Team events that don't break the budget

If you're going to be working with a group of people for eight hours a day, you want to be making sure that you provide adequate bonding opportunities. 

But at the same time, you don't want to feel like you're burning through the budget. So these are a few activities that you can fall back on to bring your team closer together without bleeding your wallet.

Icebreaker Activities

It helps to know one another. You may not have had the time or the opportunity to talk about children or weekend plans, but an icebreaker exercise can bring the team together to reveal odd little trivia about one another.

This can come in all forms and sizes, it could be a picture game, you could tie it into your favourite subject matter, or even tie it into other games such as 'Two Truths and a Lie'. Some people might even consider this an improvement on the classic interview.

Professional Development Workshop

Employees are often looking for opportunities to climb the career ladder, but are often at a loss as to how to find their footing. And the managers may not always have the time to devote to divulging these details. 

So what would help is if employers hosted a development workshop - be it on-site or a hired out room - and took a look at the company chain, all the departments and roles and how to move forward through them and where to find such opportunities. Alternatively, this workshop could be looking at helping employees develop new skills such as customer service or sales negotiating.

Room Escape Challenge

A good team needs to show how they can function and think on their feet. And there is one such environment where they can test those skills. A popular trend called 'Room Escape Challenge' will see employees locked in a room for one hour.

In that time, they need to solve puzzles and find clues to identify the keys that will get them out. It is an effective way to encourage your team to bounce ideas off of each other.

Commit to the Local Community

A good way for a business to grow is if it has a strong standing in the local community. You can have your employees going out and volunteering to help with projects, whether this is raising money for charity or running a project that will benefit the residents. If it is linked to your company ethos, even better.

By doing so, you will give your team encouragement to work together as well as make yourself known among your local community. If the employees are the ones managing the projects, it gives them a taste of what it means to be an overseer.

These are the activities you should look towards if you want to achieve so much team spirit with so little productivity.