Have you ever noticed how much more enjoyable and motivated you are at work when you have a work BFF? Work can be a great place to meet friends when the right environment is provided. It’s not always easy to break the ice and find time to get to know each other so it’s really helpful when management makes it a point to encourage bonding. It’s really important to mix up the types of activities you do to accommodate a variety of interests. The last thing you want to do when you are trying to promote bonding is risk excluding people who can’t or don't wish to participate. Gathering feedback from the office is always a good way to explore new options for activities. You could send out a survey with a handful of options and have your employees rank them in order of interest.
We love to celebrate just about everything at Payroll Link. And we’re pretty good at it too. Birthdays, weddings, babies, holidays, you name it, we throw a party for it. Sometimes we don’t even need an excuse for a little friendly competition or a morale luncheon. The first Friday of every month we have lunch catered to the office for everyone to enjoy. We celebrate every individual birthday with a card signed by everyone and a treat of the birthday person’s choice. We have had wedding showers and baby showers complete with scavenger hunts, guessing games, and theme related trivia. We had a borderline field day on Fun at Work Day with a hula hoop contest, Minute to Win It Oreo contest, Guess How Many, and Who What Where. These celebrations are a great way to humanize the workplace by bridging the gap between work and personal life.
The best part about playing trivia with your coworkers is that everybody brings a little something different to the table. It’s pretty rare to excel at pop culture, history, current events, sports, and geography so embrace the power in numbers! It’s a great way to get to know more about your coworker's interests, strong points, and beverage of choice. Check out your local pubs and breweries for a weekly or monthly trivia night. Try out some of our favorite spots!
SoCal:
Claremont Craft Ales - Claremont
Bottle Logic Brewing - Anaheim
Wicks Brewing - Riverside
The Fox and Hounds - Los Angeles
Salt Lake City:
Gracies - Downtown
Green Pig Pub - Downtown
Catch Phrase is an amazing game for team bonding. It also takes little to no creativity, since you can purchase it directly through Amazon. The great thing about it is that you have to play to your audience. Your audience, in this case, is your team of coworkers. In order to get your team members to guess the phrase correctly, you have to channel their mentality. What makes sense to you really has no weight in this game. It's about how well you can communicate with your teammates and give clues that will resonate with them.
This is a really versatile activity making it awesome for team bonding. You can easily find paint nights that support sipping wine or your beverage of choice but also accommodates those who don't drink. The instructors guide you through the entire painting process, making it fun for any skill level. Sometimes people bond over what they are not good at even more than what they are good at it. Some studios will actually bring the paint night to you if you prefer to host it at your office. You can check out some of the calendars below.
SoCal:
Paint and Sip Studio - Los Angeles
The Art Room LA - Upland and Glendale
The Paint Sesh - Riverside
Salt Lake City:
The Paint Mixer - Sugarhouse and Park City
Painting with a Twist - Murray
Painters Pallete - South Jordan and American Fork
You can find an escape room pretty much anywhere these days and they are perfect for team bonding activities. Getting locked in a room and having to strategize, collaborate, and communicate in order to escape is probably the most team bonding you can squeeze into 1 hour. We’ve listed a few in the area below.
SoCal:
Trapped! Escape Room Inland - Ontario
Puzzlemazement - Anaheim
Maze Rooms - Los Angeles
Salt Lake City:
Mystery Escape Room - Downtown SLC
Get Out Games - SLC and Provo
Escape on 13th - SLC