The State of Employee Team Building Events in 2022

Providing experiences for your team that unify and enrich them has always been important. However, with the changing climate of the post-COVID workplace dynamic and the rise of remote work, access to team-building opportunities has dwindled.

Recently, we surveyed 102 top companies from around the world, including Progressive, Hubspot, Pfizer, Salesforce, Glassdoor, and LinkedIn. With this survey, we wanted to learn more about how businesses navigate company culture in a post-pandemic work environment. We wanted to better understand the complexities of the digital age and find new ways to improve the workplace dynamic for hybrid and remote employees. 

Here’s what we learned:

The Post-Pandemic Changes   

We're over two years into the pandemic, and 63% of respondents have moved to a remote work environment.

 Many businesses have decided to shift towards a permanently remote workplace model, and others are on a hybrid model, but few seem to be forcing employees back into the office. This means thousands of workers everywhere have permanently turned their spare bedroom into an office space, where they work and engage with their coworkers from 9-5.

This ongoing shift has posed new challenges for team building and employee engagement. Company culture no longer looks like pizza in the break rooms and monthly community service events. 

However, that doesn't mean companies will completely say goodbye to in-person activities. Over 69% of respondents said they don't have a preference for virtual or in-person events. This means businesses need to find a happy medium. Remote happy hours, virtual team games, and quarterly retreats where everyone gets together. 

How Important is Team Building?

We asked companies on a scale of 1-5 (5 being very important) just how important team building is to the success of their business. 68% of respondents answered it was a 5 in terms of importance, and all 100% of respondents scored it 3 or above. Team building is crucial to the workplace experience, and even the top companies recognize its importance. 

With the help of team-building activities, you can help your employees feel valued and appreciated in the workplace. These events provide opportunities for individuals to deepen their bond with their coworkers. They create authentic connections that will increase workplace productivity, improve retention rates, and help you build a team you can trust. Just by taking the time to plan engaging employee events, you can improve the relationship between coworkers and managers and help boost team performance. 

The Challenges Companies Face

Though 49% of respondents said their company culture hasn’t suffered since moving into a remote environment, 72% said employee engagement and team building is challenging for their company. 

Unfortunately, these obstacles are inevitable. Your growing remote workforce likely lives in different cities and states. Their means of communication are chat, phone calls, and video conferencing platforms. They no longer get that human interaction that helps them build relationships with their coworkers.

Our survey showed that the biggest challenges in planning team-building events are the following: