Remote work has changed the way we interact with our coworkers. Nearly 82% of employees who work from home feel that they have all the technology needed to stay in touch with their supervisor and coworkers throughout the day, and remote workers have a higher rate of workplace engagement than on-site employees, so it seems as if this trial is here to stay.
While people are physically at home, they’re still working remotely, and their days can be long and sometimes employees do not feel as valued and heard as they should. Company retreats have been a great solution to these problems that occur, creating a safe and open environment for employees to relax a little, get to know each other better, and further develop their working relationships without the pressures of their day-to-day work woes.
The problem we now face is how can you translate everything that happens at one of these retreats to a virtual platform. Below we’ve put together five tips on how you can still run a successful virtual company retreat that will leave your team feeling refreshed and realigned.
Understand Your Audience
When you have an understanding of your audience, you can nearly guarantee an event that will positively reflect all of their expectations. Crowdsourcing or taking a poll of your employee’s interests will help to see what types of events they would enjoy at a virtual company retreat.
Decide how long the event should last, how many speakers you should have, think about what portions of the day will be dedicated to the company, and when you can have some fun with your employees. If you have a busy staff, try not to take up too much of their free time, and keep the event within business hours if you can. If you’re holding the retreat outside business hours, make sure you’re considerate and thankful that they’ve taken this time for the betterment of the company.
Over-Communicate Your Plans
It’s important to have a set schedule for your events team to prepare for the retreat, but equally so for your events attendees. Before the retreat, make sure you have a written, well-outlined schedule you can send to your attendees, and send it more than once. You can even send people a calendar invite, so they get a pop-up reminder for the event.
Employees’ work email inboxes are constantly flooded, so the more you remind them and the higher your content is in their inbox, the more likely they are to remember. Make sure you and your team are online at least a half-hour before the event. That way you can do a quick run-through of the platform, deal with any troubleshooting, and ensure your retreat runs smoothly.
Communicate to your attendees what to do if they get kicked off the virtual platform or if the platform freezes/breaks down at any point. It’s better to over-prepare and over-communicate than to leave your team and your attendees to fend for themselves.
Emphasis Team-Building
Chances are your virtual company retreat is one of the only times all of your employees will or have been in the same “space” in quite some time. It’s a great time to take advantage of that and dedicate a portion of the event to virtual team-building exercises. Plan activities for smaller groups, such as brand brainstorming sessions or ice-breaker games, and suggest that members of different teams group together for the opportunity to work together and in turn get to know each other.
Larger groups can alienate the softer-voiced people in the group, so breaking down into smaller groups gives everyone a chance to have their voice heard. Offer a virtual wellness session, a great way to support your employee’s mental health and encourage them to take time for themselves, especially during these crazy times.
Incorporate Giveaways & Prizes
Offering people physical tokens of appreciation from the retreat is a great way to increase morale, interest in the event, and even encourages employees to return for the next virtual retreat. Giveaways and prizes also encourage participation from your employees and coworkers both during and before the event.
People can enter the giveaways or participate in games to win products for your business and other prizes during the event, and they’re more likely to talk with their coworkers about the event coming up to share their excitement over the possibility of winning a prize. You can even team up with local small businesses, a great way to network and get your company out while supporting the community.
Always Follow Up
Send an email follow-up to all of your employees, the speakers, anyone who helped, thanking them for their time and giving them a quick wrap-up of the retreat as a whole. It’s also a great idea to ask for suggestions from your attendees about what they would change or what they didn’t like about the retreat. That feedback is crucial for your improvement, and to ensure an even more successful virtual retreat the next time you host.
