As more companies embrace hybrid work, team-building becomes more important than ever. You want to keep your workforce connected wherever they are based,  and you want your corporate leadership team to be effective leaders. Team building activities are a fun way for businesses to enhance employee motivation, engagement, recognition, and corporate wellness in the workplace.

When searching online for ‘team-building activities,’ there are a million results. But which activities work for your team? That depends on factors like the size of your team, your objectives, and your company’s culture. The bottom line is that any organization that wants a well-functioning corporate wellness program must imbibe regular team-building activities.

Why are Team Building Activities Important?

It’s possible to reap a range of benefits from planning team-building activities. Most employers have the resources to successfully carry out a wellness plan as soon as they have made it. Here are some of the main  benefits of team building activities:

1. Increase Motivation

Team building helps to increase employee motivation and create a progressive company culture. When employees complete a team-building activity, it increases their self-confidence and motivates them to be a better version of themselves at work. It also shows employees that the organization is proactive about employee engagement and wellness. 

2. Enhance Productivity

Improving productivity is one of the most common goals of team-building. Team building exercises will encourage your employees to work together, which improves overall work efficiency. According to Mckinsey, team building activities help businesses improve their workplace productivity figures by 20%.



As more and more data is being reported, employers are beginning to invest in the potential of engaging employees to enhance productivity.

3. Encourage Creativity

Some of the most successful businesses are based around creativity and innovation. It is no coincidence that “learn and be curious” is one of Amazon’s 16 leadership principles. A diverse workplace has people with different backgrounds bringing their own experiences and diverse perspectives. 

Team building activities use their imagination to develop creative solutions to everyday challenges, which eventually helps the organization achieve its professional goals.

4. Ice Breaker for internal communication

In every workplace communication between employees can be improved.   It can be the nature of their work that doesn’t allow them to coordinate easily or because employees are introverted and prefer to focus and remain in their bubble.

Your employees can learn a lot from just interacting with each other. It is knowledge sharing and strengthening the company culture, among other benefits.

Image source: Peer learning benefits  

Team building activities are a great way to open up workplace communication – drop hurdles in approaching others in your team and make all employees feel comfortable and welcome in the workplace.

5. Stress Buster

Work related stress is a common phenomenon. With the demands of meeting deadlines, limited resources, more and more employees are complaining about a high stress level and even leading to burnouts and depression.

Team building games are a great way to escape work, relieve stress. It helps employees switch off from their routine work and bring that fun element to work. At the same time you get a feel for what type of person your colleagues are and can tune communication style to be aligned with their personalities.

8 Team Building Activities Which Boost Corporate Wellness

Now we know why team building activities are so important, let’s look at some team building ideas that help promote employee health and wellness in your organization.

1. Birthday Celebrations

Employees feel happy when appreciated. And what can be a more effective way to have a wonderful office birthday celebration on their special day?

Doing your bit of involving the coworkers and arranging for fun activities can go a long way in making their day a bit more special.

You can use various marketing automation services to send automated birthday alerts to your coworkers on the digital platform.

2. Office Quizzes

Office quiz is a great way of bringing your team together, and it is also a productive exercise to enhance the knowledge pool of the workforce. The subject of the quiz could be anything from movies and trivia questions to current affairs.
You can include it as a part of your employee newsletter or organize a pub quiz. It will be a smart way to upskill and have fun simultaneously.

Employees can develop a healthy camaraderie and learn the trade of adaptability, which is crucial in a work environment.

3. Weekend Hike

Outdoor team-building activities like trekking, hiking, etc can be a great idea. Team outdoor trips are excellent ways to enhance your leadership, communication, and trust skills. These skills can be transferred into the everyday working environment and help you achieve your business goals efficiently.

They are also a great way to turn away periodically from routine office work. Physically challenging tasks get the blood pumping, but also have a positive impact on the mental health of the employees. Studies suggest that periodic physical activities are associated with reduced stress levels and burnout among employees.

4. Walkathon

Increased activity results from a workathon

A walkathon is a great team-building exercise that can help employers achieve both their employee health and engagement goals. Promote the event and make sure everyone in the workplace is looking forward to being part of it. Incentivize your employees with points, gift cards, etc to give them fitness motivation. To ensure the event is carried out with accuracy and assurance, various activity tracking services are available.

5. Volunteering

If your employees are passionate about causes, nature and want to make a difference in society, you could find a way to arrange volunteering events. It could be anything from supporting wildlife to vulnerable sections of society.

Taking up initiatives like beach clean-ups, and food distribution events are many ways to support your planet earth and develop a deeper connection with nature and the greater community. 

6. Sports Events

Sports activities are one of the most fun and engaging ways of promoting teamwork and employee health in an organization. Sports allow connecting and competing with your co-workers on a personal level and help foster a team spirit.

You can arrange for an annual sports day event or a football competition among various departments in your organization. Recognize your employees with some perks for successfully completing the challenges.

7. Scavenger Hunt

Participating in a scavenger hunt is another team activity you can organize for your employees. Make a list of wacky things or challenges into the event. If you want to spice it up a little bit then you can take it outside the office to maybe somewhere like a park or even further away. 

Employee engagement and team building can be enhanced through team-building scavenger hunts.

8. Virtual Yoga/ Mindfulness Session

As the pandemic hit our world, the majority of the workforce was forced to work from home. For employees who are working from home or following a hybrid work regimen, it is difficult for employers to engage and promote team bonding.

Virtual yoga and mindfulness sessions are a great way to engage and bring a hybrid workforce together. The team members can meet up over zoom sessions once or twice a week and have 30 mins of yoga and meditation. This will not just boost employees’ health mentally but also will be a fun way for employees to communicate online.

Final Thoughts

In any workplace, trust and teamwork are vital, and fun activities bring out the best in employees through competition and comradery. If you include some fun team building activities in your workplace, your employees will become more capable of communicating and respecting each other on and off the field.

Author Bio

Anjan Pathak is the Co-founder & CTO of Vantage Circle, a cloud-based employee engagement platform and Vantage Fit – Corporate Wellness Platform. He is an HR technology enthusiast, very passionate about employee wellness, and actively participates in corporate culture growth. He is an avid reader and likes to be updated on the latest know-how of Human Resources.—-