Awards

21 team building activities

With employee retention always a hot topic, finding different ways to keep graduates engaged and motivated is a huge priority for employers across every sector. Time and time again, we talk about how company culture is the key to successful graduate recruitment and retention – helping to build morale, develop interpersonal skills, and increase collaboration. Whether it’s a sporting challenge, a charity fundraiser or a trivia night – here’s our ultimate list of team building activities to build a great company culture.   1. Escape Room   Escape room team building is a rising new trend, that encourages players to work together to solve a mystery, and escape from a room within a set amount of time. For teams, it can have a number of great benefits; like encouraging leadership skills, resolving conflict and inspiring collaboration between even the most unlikely team members.   2. Office-Based Trivia   If you’re looking for corporate team building activities on a budget, office trivia is a great choice, which involves quizzing your team on what they know about each other. As well as helping those on different sides of the business learn more about their colleagues, office-based trivia can also improve communication and listening skills. If you’re looking for 5 minute team building activities, you could even have just a few questions a day.   3. Treasure Hunt   Scavenger or treasure hunts are one of the most valuable in terms of building better team relations. Try putting people who wouldn’t usually work together in the same team – it’ll give them a better idea of how the other works, and vice versa. There are plenty of companies across the UK who will set one up for you – but if you really want a challenge, organise your own.   4. Sushi Making   Team building doesn’t have to come in the form of mental or physical challenges – work social event ideas can be as simple as trying something new as a team, such as a cooking class. As they go, a sushi making class is one of the best – as they’ll usually be able to cater for all dietary requirements.   5. The Crystal Maze   Inspired by the famous 90’s game show, the Crystal Maze sees teams pitted against one another and tasked with a range of mental, physical and skill-based challenges in order to win a crystal. Open to any number between 10 and 1000 people, and a perfect group activity for adults, the Crystal Maze is a perfect way to get your team working together on complex challenges.   6. Ready, Steady, Bake!   Perfect for novice bakers and wannabe professionals alike, your team will receive a short demonstration, followed up by a challenge to bake a specific treat. 'Ready, Steady, Bake!' is planned out so that the ‘best’ team (the one that uses the strengths of each individual most effectively) wins.   7. Sponsored Walk   Want to help your team bond while also helping others? A sponsored walk or other fundraising activities can be a great way to boost your CSR policy – as well as helping to boost team morale and job satisfaction.   8. Murder Mystery   Do your employees have the problem-solving and listening skills to work out whodunnit? Perfect for an evening after work, a murder mystery is not only a lot of fun, but is actually a great way to improve morale, and help employees understand each other better.   9. Bowling   One you can plan on your own, bowling is great because it can be played individually, or in teams. Best suited to smaller numbers, bowling is a great way to encourage team morale, boost positive reinforcement, and have some fun – wherever you’re based in the UK.   10. Go-Kart Racing   Go-karting is a great way to get your employees working together - and the adrenaline pumping! Fun activities such as go-karting are a great way to get different employees together, from your new graduate hire right up to your C-level employees – there’s no holds barred here!   11. Virtual Reality   If you’re looking for an activity that will challenge your employees and improve communication between teams, VR can offer a range of different team building experiences to suit your requirements. Virtual reality is a great way to take your employees out of their comfort zone, and will certainly be memorable!   12. Sailing Day   One of the higher-end in terms of price, a team building sailing day requires teams to work together in a high-pressure situation in order to get results. Open to teams of 4 right up to 400, a sailing day is an exciting, challenging activity that will see your future business leaders emerge.   13. Field Games   Take your team ‘back to school’ with games like the egg-and-spoon, sack race, relay race and rounders. If you’ve got a green space near your office, it’s the perfect way to get your employees together, help them stay fit, and have a laugh as a team.   14. Beat The Clock Challenges   'Beat the clock' style challenges are a great opportunity to assess how well your team perform under pressure. Even better, they allow team members to nominate themselves or others to play particular roles or undertake particular challenges, some physical, and some mental – playing on the strengths and behavioural styles of different employees.   15. Circus Skills Workshop   Sometimes it’s a good idea to take everyone out of their comfort zone – and what better than a corporate circus skills workshop to do so? One of the more unusual team building activities, your employees will get the chance to learn a range of different skills to bring back to the office.   16. Robot Wars   Inspired by their namesake television show, Robot Wars-style events are hosted in cities right across the UK. They are a great way to encourage critical thinking, team work and problem-solving skills – just don’t put all your engineers on one team!   17. Archery   A real quick win, archery doesn’t have to take up an entire working day, and just a Friday afternoon can be beneficial. Offering a real range of benefits, archery is an outdoor team building activity that can really help to boost individuals’ confidence and improve concentration.   18. Paintball   Corporate paintballing is not only a great day out, but it does have real benefits for team building – including boosting staff morale, productivity, and team work – all of which are transferable to the workplace.   19. Movie Making   Hoping to encourage creativity within your team? Movie making is a great indoor team building activity, which will see teams tasked with thinking up a concept, planning, directing and producing a short movie or video. There are many companies that will help you plan the logistics – but if you’ve got a couple of iPads laying around, and you’ve downloaded some video editing software, it’s possible to plan the day on your own.   20. Go Ape   Maybe not one for the whole team, but if you’re looking for a physical challenge that will see your employees take on obstacles, zip lines and crossings, Go Ape is a great choice – and one that will really take your graduate hires out of their comfort zone.   21. Guided meditation   Looking for a corporate team building exercise that will also help reduce stress levels and improve performance? A guided meditation can be a fantastic team building exercise for all members of staff, encouraging employees to be aware of their emotions, and ultimately increasing productivity across your business.   If you’re concerned with junior talent acquisition, engagement and employee retention, team building exercises need to be a central part of your graduate recruitment strategy. With activities ranging from physical challenges to mental tasks, there should be a team building exercise to suit your team and your unique goals. Looking to Hire Graduates for your business? We are the Graduate Recruitment Agency with a difference – get in touch today to find why we're the best recruitment agency in London. hbspt.forms.create({ portalId: "5132631", formId: "d7bda455-6e3c-4a43-a64c-11f7a27feb9b" });