What would YOU like as a group/team reward for you + your colleagues?

Jesse Ransom said:

("Bad day" teambuilding exercise: divide into four groups. Each group contains someone from the design team. Each group needs to come up with an image panel that will work as a quadrant of a larger image without knowing what the other three are doing. After completion, paint the whole thing 10' high. In a stairwell. No scaffolding provided. No being excused for having arrived in a suit for the dressed-for-the-holiday competition in the morning. The design process started after lunch, and we weren't supposed to leave until the full size painting was done. At least the teams were unified in the understanding that leadership really was that divorced from reality, and some of the more senior staff were eventually able to talk the owners out of running it to completion...)

 

That sounds hilariously awful.

BTW on the subject of teambuilding exercises (not necessarily rewards) that work well, get a VR headset/s of any sort, and get this game:

https://keeptalkinggame.com/

On the PC version you can put it in "tournament mode" where in each round each team will get the exact same puzzles.  Not sure if the quest versions have that.

This is a tough question as there are numerous variables that impact the "right" answer. Cultural norms, labor laws, salaried vs hourly hourly employees, etc On one of my typical teams, I have Engineers making six figures in the US (salaried), Engineers in India making significantly less, Construction Management staff (most who are on perdiem, don't live near the job and travel home weekends), and hundreds of hourly construction craft workers. The right team building and incentive package is very different for all those groups of people. 
 

I don't even try to set something up for our Indian team members. Easier to engage local leaders there for their input on what's appropriate. Too many cultural differences to try and guess.  
 

And you will never please everyone on the team so don't try. Mix it up. I was at a hockey game tonight, I will take a portion of the team out to a nice dinner tomorrow, we will be issuing a incentivized type bonus in the next couple of week, one part of the team likes happy hours, so we do that every few weeks. I will even occasionally send flowers to someone's wife if I know they have been grinding lots of hours away from home. For the craft workers, almost all travelers, we will cater in a nice lunch, and give away thousands of dollars in nice tools. 
 

Particularly for our younger team members, I will bring one of them to dinner with me when our senior management flies in as an attaboy / girl. Gives them career exposure that they would never normally get. 
 

Its a shot gun approach but it's usually not a one size fits all answer. 
 

Thank you for good input and suggestions! 

Asking my colleagues: 

• YES, the first thing I did was to go and talk to my colleagues. They wanted pizza and cake (and the seamstresses wanted me to bring them wine and snacks on Friday afternoons) and some of them wanted me to make them a big burger-lunch (we have a big grill outside our lunch area - easily done in the summer). Not one asked for more time off - probably because of the reasons listed at the bottom.
• I’m not “management”, I’m a Senior PM. “The Management” asked me to write a draft for the policy since I, as a PM, have contact with pretty much everyone in the company. They genuinely want this to be a good thing, NOT mandatory and NOT a burden for the employees. We are a small company and the distance from Management to "us commoners" is pleasantly short.  

Some really nice inputs: 

• Breakfast - I love this one! We can either make a breakfast buffet in the lunch room or send the team to a hotel we have reasonably close to us. Placing it a bit later in the morning makes it a natural slow start also. 
• Video games - Super fun idea! We could rent (or even buy) some different options and have some video game tournaments. Throw in some VR-sets and Wii-style games. This can be done during office hours: “Starting from 2pm on friday - log your hours on the project”. 
• Axe throwing - I’m pretty sure we have a semi-silly “adventure range” in the area where you can compete in axe throwing, crossbow, bow and other stuff. Could be a fun thing. 
• GoKart - this is such an engineering thing to suggest! But, yes, it is fun. One step up would be to ship a team to the race track 2h away and rent some “race school time”. They have cars and teachers to take care of you. 
• Cooking class or wine/beer tasting - I’d love to try this myself. Typing while I think: I wonder if it is possible to have the organizers come to us and do it on an afternoon, in the break room?

So, picking up on the “keep it during office hours”-message: We can easily get catering to come to the break room with perhaps burgers, tacos, BBQ or similar. But, I only see this being a reasonable option whenever we want to reward e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e in the building. If we want to reward just one project team, we need to take them outside to a restaurant. It can still be lunch! 

