Let’s be honest: the workplace can be stressful, and companies should ensure employees can get outside and destress when they feel overwhelmed. With summer generally considered a more carefree time, it’s a perfect season to host a company outing. Company summer outings can be entertaining but also help establish a more interactive and positive workplace. Summer is right around the corner, and this is a great time to consider your outing plans! Read how to plan your summer outings, as well as some of our company outing ideas below!
Benefits Of Hosting a Summer Outing for Employees
When your employees can develop meaningful relationships and connect with colleagues, it can have a positively profound impact on the workplace.
Building a cohesive team is a never-ending process and it is important to consistently make sure your team is working well together and reaching goals smoothly. Employees interact every day at work, but a summer outing can be a catalyst for more team chemistry.
We all know the old saying “all work and no play”, and that is something that should be avoided. Company summer outings for teams are a perfect way to relax outside the office, as they provide fun and festivities to reduce employee burnout. Once it’s time to get back to the everyday grind, everybody should feel refreshed. Company outings can create more energy in the workplace, leading to happier teams!
Summer outing programs not only benefit the employee – they’ll also bring positive change to your business. In fact, companies with high employee engagement are 23% more profitable than those with low engagement, according to Gallup.
3 Things to Consider When Planning a Summer Outing
1.) Know Your Employees
Is your office predominantly male or female? What do you think your employees would enjoy doing outside the office? Do your employees have families – would you consider inviting their children or spouses to the summer outing?
2.) Evaluate the Reason for the Outing
Are you planning a company summer outing for team building or for your employees to meet across departments that don’t normally interact with each other? Would you consider a weekend-long retreat or a Friday afternoon barbecue?
3.) Don’t Settle For “Nice” When You Want “Fun”
You can have all the “tools” (location, games, and food) when organizing a summer outing, but how you use them will make all the difference. Develop a goal to create an event where everyone is actively involved and enjoying a memorable day.
Company Summer Outing Tips
1.) Plan A Day That Works For Most People
It may seem like a bit of a no-brainer tip, but taking the time to stop and consider which days work best for your team can have a big impact on how much they enjoy your event. If people are distracted and worrying about a project they left half-done, they won’t get the most out of the experience you’re offering. Your summer outing will go much better if people view it as time away from the office, rather than something getting in the way of completing their work.
Which day works will vary dramatically from group to group, of course. A lot of this will depend on the pattern of work flowing through your office. For some teams, the end of the week is the perfect time to get out and about, as they have fewer ongoing projects at this time. Others might feel they need the last couple days of the week to tie up loose ends and feel pressured to do work outside of the office to make up for this lost time. Ultimately, understanding your office’s work patterns is important to creating a successful summer outing.
2.) Dress For Any Kind of Summer Weather
It can often be hard to predict what Mother Nature’s going to throw at you – particularly if you’re planning your event months in advance. Because of this, you can’t always guarantee it won’t be cold and rainy on the day you’re scheduled to do something outside. A backup location is always a good idea, but you can still have fun outside on an overcast day.
Check the weather the day before the event and let your team know if it’s going to be colder than expected so they can dress accordingly. Encourage people to bring a light jacket or hoodie they can throw on if the temperature drops. It also never hurts to bring extra sunscreen or umbrellas just in case.
3.) Bond Around a Meal
Even the most disagreeable team member will likely grouse less about being dragged away from their work if you make food a part of the bargain. As well as being a convenient social tool, having food on offer makes your getaway feel more like a treat than an obligation.
4.) Be Ready for Anything
Being prepared is a smart and obvious way to ensure you have a good summer outing. But you can make the process of getting ready fun too! Why not treat your prep list like a scavenger hunt? Give the people on your team a list of items you want to bring (bottled water, sunscreen, disposable bags, band-aids, snacks) or if you’re running your summer outing, things you need for your event.
As long as you’re willing to reimburse people for the money they spend, this can be a practical way to get your team energized for your summer outing. However, you should make the scavenger hunt deadline a couple of days before the event in case of forgotten materials.
5.) Keep Going Strong
During your summer outing, your team will make memories and practice skills that will help strengthen their working relationships. Don’t forget, though: relationships take work! It’s important to keep up your team building spirit in the days and weeks following your summer outing.
In the week following the event, continue encouraging employees to spend time together. This will reinforce the interpersonal work you did and remind everyone how much fun they can have together.
