The Fun Office Activities Awesome Companies Use to Make Work Better
If you ask a lot of successful companies to define their culture, you’ll often hear something to the tune of “we work hard and play hard”.
Creating an enjoyable workplace is no longer something reserved solely for big tech companies in Silicon Valley. Companies around the world are making their offices a place where people get lots done while also having fun too.
So how can your company start injecting more fun into each day?
I asked some awesome companies to share their fun office activities (and I also shared our favorites below) – basically, how they get people away from their desks for a bit and interacting with each other.
There are some really cool ideas here that you can steal and use at your office. Enjoy!
Sparks
When I reached out to Manisha Priyadarshan at Sparks, who specializes in live marketing experiences, I was blown away at all the fun things they do at their office.
Their company’s core values are list as the “Code 10” philosophy, which you can check out here. Number 10 on their list is “Work should be fun”.
Here’s what Manisha had to say about how Sparks makes work fun:
At Sparks, we strive for this every day. We greatly invest in our employees and want them to wake up looking forward to coming to Sparks, because, well, they have fun. Here are some of the ways we embrace number 10:
We run a program called “Mix & Mingle”: employees selected from different departments to have lunch and get to know more about each other. We also run a program called “Food4Thought”, where employees can earn more about Sparks over lunch by hearing presentations from people in each department on projects they have worked on.
HR runs a program called “TedEd”: an hour long live session including a screening of a Sparks-relevant Ted Talk followed by a round-table discussion.
We have bimonthly “Flash Contests” with mini contests to inspire people to think about our company’s codes, i.e. send a story of a time when, “the client’s problem was your opportunity.”
We’ve hosted a number of fun events throughout the year! Chili Cook-off, Halloween Party, Holiday Party, Valentine’s Cupcake decorating, Mini March Madness, Earth Day, and Summer BBQs.
We have recently implemented a Bring Your Dog to Work committee, where a select panel of dog owners and dog lovers will help to decide which employees pets would make great workday partners by spending the day at the office!
Here’s a look at an example of a Code 10 event (an Irish Potluck):
Limeade
It’s no secret that Limeade is one of the best company’s to work for. They’ve been ranked on Entrepreneur’s Top Company Cultures list, Fortune and Great Place to Work 50 Best Small and Medium Companies to Work For, and Greatist’s 44 Healthiest Companies to Work for in America (among many others).
As an an employee engagement platform, it makes a lot of sense that Limeade pays special attention to their culture and their team. They’re also really good at employee recognition.
Here are the fun office games that Andrea Augustine at Limeade shared with me:
From walking meetings to coloring and puzzle stations, there’s always something to get us out of our chairs (well, standing desks that is). Fitness challenges frequent here (planking and wall sits) and team competition gets fierce.
When we need to blow off steam, we hop on a razor scooter or start a nerf war. Some enjoy ping pong and others 3×3 basketball, but our dance breaks are loved by all.
TINYPulse
When I asked Sabrina Son at TINYpulse how their company has fun, she shared this hilariously titled game:
One of our favorite activities at TINYpulse is playing simple games like Werewolf or Eat Poop, You Cat.
Werewolf is a great way for people to loosen up and casually accuse each other of being a blood-thirsty werewolf that has been killing the villagers while they sleep. You can find the rules here.
Eat Poop, You Cat is essentially telephone pictionary. Each person writes down a phrase, passes it to the left. The person must then draw a picture based off the phrase, then fold the paper over so the phrase is hidden. Once it’s passed to the left, the next person must write a phrase based off the drawing. You continue to pass the paper until you get yours back. Another awesome way to get people laughing together! You can find the rules for that game here.
Werewolf at TINYPulse HQ
SnackNation
Having worked here for almost 3 years now, I can confidently say that SnackNation is a really fun place to work. So I wanted to share with you the things we do to spread some laughter and joy around the office:
Bi-weekly yoga in the office
Weekly bootcamps
Company offsites to places like Big Bear, Venice Beach, Malibu
Friday Happy Hours
Teamwide personal development session every Monday (known as “The Sensei Session”)
Scooter races in the parking lot
Voom
Having fun at work can also contribute to employee wellness. Here’s how Gabrielle Shultis says wellness company Voom incorporates fun into their company while staying true to their mission and values:
We’re a really small company, so we have the flexibility to actually take our activities outside the office! So once every couple of weeks (usually on a Wednesday, for “Wellness Wednesday”) we head on over to a local gym and take a class together.
