As employees, we all want to get more done in the workday, feel valued by our employer, and find joy in our careers. For businesses, they want a workforce that is productive, flexible, and loyal.
But too often we all get caught up in the task of working. We don’t take enough breaks to gain new perspectives. Tapping into our best effort as employees and businesses often come from when we step outside the office. We take our learning to a new level with a company retreat. This experience is more than just a fun work getaway. Participating in a company retreat allows you to focus on lowering stress, re-energizing your team, and growing the health of each employee, all while sharing in a sense of adventure and camaraderie.
There is a multitude of reasons you may be able to list for why your team should just stay in the office, put your heads down, and keep working. Taking time for your team to step offsite will provide a new viewpoint for the business and a strong ROI (return on investment), in addition to multiple employee advantages.
What is a Company Retreat?
A company retreat is an out of the office experience. It where you remove your team from the workplace to focus on growth, learning, and educational opportunities.
A retreat can be considered “workcation” (work + vacation= workcation) when a specific goal is a primary focus. Or when this workcation becomes more of a fun offering to bond over team building activities and games.
Business retreats can be located within the confines of your city, but serve as advantageous when held further away from where the business resides. The retreat length lasts from a single day to a week, but the norm being three to four days.
The focus of the retreats typically is around group discussions, planning, brainstorming, and talking things out face to face. But there should also be time for non-work activities. Time to enjoy by getting outside for a group softball game or participating in a cooking class.
Taking a Break is Good for Business
We know that a carefully planned retreat provides the opportunity for a happier and more productive team. Upon returning back to work, this team is inspired, revitalized, more productive, and in improved health. In the end, the business benefits of a company retreat are shown in the form of increased collaboration, decreased absences and illnesses and lowered medical expenditures.
Improved Teambuilding
Businesses that learn together stay together. This same concept also applies to teams. A business retreat gives coworkers the opportunity to create stronger relationships while doing something new and exciting as they relax and hang out as a group. It’s a time for employees to interact with one another in new ways from how they typically relate in the office. Sharing a laugh and enjoying time talking together will deepen their connections and foster stronger teamwork. This builds up the camaraderie. Provides a renewed sense of purpose for the employees and the business.
Increased Work Productivity
The two largest factors affecting work productivity are a lack of engagement and absenteeism that is due to employee illness. A business retreat offers opportunities to break outside the confinements of the office to create a more present and productive team while growing their health.
While it is vital that the majority of work be accomplished in the office, it’s equally important to for teams to find balancewith time and activities outside the office. A time where your team can be together without deadlines looming and project management questions being the focus of the conversation. Plus, it gets your employees out of their desk chairs, which is a good thing for everyone’s health.
Research shows that 80% of work distractions are from external forces, such as from coworkers, social media, and cell phones. A retreat creates an opportunity to clear the mind. The employees will be able to tap into deeper productivityas they are more present in the activities at hand due to the break in their routine.
Boosted Team Morale
A carefully planned retreat allows the business to show employee appreciation. Employees who feel valued are more likely to demonstrate strong work performance and loyalty to their company. This leads to increased employee retention and company morale, as well as a positive work environment. In fact, companies with reported high morale outperform their competitors by 20%.
Employees who feel their roles are important are also healthier, more likely to miss fewer days due to illness, and more productive. Finally, research shows that it is more cost effective to retain current employees versus hiring new ones.
Stimulating New Ideas
Access to different environments, locations, people, and routines have the ability to provide shifts in perspectives during retreats. It is within these changes that new ideas to old problems and challenges can be crafted. Answers become clearer. This is one of the reasons why you will find executive teams and leaders tackling large challenges in a business retreat. Their minds expand and creative solutions are activated in these new work environments. When employees are encouraged to step out of their comfort zone in a safe environment, they are more likely to be open-minded to new ideas and their learning is more memorable.
Decreased Employee Stress
A company retreat is a temporary, but beneficial, break from the everyday work stress for the employees. Time to let off some steam and boost energy levels. Recharge both the brain and the body in a new environment that offers a new perspective from the daily grind. Creating an opportunity to improve the employee’s state of mind as well as their well-being. It is with this decreased stress that employees are able to return back to their life with renewed focus. They are ready to take on their work-life challenges in a better state of mind.
Invest in back your team and show your employees you value them with a company retreat. Reap the benefits of a more efficient, motivated, and loyal team.
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Reach out to us to learn more about a customized Wonderment retreat for your organization or group.
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