Company outings can positively affect workplace morale, increase creativity, and in turn impact a company’s productivity, experts say.
“I definitely think it’s important,” said Beth Anderson, marketing supervisor for computer technology consulting company UNICOM in Woonsocket. “It’s a good way to get to know people. If you have a personal relationship with someone, I think it can be brought into the workplace positively.”
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UNICOM has planned an outing to a Pawtucket Red Sox game later this month, open to employees and their families. Anderson said that the company coordinates a few such outings each year, in addition to smaller employee recognition events held in-house.
Anderson said she has definitely noted the correlation between morale and productivity, and that positive social interactions make for a more relaxed workplace.
“It makes the workplace a happier place to come every day,” she said. “Being with people we enjoy being with is 95 percent of it right there. I personally think it’s all about the people you work with.”
Web solutions provider Shazamm’s Chief Executive Officer Dana Paul agreed, saying that he feels it’s a part of his job to plan special events.
“When people are happy and motivated, productivity just flows,” he said. “One of the responsibilities of being a chief executive officer is you have to be a cheerleader.”
Paul said that each month, his company’s employees choose a different restaurant where they eat, drink and take pictures. Armed with a digital camera, each person must take a self-portrait. Paul said Shazamm also has a collection of group shots from the dinners that they hang up in the office and use as Christmas cards.
“It’s important for a couple of reasons,” he said. “It’s a total stress-reliever. I try to stress that this is more than a business – we’re a family here. It builds a strong relationship with everyone – it’s not just a bunch of people coming in and working 12 hours a day and leaving. We know each other and about each other’s lives. It’s important to do it regularly, religiously. So much stuff happens in the course of a month.”
And a relaxed atmosphere fosters what Paul said is one of the most important aspects of what his company does – creativity.
“We’ve come up with some of our best ideas that way,” he said. “It’s hard to be creative all the time. You have to get people inspired. I think everyone should do it.”
Workplace relations expert Richard Hadden said that companies are looking to events and the social connections they produce for increased employee motivation at work.
“Companies are trying to build a sense of community, and corporate outings can be a good way to achieve that,” he said.
Hadden is co-founder of Contented Cow Partners (along with Bill Catlette), which offers workshops to companies on employee relations, morale, turnover and recruitment, among other workplace-related topics.
The two have also published Contented Cows Give Better Milk, which examines the connections between employee motivation and morale on a company’s bottom line.
“I think it’s incredibly important to see each other in other settings than the workplace,” Hadden said. “It’s easier to work with people you know. I think managers, especially, need to be vulnerable and let their employees see them in a setting where they’re not the boss.”
With so many workers struggling to balance time between work and family, Hadden suggested involving families in company events. Off-site, too, is preferable.
“It makes it special,” Hadden said. “It elevates the esteem level of the event.”
But companies should be careful to choose events that will be enjoyable for everyone – favorites such as golfing and fishing may not hold across-the-board appeal, Hadden said, as well as make sure that everyone is included in the event. When certain employees feel excluded, a morale-lifting event can have the opposite affect.
And Hadden said that perhaps the “bottom line” is that good company morale can be profitable.
“There is a tremendous correlation between morale and productivity,” he said. “If corporate outings contribute to morale, then it contributes in all of those ways. The opportunity to mix business with pleasure is a neat way for integration between business and personal lives.”
