Are Company Outings Profitable?

Summer is almost ending here in the Philippines and some companies have enjoyed their company outings going to different places and doing stuff they've never done before. A company outing might seem like just another expense for the company, with no real profit or benefits. It's an expense obviously, and it's obviously not profitable... No, not right away at least.

However, what you're gaining from company outings are actually intangible benefits that could be profitable for you and your company in the long run. What you're really investing in here is employee relationships.

If done right, you could be building a team that could otherwise take you years to build. No one likes a high employee turnover, it's bad for business and it's bad for your reputation. If there are ways to provide employee retention, company outings might just be one. I've listed a few benefits of having company outings in your company.

Intangible Benefits Of Company Outings

Better relationships - In our last company outing we had four or five different departments joining the party. Basically, that's almost all the departments we had, we had other departments such as HR and Accounting outsourced so those doesn't count. If we didn't have a company outing, we could've remained strangers to each other until the day each one of us moves to another company. Thankfully, that is not what happened and relationships inside the company is improving. One of the things that motivate me to wake up early every morning is knowing the fact that I'm working with great people.

New Ideas Circulate- Since that last company outing, I had a couple of new people greet me every morning. That didn't happen before. Suddenly, ideas also start circulating on how we can better improve things in the office and the products that we (my department) make. We learn a lot more about what the other person does and how they do it. In my industry, this is a very important thing.

Break down barriers - There's this very high barrier between the staff and the management team. With the recent company outing that we had, we also had the bosses joining the fun. They've also been a part of every team building activities such as water sports. In my opinion, this really built a strong level of trust on each employee with the upper management which is why the employees now seem to be more bold in stating their opinion. The wall that stands between Joe and Mr. Manager has somehow been broken.

With all things said and done, it's up to you to observe and see if you've made a  brand new team with this team building activities. Do your employees stand out more than expected? Are they more outspoken? Do they cooperate more? Do they now come to the office early? Alright, perhaps the latter would take some time to improve. :)

At the end of our company outing, everyone was filled with high morale. They're ready to face their day to day responsibilities with a different perspective on why and how to do it.

On the final note, company outings should be voluntary for each person in the company. It should not be pushed to anyone as a mandatory activity. However, if you could come to terms with employees such as those with families or commitments they cannot easily leave behind then it's much better. You don't have to go too far in order to have these bondings. You just need to be a little more creative.

Work hard together, and play harder together.

So where have you been on you last company outing? Was it helpful to your team/company?

Photo Credit: anda (: