5. The Office Quiz Night
A quiz night is a great way to get your employees active and thinking. If you’ve got many employees, you should consider doing it in teams of 4 or 5 people. The teams can go head-to-head with another office or team and have a good laugh. It’s fun, engaging, and makes for lots of conversation. It could even benefit staff development when the quiz is about something slightly harder than just general knowledge.
6. The Office Olympics
This is a great way to get exercise, and it’s fun. Get employees to compete against each other in various competitions, such as a swimming pool race, volleyball, or even a tug of war. Make sure you have lots of prizes for the winning teams, and you could even award medals. You should encourage your employees to get involved and take part, not just watch from the sidelines.
7. The Retro Game Night
This would be good at Christmas time or over the festive period when everyone feels bored just sitting indoors. Get your employees to bring along their old consoles or games and see if they can get them working again.
8. Few Truths and a Lie
This is a great game to play during lunch breaks. The employees have to think of about two interesting facts about themselves in addition to one cleverly crafted lie. They will then announce their facts and one lie to the group. Each employee will take turns guessing what everyone’s lie is. Award a small prize to the people who guess correctly.
9. The Scavenger Hunt
For this fun activity, give each team leader a list of things their teams have to collect or find to complete the scavenger hunt successfully. The list can include anything from finding common office items like staplers to collecting more specific items like a candy wrapper, styrofoam cup, or a phone charger. It’s a great way for teams to get to know each other and your employees to build team spirit.
10. The Music Video
Holidays are a great time for your employees to bond over music. You could get them to bring in some of their favorite tunes and then host a work-friendly music video competition. Challenge each team to make their music video and award prizes for the best one. You could even set up a music video theme each month and have a competition between teams.
11. Hire Corporate Entertainment
A really special treat for employees would be to hire corporate entertainment. This type of entertainment could be a magician, mentalist, or comedian. Just make sure that you hire a professional entertainer from a corporate entertainment service to ensure that all acts are work-appropriate.
The activities above are just a small selection of the many things your employees can do to have fun and bond.