Work away days are a great opportunity for your employees to connect outside of the office through team building events whilst learning to better communicate with each other. It is important that you and your group know each other, and you can relate to them inside and outside the office.
There are many different benefits of company away days, from a team building exercise to offsite meetings, and we will be discussing what these benefits are in this article. If you take your team out of the office and put them in a different environment, you’ll see how they will adapt to different situations and you may learn things about them you never knew.
Planning the perfect corporate away day is a good way of getting your employees to relax and chat to one another outside of the office and talk about things other than work through various team building exercises. They are also a fantastic way to generate increased communication and for your employees to experience new things.
Advantages of Corporate Away Days
Giving everyone the opportunity to leave their normal office environment and interact with each other through team building activities in a completely different setting is a great idea in helping your workmates think differently and of course, help them improve their personal and professional skills.
At Yarnfield Park, our event experts have hosted a wide range of different company away days for many businesses and we can even organise fun, engaging team building activities for you to try with our local partner. One of the main providers of company away days is Off Limits.
They arrange fun indoor and outdoor team building events, which are perfectly suited to our national training centre in Staffordshire.
They host a range of exciting team building events such as 4×4 driving, archery, bungee running, human table football and shooting. We have the outdoor facilities to accompany most of these activities for your next company away day.
Benefits of Corporate Away Days
There are many different ways on how to maximise the benefits of work away days including planning, choice of team building event and structure. The benefits of work away days can range from improving employee satisfaction and engagement to lowering staff turnover and improving skills.
Corporate away days enhance communication
Corporate events gives your employees the chance to break away from mundane emails, spreadsheets and paperwork.
They are able to engage in a face to face conversation with each other and have conversations that aren’t based on working life through various team building events. This is great for team bonding, particularly if you work in a larger organisation where teams are divided by function and job sector.
When your staff feel like they connect with their peers and possess a deep affiliation with their team members, they are driven to take positive actions that benefit the business.
They are less likely to.be actively looking for new job opportunities, more likely to rate their own, their team’s and their organisations performance for excellently and are more likely to take risks that lead to innovation.
In fact, one-third of millennials believe that socialising and friendships and relationships are important to moving up the career ladder. So company away days are perfect for building friendships and improving face-to-face communication.
Corporate away days help team bonding and motivation
I know, we keep hearing the phrase ‘team-building’ and for many of us, it sends shivers down our spines. There is nothing worse than forced fun, right? But did you know that work away days and team building events actually improves motivation around the business?
Staff days out remains an important tool with which employers can seek new and creative ways to motivate employees. These away days are an opportunity to get staff involved in a team building activity or experience they will enjoy, whilst encouraging the skills and behaviours that are needed to achieve the organisations strategic goals.
In fact, Employee Benefits have done some case studies on just how much company away days can help increase motivation within the workplace. Media recruitment firm Source boosts employee engagement and motivation with quarterly nights out for the whole company, plus weekend trips away twice a year.
They found that weekend trips are great for team-bonding because everyone in the organisation has the opportunity to spend the weekend together, which wouldn’t happen in the normal work environment. The employees are motivated by being rewarded and this helps the company retain their current employees plus attract higher-quality candidates.
Corporate away days are great for receiving feedback
Awaydays are often casual and informal which is the perfect setting to gain honest feedback. You always want to know what your employees think about the company, what their opinions are and how they think the business could be improved. Discussing these issues within a relaxed environment will make your colleagues feel more comfortable to be honest.
Where work away days often gives the opportunity for team bonding, it is also much more likely that your staff will receive constructive feedback in a much more positive way.
If your team feel better connected to each other, then they will feel a lot more confident to give honest feedback to their peers as well as receive it in a positive light.
Corporate away days encourage friendly competition
Having a little light competition is healthy in any working environment. It’s how people strive to improve and encourages growth. Including competition within your away day can help boost morale and lift spirits.
Research suggests that competition can motivate employees, make them put in more effort and achieve results. It is especially helpful when there is an incentive or reward for the competition
Choosing an away day that incorporates competition is a good way for your peers to go up against each other and work out what each’s individual strengths are.
A great company away day for encouraging competition is to have a sports day, where your staff are split into groups and compete against each other for rewards.
Planning a Corporate Away Day
Proper planning and research must be taken into consideration when planning a company away day for your next event. You’ll need to find the right balance. I’m sure your office is filled with different personalities and you’ll want to do your best to find something everyone will enjoy.
You will also want to ensure that your next company event out is productive and beneficial for the company whilst boosting your employee’s team spirit. Whether that’s encouraging competition, developing new skills or engaging team. Whatever your goal, you’ll want to plan ahead to ensure it is achieved.
The choice of activity you choose to do needs to be determined on the KPIs your team are working towards. You will need to make sure that your fun day is properly structured. An effective day is powered by momentum, structuring reward and entertainment throughout the day.
Also, make sure you are posting the event idea on your companies’ social media! It’s a great way to gain traction and could encourage people to want to come and work for your company.
Corporate Away Day at Yarnfield Park
If you are having trouble planning a corporate away day, then we can help with that. If you choose to host your company away day at our perfect venue Yarnfield Park Corporate Training Centre, then you will be assigned a dedicated events coordinator. They will listen to all of your requirements and will help plan a day that is fitting to your goals and expectations.
Benefits of corporate away days recap
There are so many reasons why corporate team away days are beneficial to your company by allowing your team to have a break from the office at a corporate away day venue, so we have outlined a few above.
The main points to take away are that a company away day can increase face-to-face communication, increase engagement, enhance communication, encourage fun team building and motivation and encourages friendly competition. If executed correctly then your next away day can be extremely profitable for your business in the long run!
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