The Best Company Summer Outing Ideas
1.) Volunteering
Spending a company outing helping others isn’t just good for the soul and supports healthy team bonding. Place-based volunteering opportunities include a weekend retreat with Habitat for Humanity, soup kitchens, or organizing a book drive for local school libraries. Need some help planning a philanthropic event? Check out our Do Good Bus and Charity Bike Build programs. We have a large selection of corporate volunteering events that are guaranteed to do good while bringing your team together.
2.) Barbecue Or Picnic
Everyone loves great food, and eating a meal together can improve employee relations, which makes it one of our favorite company summer outing ideas. Try to think outside the box from the usual hot dogs, hamburgers, and potato salad being served at a barbecue or picnic. Have your event catered and advertise it as a mystery meal to keep people interested! Better yet, check out the various TeamCuisine menus that your team can enjoy!
What’s better than ice cream on a hot summer day? Breaking the ice with your coworkers while making your own ice cream! Our Ice Cream Challenge promises an unforgettable and yummy summer outing activity where you’ll transform raw ingredients into ice cream and create your own waffle cones. You’ll then present to a panel of judges, and the best new ice cream is crowned!
3.) Laser Tag
What better way to get your adrenaline pumping than an exciting game of laser tag? Not only is laser tag a fun activity for a summer outing, but it will allow your employees to use their logistical and strategy skills, as well as work as a team! Want something even more interactive? Look into our Live-Action Adventures & Escape Games.
4.) Kayaking Or Canoeing
Water activities like kayaking and canoeing are great choices for team outings if you work with adventurous people. Spending time on the water is an enjoyable and relaxing way to spend a beautiful, summer day. Many public rivers have boathouses with rentals, so a company outing will be easy to organize. You can encourage your employees to tandem with coworkers they have yet to get to know better! Step it up a notch with our Corporate Survivors program.
If you’re looking to get more active on the water during the hot summer months, our Build-A-Boat program is one of our favorite company summer outing programs. Each team is given specific equipment, tools, and blueprints to construct their very own boats for a race course in the water. When teams are having fun and working together successfully, the boats they build are dependable and sturdy.
5.) Hiking or Rock Climbing
This is a great company summer outing because it allows workers to breathe in some fresh air, enjoy the scenic views, and be out in the sun. Not only is this a great way to be outdoors but it is a good team building activity. Hiking or rock climbing requires communication and trust. Having good communication makes it so that everyone is on the same page and will stay in good health on the trail.
But remember, not everyone may want to participate in this high-energy activity. If you want something less physically enduring that still boosts team communication, check out Shark Teams!
6.) Mini Golf
Mini golf offers a fun interactive summer outing for your team that involves a friendly competition that allows your workers to get to know each other and strengthen their bonds. The best part is mini golf offers different levels of difficulty, which means just about anyone can play and enjoy themselves. Want a little more fun and creativity? Check out our Build Your Own Mini Golf Course program where you create obstacles using tubes, pipes, boxes, canned goods and other supplies to build your own mini golf course. This program also provides an opportunity to help those in need by donating the non-perishable boxed and canned goods used in building your course to local communities and food banks.
7.) Paintball
What better way to get your employees motivated and pumped up to work together than some paintball fun? Going into battle means counting on your teammates to help you achieve success. Paintball is a great work summer outing because it encourages support, motivation, communication, and trust within each other. And don’t forget everyone is going to have a blast! Need some more out-in-the-sun fun, look into our Summer Team Building Outings.
8.) Scavenger Hunts
Many people live in places that they have never toured. Embrace your city! Why not take a Duck Boat tour or Segway around? it will be fun to act silly and you might even learn something new about your city!
At TeamBonding, we provide many scavenger hunt programs including the Amazing Race Scavenger Hunt, Team-Opoly Scavenger Hunt, Mad Dash Scavenger Hunt, and so many more! With a variety of different themes, you can choose the one that best suits your group. Our experienced team will provide you with all the necessary materials and instructions to make your scavenger hunt a success. Get ready for a memorable experience!
Start Planning Your Company Summer Outing
The time is now to get planning! Want to book a Summer 2024 company outing but don’t know where to start? Contact one of our TeamBonding event experts who can help facilitate a company outing that meets your team’s specific needs or check out our list of Summer Team Building Outings.
