With a workforce being transformed yearly into one that is generally more diverse, and skewing younger, Rhode Island employers are opting for more experiential, even quirky, venues and activities for business retreats.
At the Roger Williams Park Zoo, bookings for company outings have been rising, according to Stacy Greenberg, the venue’s group sales manager.
The zoo has reached out to businesses and other groups, beyond the traditional visitor profile of school children or young families, with a series of event spaces designed to accommodate from 25 up to 80 people.
After-hours events, often scheduled by larger organizations, can accommodate 5,000 guests, Greenberg said.
As recently as a decade ago, events were more typically booked into convention centers or hotels. While that obviously still is a top choice for many companies, others appeal to the fun factor and want to have an experiential choice for their employees.
“Right now, the trend is to get more unconventional venues for folks to enjoy, and as a family-centered venue, we certainly meet that bar,” Greenberg explained. “Millennials and groups nowadays are looking for a more-dynamic experience and something that will appeal to a broader group of people. We offer that diversified venue, where you can be as casual or elaborate as you’d like.”
In recent years, more unusual alternative venues for corporate meetings and retreats have opened across Rhode Island, tapping into a demand for alternative spaces. In most cases, the venues aren’t exclusively marketed as corporate getaways, but that segment has become an important part of their business model.
In North Smithfield, the R1 Indoor Karting race track opened in January, attracting people to the promise of fast go-karts and a European-style track, where spectators can overlook the action.
The business will expand later this summer, with additional restaurant space and activities such as bowling.
The track appeals primarily to fun-seekers, but also to companies looking for team-building exercises for their employees, according to Mike Hezemans, one of the owners.
“It’s very good for team building,” he said recently.
In Middletown, the Newport Car Museum opened in June. It features a private collection of vintage cars, from the muscle cars of the 1970s back to the roadsters of the 1930s. And it’s partly designed to attract corporate business, where attendees at meetings or retreats can explore the museum collection as part of the day’s events.
The newly renovated, 55,000-square-foot building, a former Raytheon Co. facility, has been decorated with midcentury furniture, “a fascinating backdrop for private events and corporate meetings,” according to its website. It includes a ballroom with dining and meeting space that can accommodate up to 300 people. Smaller rooms allow for smaller conferences, each named for popular muscle-car brands, such as the “Mag Wheel” room.
Appealing to companies that want to schedule team-building exercises are the “escape room” businesses that have opened across Rhode Island in the past two years.
The rooms all differ by approach, but generally provide a series of clues to a small group of participants who have to work through the problems as a team in order to get to the end and “escape” their room.
Several companies have opened escape-room locations in Rhode Island the past two years, including Providence-based Escape Rhode Island, which is run by recent university graduates in design and engineering. This business focuses more on game activities, which change frequently.
The option in June, “Wreak Havoc,” requires teamwork, negotiation, adaptability and decision-making, according to the overview.
The dilemma: A barge with a million kilograms of enriched uranium headed for the world’s largest nuclear power plant has disappeared. The assigned teams, assembled in groups of three to five people, will “assemble a seaworthy ship and crew for the voyage, locate the payload and make it back to cash in with as much as you can salvage.”
Ethan Carlson, a co-founder of the company, said business retreats, or team-building exercises, account for about one-quarter of its business.
“It’s something we focus on explicitly,” he said.
The business runs four interactive games concurrently, which allows companies with up to 30 people to divide staff among the options. The games require employees to work together in small teams. For businesses that can’t send employees to the facility on South Main Street, a 90-minute game can be sent off-site to a worksite, and set up on a tabletop. Usually, businesses call to request a daytime appointment for employees, so Escape Rhode Island often has two cycles of users, with businesses accessing the games during the workday, and fun-seekers, friends and other parties using the facility at night. A flat rate is available to businesses that want to access two to four games during a setting, starting at $350.
Typically, the business bookings come after an employee has played one of the games with friends or family and recommends it back at work, Carlson said.
“People play it with their friends or family and come back and talk to their HR about it,” he said.