Workplace social events ideas

Getting people at work to know each other better can be a key to improved working practices.

Coffee break

• People who know each other are more likely to co-operate than strangers
• People have more opportunity to understand the motivation and needs of colleagues in an informal setting than in formal meetings.  
• Face to face informal communication is often more effective than formal communication.

How to encourage social meeting

• Install a watercooler.  In the US, reference is often made to “watercooler” conversations – the discussions which take place at the chance meeting of colleagues  going to collect a cup of water.  The same effect can occur between smokers when there is a ban on smoking in the workplace, as there is in the UK.
• Provide good coffee.  One UK university found that more members of staff met across campus after it introduced a coffee bar selling a major coffee shop brand.
• Subsidise lunch in the cafeteria on a daily, weekly, or occasional basis.  If good food is provided at a competitive price, it will attract a good number of staff, particularly those who may not want or have time to prepare their own meal in the evening.  A college in Gloucestershire provides free lunch for all its staff every day because it finds it to be an excellent way of getting them to meet.
• Introduce a happy half-hour before or after work where staff can meet for a cup of tea or coffee on arriving at the workplace or before setting off for home.
• Provide somewhere to meet.  Schools have common rooms for staff not just to provide them with somewhere to pass time between classes, but also because it is a place for them to meet informally.
• Provide tea and coffee or light refreshments immediately before or after formal meetings to encourage people.
• Put on parties.  You’ll find lots of ideas for parties on this website.  You could have a summer garden party, a Christmas or New Year party; a party to celebrate a significant achievement; parties for children; a fundraiser party for charity.
• Bring in a takeaway if people are working late.  It will be much appreciated, give them a short break from the burden of what they are doing, and provide a good opportunity for a casual discussion.
  

  Party time!