Suffering Staff, A Good Time To Replace Team-Building Retreats
There is a very specific in a room of adults in an office during a team-building activity announcement. This very specific look is not the expression that the executives expected when planning the company’s yearly outing. The look of looming dread over the idea of this “reprieve” tells a story of a staff longing for authenticity. The annual trip to walk across logs in pairs, make a human pyramid in a remote field after a lecture about teamwork, or go to a minor league baseball team’s home game needs to meet modernity.
In a 13 year-long study by Statista, only 25% of employees felt that their organization cared about their well-being. It is evident that the current model for corporate events is inefficient.
From an employee perspective, a company seems to pay for one team building outing a year and wipe their hands clean until the next calendar year. This singular event lacks genuineness. CityHUNT estimates that to have 10 individuals partake in a one-day team-building event can run up to $8,000. The allocation of this large sum, for a singular event, can be better directed and more impactful. The sentiment of team building is one of good intentions; the execution, luckily, can be improved. By replacing a one-day, costly, workshop with an on-going commitment to team cohesion, real relationships can form. Importantly, there is an opportunity to mitigate office toxicity
Having on-going mental health meetings, group facilitations, and wellness reviews is a methodology that shouts commitment to staff, company retention, and will lead to loyalty in ways a one-day retreat cannot achieve. The investment in staff longevity is vital to an organization’s success. Pollack Peacebuilding found that 18% of employees leave their organizations due to workplace conflict (CPP Inc., 2008) (with 75% of staff not reporting conflict due to fear of retribution). This turnover is detrimental to success. They also estimated that 56% reported stress, anxiety, and/or depression due to workplace conflict. Thus, one field trip to a bowling alley or a tug-of-war field day, is ill prepared to manage the impact of office politics and relationships on staff’s mental state and ability to function.
Spending upwards of 40 hours in a space that does not preserve our mental health is catastrophic, for employees and organizations alike. The lack of productivity and therefore, success, is inevitable when the office is a place of suffering staff. Now, we must acknowledge that the pressure of productivity must come second to wellness. No bowling trip or holiday party (even if it includes an open bar) can conquer team conflict to the extent necessary to save our staff.