Fun fact: Why time off isn’t so super precious and rare for us

• We have 25-30 days paid vacation per year.
• We work 36h a week and we have a software supported “flex system” where you can bank hours and be off work a few hours another day. Virtually everyone works at least 40h/week and use the “banked” hours to have ½ days off every now and then. 
• We are allowed to work from home (depending on what equipment you need to do your job, of course). I visit the office 1-2 days a week myself, depending on the need for actual face-to-face meetings.

In reply to Torkel :

They all sound like fun ideas, especially if they're during work hours.  People aren't losing free time to go, and it kinda feels like they're getting away with something by playing on company time. 
 

Time off is a bigger deal here because few have it. I get 25 days a year which is almost unheard of among my friends but I can't take it at will. It needs to be scheduled well in advance, not conflict with any coworkers request, and is often  canceled at the last minute due to "operational needs".  If I do end up with time off a chunk of it will be spent on the phone and answering emails.  

In reply to Torkel :

Yeah I get 8 days a year and work 45 hours a week and working from home isn't an option. That's pretty standard for the common blue collar worker here. So time off is extremely important and less time with coworkers equally as important 

I'm a little late to the game here, and I don't know how big of a company we're discussing, but a few things I saw in the thread:

You need something universal.  What does everyone need or will appreciate?  These are my OPINIONS, so take them as that.

Food is great.  Food at work is better.  If you try to reward me with a dinner out with the whole office, I'll find something else to do.  I just spent 40 hours a week with these knob-heads, I don't want to feel forced to socialize with them after hours.  It's also a little hollow IMO.  It's a money dump.  Here's food, I'll pay, now be happy.  You'll have some who say they would rather have a cash bonus, others will grumble that they don't see their family enough anyway, and that one guy from accounting who says "I've asked for a hole-punch for three months and was told we couldn't afford it, but we can have steak for 15?"  Food at work allows people to make their own mix of social and work time.  Jerry really needs to finish his spreadsheet before the 2pm meeting, so he might grab a sandwich and go back to his desk.  Bill has been working his tail off with the new account and has a moment to breathe, so he hangs out at the dessert table talking with Heather and discovers they both like kayaking.  That's team building.

Cash is nice.  I, personally, am not money-driven.  It takes a lot of money to perk me up, so some won't appreciate the cash necessarily.  Hard to believe, but if I work my butt off for $50k/year, a $1000 bonus is not only a little "really, that's it?" but it also has no heart.  I feel purchased.  Like getting a gift card... which some people like.

Activities are sometimes fun... if you're an extrovert and if you like the activity.  It also (like dinner out) may have an "overtime" feeling to some.  Rest assured, it will be received differently by different people.  If you, as my boss, hosted a laser tag event, I would gladly sit in the snack bar and wait for you all to be done.  Others would LOVE it.  I think you would also need to choose events that are sustainable.  By that, I mean choose events that people can look forward to without having to take it away later.  Imagine having a yearly potato sack race and then two years from now you hire a paraplegic, or an overweight person who feels singled out.  It would suck to have a quarterly axe-throwing night and then hire a person with Cerebral Palsy.

My first choice would be food at work.  Then it's like a free break.  The social people can take the hour and chill by the buffet, the introverts can appreciate the food at their cubicle and watch facebook reels.  My last boss had what he called mandatory staff meetings every Friday at 2pm.  He would have something inexpensive every week; mimosas and a cheese plate, champagne and a veggie tray, root beer floats and cookies.  We just had a drink and chilled out as we felt moved to.  Lots of laughs and bonding.

Second choice would be money and/or PTO.  I can extrapolate that money (while lacking heart) is something that 95% of the world would appreciate and I would like buying car parts with it.

Just my thoughts, but I realize I'm not normal in many ways.

I can tell you at least in the states, you can find someone to do cooking classes or wine and cheese pairings on site. Bourbon tastings are popular too. For a bigger one, we did carnival days. Actually rented out carnie games and did a BBQ and Carnie Games. 

Pretty much if you can think it, you'll probably find someone who will come and do it.  

