When the temperature rises, you can use employee outings as a way to get your workers out of the office and into the fresh air. Even if you spend just a few hours outside, the trip can be great for team building and leave workers feeling refreshed and ready to focus on an upcoming project. No matter where you work, you’ll find some great places to visit with your employees this summer.
Build a Home
Habitat for Humanity is a major nonprofit organization that helps build homes for those in need. Though you might think only college kids volunteer to help, the organization is in need of help all across the country. According to the Habitat for Humanity website, you can volunteer to help build a home in your city or sign up for a travel program that lets your group travel to a new area that needs a lot of help. If your workers enjoy the experience, you can even sign up for a long-term volunteer opportunity.
Outdoor BBQ
If you have a number of parks in your area, you can host your own outdoor BBQ during or after business hours. Many parks have covered areas with picnic tables that help you relax and get out of the sun as well as grills that you can use to cook up a batch of hot dogs and burgers. Inviting your employees to bring their families can make the day even more exciting. To save money, you can turn the event into a potluck. Ask workers to bring side dishes and desserts to share while you cover the main dish and drinks.
Paintball
Paintball is a fun summer activity that can refresh the leadership and team building skills that your employees have. Many paintball courses provide you with colored vests that you wear based on the color of your team, guns that you use to shoot other players and the paint balls that those guns use. Teams keep playing until they eliminate all the players on one team. If paintball is a little too harsh for your employees, you can head to a laser tag place instead.
Scavenger Hunt
Employee outings like a scavenger hunt let your employees get out of the office for a few hours or longer. All you need is a little time to come up with some ideas. Create a list of things for employees to do around the city. They can eat a burger at a local restaurant, take a picture with an animal at the petting zoo and sing karaoke. Ask them to take photos to prove they did all the tasks on your lists. The first team to finish the whole list wins. You can also provide teams with a list of unique and unusual things to find.
Mini Olympics
Active employees are healthy employees, which is why you might consider hosting a mini Olympics designed just for your workers. Plan a series of events that include some of the fun games you played in school like tug of war and a relay race. You can award teams and individuals with points based on how well they perform and hand out prizes at the end of the day to those with the most points. If you have more money in your budget, you can even buy ribbons and trophies that you give to employees.
As the temperature rises and the sun shines in the sky, employees will likely feel distracted as they work. Giving them the chance to head outside for awhile will leave them refreshed and ready to do their jobs. Fun summer employee team building outings include scavenger hunts and playing paintball together.
