What turns an office into a home away from home? Fun times, that’s what!
Folks, work places today are not the same as those as seen in the traditional sitcoms of the 60s and 70s where Dad goes to work all fresh in his starched white shirt and navy tie. However, at the end of the day, all the dads came home bedraggled, exhausted, shirttails hanging out and looking defeated.
Fast forward to 2018 and look at what happened in the workplace. It has been proven that office activities increase productivity and improve team building. Follow me while I guide you through some awesome ideas to execute some amazing and fun and workplace office activities.
1. The first stop on the Fun Employee Activities Train is Food!
Studies have shown that eating together boosts relationships and encourages face to face conversation, cooperation and teamwork. Food served in a gathering is always a fun workplace way to renew and rejuvenate your troops. Your meal together need not be elaborate.
Remember that it is a break from the stress of answering emails, planning, and phone calls. Some food ideas are small bites consisting of sushi rolls, canapés, kabobs on a stick, mini quiche etc.
2. An Instant Fun Food Pick me Up at Work
For a really quick pick me up for a fun office idea consider bringing in portable ovens and bake cookies right on site. Believe it or not there are companies who will do this for you. The scent of freshly baked cookies or pretzels hot out of the oven tantalizes every ones taste buds. Now let’s think about the next thing on the agenda.
3. Team Activities are so Much Fun to Play at work
Here is a great way to blow off steam and a chance to be really competitive in a friendly work competition. Try this one on for size. Divide your employees into teams of five each. You could do it by gender or just mixed. Either way it will be a hoot. Each team gets a shopping list of very unusual and difficult items to find in either a supermarket or a hardware store.
If this wasn’t a sexist thing to suggest I would have introduced the idea of dividing it by sexes. Do you get where I am going with this? Have the men go to the supermarket to look for prickly pears and the women to the hardware store to locate an AirShim Inflatable Pry Bar. Hey, this sounds like battle of the sexes! This kind of fun contest needs to be rewarded. A tailgate party in the parking lot would be a great prize for this work competition.
We can help you by providing fun & captivating activities designed to keep your employees engaged and motivated!
4. Sports Day Office Competition at Work Ideas.
So many office workers end up sitting most of the day. Try this for a fun office activity. Hang up some behind the door basketball nets throughout the office and set a timer to go off every 50 minutes. Everyone from the east side of the office takes some shots, then the west side etc. This is a great and inexpensive fun game to play at work.
If budget permits, why not think about renting an electronic basketball game. This is always a crowd pleaser and everyone can participate. Small prizes can be provided for the ones with the highest score. You can also do a round robin for added fun and competition. Include a few tabletop and giant games which will provide a lot of fun and stress busting activity for the staff.
5. For Fun Things to do at Work Let’s Go to the Hop!
Do you remember how much fun it was going to the Prom? There was so much excitement about who was going with whom and what you were going to wear. Create a mini prom right at work for some fabulous office fun. For more of a competition you could even have an election for the King and Queen of the prom.
6. Musical Fun Ideas at the Office
We have often heard that music is good for the soul. Depending on your budget there are many ways we can go with this.
This could also be an introduction for a musical talent show. You will be pleasantly surprised that many of your co-workers are quite talented. There may be some with awesome voices, or who play the piano, guitar or a wind instrument. A little applause may encourage them to perform. And a glass of wine wouldn’t hurt either!
Let’s not forget about Karaoke. Even the shyest people will get up and belt out their favourite songs. Everyone wants to be a rock star!
7. Fun Things to do at Work to Get to Know Each Other
During a lunch break have people sit in different departments. Put a box filled with questions in the centre of the tables. Select a moderator for each table and he/she will present the questions. One of the questions could be very simple such as “what is your favorite time of the day.” Playing this fun office game will encourage folks to open up which in turn will lead to better communication between departments and a deeper appreciation of each other’s role within the company.
8. Put a bit of Magic in your office Fun Activities.
Imagine sitting in your workspace and an illusionist pops into your office for no longer than 3 minutes, pulls the cutest rabbit out of a hat, lets you pet it for 15 seconds and then off he goes to visit your colleagues. I guarantee that the employees will get so much enjoyment and warm fuzziness for the few moments of distraction from everyday tasks.
9. Search for an Unused Space for Workplace Games
Get permission to set up a games room in a vacant space. Some great office competition games could be foosball, or a table available for drop-ins to do 1500 piece puzzles or the ever popular therapeutic colouring books.
10. Communicating Games for the Work Place
Take a fifteen minute break from your busy work routine and break into partners. Sit back to back while one person draws what the other person is dictating.
This game teaches us that we all perceive things in different ways and also that there is no right way or wrong way in the thinking process when examining the same thing. A great exercise to see how your communication and perception skills are working!
11. Miscommunication Games for the Office.
We all know this fun game by the name of Broken Telephone. Write down a message on a piece of paper and hand it to the first player. That player in turn hands back the paper to the writer then whispers the message to another colleague who in turn whispers the message to the next in line. This message could travel along to 20 or 30 people. The last person to hear the message writes down what he/she heard and then all compare it to original message.
This game can be very amusing, however, even though we enjoy this game as a fun day idea at work there is a serious side here. You will discover that this type of word of mouth workplace game has become totally distorted from the original benign message at the beginning of the game. I think you see where I am headed with this!
11. Massage.
This was the best and most memorable activity I ever had at work. My two generous bosses gifted each of our staff with a 20 minute neck and shoulder professional massage. Now that is what I call investing in your employees!
13. Guess Who I Am Fun Contest for work
Everyone has to bring in a baby picture of them and pin it to a bulletin board. Everyone needs to guess who is who. The winner is the one with no or fewest votes! Small prizes always add an element of fun.
14. Office Golf Games to Play at Work
Whether we are golfers or not everyone likes to putter around (little play on words there!). Install a mini putting green near the coffee and let everyone keep a score sheet of how many holes in one they get using the honour system of course.
15. Happy Birthday Fun Employee Idea
We all like to be recognized not only at home but at work. Once a month decorate the front office with birthday decorations and honor everyone who shares a birthday in that month. This is a wonderful employee activity. Bring in a large birthday cake for everyone and sit down and enjoy the reaction of the staff to this wonderful gesture.
That’s it for today folks! Watch for my next blog loaded with more ideas on Office games, Activities, Competitions and just simple fun work game ideas. It’s coming up soon. In the meantime check out our Micro Events to get a head start!
Until next time,
Eventfully Yours
Elayne