'Team building exercises' always made my teeth grind, it always struck me as the sort of thing you'd do with kindergartners.  I'd rather treat employees like adults.

stuart in mn said:

'Team building exercises' always made my teeth grind, it always struck me as the sort of thing you'd do with kindergartners.  I'd rather treat employees like adults.

Why?

Thinking about the food thing, our main office has brought in food trucks every now and then.  I worked in one of the satellite offices for many years and we would have bagels and cream cheese every Friday - I used to be one of the staff who got in early and would swing by the bagel shop and pick them up.  Free food during work is definitely good for morale. 

Here in Columbus there are groups that organize tours of breweries, distilleries, food trucks, pizza places, etc. They load people up in a large passenger van and drive them to 3-5 locations where they get a tasting and tour.

There is probably something like that in your region and that would likely be pretty popular.

We get groups from companies coming through our brewery here for tours during work days. Some people enjoy this sort of outing more than others, but on the whole, it seems like pretty much everyone involved is enjoying themselves and happy to get a break from work. It's fun for people to get a chance to be driven around and drink during the work day.

There are definitely some people who enjoy learning about the history and science of beers and the educational component of that. A majority who enjoy getting a chance for a low-key guided taste testing of different beers or liquors to try some new things. And the rest are usually happy to just get out of the office and consume free alcohol during the work day.

This has advantages over something like sitting down for a lunch. You're not staying in any one place for as long, and there's someone who you DON'T work with giving a presentation on something completely unrelated to work. So there isn't a sense of obligation for you to have to fill any awkward silences. 

ProDarwin said:

stuart in mn said:

'Team building exercises' always made my teeth grind, it always struck me as the sort of thing you'd do with kindergartners.  I'd rather treat employees like adults.

Why?

Perhaps because they are always childish in there approach?

I agree with Stuart. 

Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:

Thinking about the food thing, our main office has brought in food trucks every now and then.  I worked in one of the satellite offices for many years and we would have bagels and cream cheese every Friday - I used to be one of the staff who got in early and would swing by the bagel shop and pick them up.  Free food during work is definitely good for morale. 

This also has the bonus that people can go down and get it on their own time. To have the freedom to socialize or not as they see fit. Giving them the chance to pick what the food truck is would also be nice.

Having food provided is also a direct savings of money and time figuring it out for themselves.

I think it's also more thoughtful than strait cash.

I haven't seen the CEO of my company on my job site in 6 years. The HR director has never been to any of the job sites from our Macon office (she says it's because those jobs are running great and she doesn't need to).

Now they want us to participate in "team building". 
 

It feels cheap, and contrived. We don't function as a team. We are individuals running field locations with no coworkers. 
 

If they actually want to make me a better employee, give me some field assistance, offer training I can use, ask for my input, or show up at my job.
 

Anyone can throw a little money at a steak dinner and make themselves feel good about "improving" the "team".

SV reX said:

Perhaps because they are always childish in there approach?

I agree with Stuart. 

That's pretty much it.  At least in my experience, the best thing to do is treat people like adults and leave them alone to do their job.

I worked for the same guy for 27 years, it was a small firm with ~10 employees.  We'd have a ten minute meeting on Monday mornings to review what everyone was up to, and then we'd go back to work.  He paid us fairly and we got decent benefits, and combined with being able to work independently and being responsible for our own success, that was enough.  We did often have donuts or other treats for a morning break, there was cake on your birthday, and during the holiday season the boss would take us out for a nice dinner.

I think what I've learned from reading every ones post is you can't make everyone happy. We all appreciate different styles of rewards. Personally it looks like the answer would be taking them out for lunch while also being paid.

We were talking about this at work recently and every idea had its pros and cons. 

Datsun310Guy said:

At my last job we complained the Christmas party and summer picnic went away.  When we were family owned it was fun but the private equity guys won't even pop for a basic fried chicken and pasta lunch at Christmas so we used money we made from selling scrap stainless steel. Probably a non-ethical move from my manager.

If it wasn't reported as income that's quite risky business... my childhood best friend's father (and a couple business partners) got to spend several months in a minimum security federal prison for doing that - after recycling truck loads of aluminum shavings from the mills in their tire mold shop. The IRS setup a sting and they got the stinger. 

