How to Plan Corporate Team Building

How to Cut Team Building Costs?

If an outdoor or team-building program is to have the most positive impact possible, it doesn't pay to cut corners on the event. Especially at a "Fun" corporate event, which includes quite a few other components besides the educational ones, cutting back could strip the activities down for no good reason.

Working with a smaller budget? Start planning the event well in advance. When you prepare far enough ahead, there's usually a fairly wide choice of affordable accommodation.

A sensible choice of accommodation or catering services can cut team building costs significantly. You can also get a better per-person price by increasing the number of participants.

Indoor or Outdoor?

There's no single right answer to this question. Indoor team building works best for smaller groups of participants working with a coach, trainer or psychologist.

The program goes deeper and the educational component outweighs the entertainment or sports side, so you can also work on what holds the team back in day-to-day operations. That said, nothing stops you from organizing a large indoor event (in the winter months, for example) that's just as action-packed as the outdoor version.

An outdoor program usually makes use of the natural conditions of a given location. It's especially suitable for groups who spend most of their working hours in offices or production halls. A day outdoors in nature helps them take a break from screens and machines, and it's good for their mental well-being.

What Activities Should Team Building Include?

Choosing activities for a corporate event is highly individual. Before you start choosing, write down which events your employees have done in the past. Holding a company paintball tournament every six months makes no sense.

If your team is mostly sporty, a chess tournament probably wouldn't draw enthusiastic applause either. It's a good idea to vary the event themes, locations and program types.

Don't be afraid to try something new, even at the risk that the event may not be as successful as in previous years. Variety, originality and surprise are exactly what will make your corporate event the most anticipated event of the year.

A Sports Event or Story-Driven Team Building?

For an outdoor program meant only as a complement to corporate training, we recommend purely sports activities that let participants clear their heads, so to speak. For a standalone team-building program, we recommend a story-driven option.

Story-driven team building can break down many of the barriers people build up during their working routine. Participants are transported to another time and place and become action heroes or fairy-tale characters, for example. Story-driven team building is usually more fun and relaxed than a pure sports day.

The Right Mix for an Outdoor Program

A good outdoor program rests on several elements at once: play, cooperation, movement, and moments when people have time to talk. An adrenaline activity belongs in the program as one of its components, but it's rarely the core educational element.

If you expect the event to improve your team's communication, build the program around tasks that can't be solved without talking things through. Adrenaline then adds energy to the day, but it doesn't carry the whole day.

Should I Organize Team Building for a Small Team or the Whole Company?

If you want team building to have an educational benefit, it's better to organize the event for a smaller group of employees, such as a single department. If you prefer a sports or experience-focused event, team building also works for larger groups.

Budget is another important criterion when choosing a program: per person, events for a smaller team tend to cost more than the same program for the whole company.

What Accommodation Standard Should I Accept?

It depends on the type of event. If the goal of the corporate event is a high-quality team-building program, it pays to invest mainly in the program.

Participants spend minimal time in their hotel rooms, so investing in a five-star hotel for an internal event is completely unnecessary. When you're hosting an event for your business partners, we recommend investing not only in the program but also in quality accommodation and catering, because they represent your company too.

Can I Claim Team Building as a Business Expense?

Corporate events and team building can be claimed as a tax-deductible expense.

Employer Liability

Planning team building also has a legal side. The employer is liable for damage from a workplace injury regardless of whether it was at fault. But it doesn't pay compensation out of its own pocket, because it's insured for these cases by law.

For organizers, the conclusion is simple: an injury at team building is treated as a workplace injury. Prepare the event accordingly: write down the program along with its goal, and for adrenaline activities, ask the supplier for an instructor and safety equipment.

What Matters Is the Content, Not the Name

What decides is what actually happens at the event, not what the invitation calls it. Team building aimed at strengthening cooperation, communication and trust within the team counts as performing work duties.

A joint vacation without such a goal doesn't count, even if it's called team building. So state the program and its purpose in the invitation or the event brief. This helps not only the team but also in assessing any injury.

Watch Out for Exceptions

The employer isn't liable if the employee caused the injury themselves, typically by breaking regulations or while drunk. At corporate events, alcohol is precisely the exception that concerns the organizer most.

A program that keeps people entertained into the evening is the best prevention: anyone playing for their team's win isn't sitting at the bar. For teams with friction, it pays to agree on a more moderate selection of hard liquor and, by arrangement, discreet supervision that catches a dispute before it turns into a problem.