My #1 favorite team building event was an offshore fishing trip off the coast of South Carolina. I had fished about twice in my life standing on a river bank before doing this trip but it was a blast. All day on a Saturday made it less attractive but it was before we had kids.. so still a winner.

#2 favorite was a sporting clays event in Pasco County, FL. That was on a Friday IIRC.

Both of the above paid for by general contractors - some of them truly do work hard:play hard. It's enjoyable stuff.

My favorite reward as a youngster in my career was the boss would take his five employees to lunch fairly frequently - a la Toyman. A beer or two with lunch was perfectly okay with that boss. 

Before Covid, my current employer liked (quarterly maybe) to host something called Beer Friday.. Shutting down around 4:30 then standing around the office talking, eating snacks and drinking wine and almost cold beer. We had a 50th floor terrace which was nice when the weather was favorable but it was usually uncomfortable (to me as an introvert.. and to the recovering alcoholics and teetotalers). I'd usually slip away at normal quitting time. Post Covid we haven't done one so I actually miss it just a little. Surprisingly.

Activities are important in my opinion. Everyone could use some more money but experiences are what's memorable in life.

After conquering some large workload or otherwise large stressor event....  That idea of a "on the clock" breakfast or lunch brought in is nice but also add to the day a chair message.  Hire in some pros and put out a randomly drawn employee schedule or 15-20 minutes each.  You could even let the employees swap time amongst themselves if you want.  Some people might pass, not feeling comfortable about it.  Some employees might let another employee take their place for two turns.  Who knows.  But, set up a quiet place where this can be done in reasonable "private"

In reply to OHSCrifle :

Totally - I should've used the word illegal.  The total take 1x a year was probably close to $1000.  They saved it all year - stainless steel scrap hose and braid and took it to a cash place.  

It just sucked the private equity guys wouldn't approve a $400-$500 beef sandwich/pasta lunch once a year.  One time the employees said "F" it and did their own potluck.  

So it's not really the same because the wife works in a warehouse, but, they're really big on doing things for their employees.

In the past 15 months, the company has brought in one of the better local food trucks FOR ALL THREE SHIFTS, at least 6 times. In the summer there is a Kona ice truck on site at least once a month. During "employee appreciation week" lunches are extended from 30 to 60 minutes with half being paid, every day is a different thing, food truck, sundae bar, one day management runs the grills and cooks for everyone. There are also occasional productivity bonuses to be earned, usually after corporate does  their mandatory training at the warehouse and is reminded how much the work sucks compared to their desk jobs, or in extreme circumstances due to seasonal events. 

Now some of those may be out of the question for a "team", but some could definitely be adapted.

As an outsider I'm a big fan of management getting their hands dirty, but I've also had enough poor managers to know how that can make things worse. I think it's good for morale though to show the "subordinates" that the "bosses" have hands on experience and an ability to help instead of just manage, in settings where that's possible. 

Torkel said:

Fun fact: Why time off isn’t so super precious and rare for us

• We have 25-30 days paid vacation per year.
• We work 36h a week and we have a software supported “flex system” where you can bank hours and be off work a few hours another day. Virtually everyone works at least 40h/week and use the “banked” hours to have ½ days off every now and then. 
• We are allowed to work from home (depending on what equipment you need to do your job, of course). I visit the office 1-2 days a week myself, depending on the need for actual face-to-face meetings.

Is that 5-6 weeks of PTO, ON TOP OF paid holidays? You'll understand why the US folks value time off more, because very few positions in this country have 5-6 weeks of paid time off per year. 

I get 18 days of PTO each year, in addition to holidays, but 4 of those days us hourly people are FORCED to use them for the end of the year shutdown, so essentially I only have 14 days of PTO to use when I choose. Although most bosses let us take a few extra days here and there without counting them as PTO. 

However, even though every country where we have a commerce office outside of the US gets more PTO and paid holidays, when comparing the cost of living, they all are paid markedly less than those of us in the US. 

So yeah, as someone with 15+ years of experience in what I do who mentors new hires, has a huge multitude of different responsibilities, yeah, I want a bonus or paid time off. And I suspect many of the other people here have similar reasoning for that.