The classes vary, depending on what they’re offering that week and at the time we’re able to sneak out of the office. Sometimes it’s a “30 Minutes to Fit” class, but we’ve also dabbled with a TRX band class, “Cardio and Core,” and we’re hoping to try a newly added “Strength and Stretch” class!
We’re a wellness program, so it’s important to us that we practice what we preach. We find that partaking in just 30 minutes of activity (which is the length of most of the classes) all together allows us to not only have fun together outside of a workplace environment, but we’ve had some really creative brainstorming sessions mid-plank! We return back to the office energized, and Wednesday afternoons after a class usually end up being our most productive time of the week
Voom taking part in Take Your Child To Work Day
YouEarnedIt
Darby Dupre at YouEarnedIt explained how Friday is always a fun day to be at their office:
A favorite YouEarnedIt office activity is getting together every Friday for team lunches, which are held on the rooftop floor of our building with an incredible view of downtown. It’s a chance for YEI’ers to connect and get to know one another in a meaningful way.
Some Fridays we play various activities and games- a favorite is when we had to choose what spirit animal a team member would be and explain why. Other Fridays, we go around the table and share personal and company highs for the week. This allows everyone to stay in tune with what is going on with the business and to celebrate each other’s success (oftentimes they turn into a big love fest!).
Occasionally, we have different team members lead informative presentations to teach us something new or reinforce our culture. Some of the topics have been “How to be a YEI brand ambassador” or “How to live out our company core values.”
The best part of Friday lunches is the initiation activity that all the new team members have to partake in. We’d share, but it’s a company secret!
Other than Friday lunches, we use our employee recognition and rewards software to connect and collaborate with our peers at work.
YouEarnedIt Team Lunch
BrightFire
Hannah Day shows us how BrightFire gets creative with their office fun:
At BrightFire we like to focus on creativity. From the moment you walk in the door of our office you absolutely get that impression. With a modern decor and laid back attitude it is clear we value and encourage creative thinking in all our employees.
Some of the favorite activities here at BrightFire are weekly Yoga sessions, and a Friday “Chat n’ Chew” where we discuss new ideas, or new technologies over a catered lunch. Our close-knit and friendly feeling lends to an open-minded atmosphere for every one to bring forward ideas and new concepts.
Overall BrightFire does a lot to encourage a fun and creative environment for an equally fun and creative staff. Often times you can catch a few staff members in the break chatting like old friends over a cup of coffee or strategizing how to better our services while raiding the snacks. You could even stop into your boss’ office to see how his kids did in their tennis tournament before a meeting.
Between the exchange of ideas, to the friendships we’ve all developed with one another BrightFire is not only a rewarding place to work, but a fun one as well.
Harmless Harvest
Ruthana Smith over at Harmless Harvest shared how the raw coconut water brand has fun at their San Francisco HQ:
Here at Harmless Harvest we create weird and wonderful smoothies and variations of our Coconut Water to share with others in the office. We have also recently installed hammocks – picture below of my colleagues trying to flip me around in it. Every month we also have a massive lunch together also with a theme each time – last month was of course Halloween!
Hack Reactor
Hack Reactor is a bootcamp where programmers become software engineers in 12 weeks. They’re a group of hard working individuals, but they also know how to have fun, says Jared Neil:
At Hack Reactor we always love to have a good time together after work singing karaoke, hosting talent shows, movie nights, scavenger hunts, ice cream socials as well as casino night just to name a few! We work hard, play hard, and eat healthy!
Bonusly
What if you’re a smaller team with people spread out across the country? George Dickerson explains how Bonusly manages to have fun together even though their team is thousands of miles apart:
Half of our team is in Brooklyn, NY and the other half works in Boulder, CO. That provides us a great mix of things to do together. Although we’re not always all in the same space, we definitely make up for it each time we gather the full team.
We’ve had some pretty riveting indoor bocce ball tournaments, team meals, and some excellent happy hours in NYC. In Boulder, we do more outdoor activities together like barbecues and hiking in the Rocky Mountains.
Bigcommerce
Here’s how Bigcommerce’s Austin office unwinds at work according to Office and Experience Manager, Elizabeth Rhymaun:
Here at Bigcommerce we work hard, but we also play hard!
Whether its a small break for a ping pong tournament or our Friday yoga sessions, we like to find outlets to relieve stress and have a little fun. We love to throw in the random lip sync battle during a Friday afternoon happy hour or have holiday decorating contests for free breakfast tacos, or even make up our own games (Hungry Hungry Ninjas = skateboards, laundry baskets, and balloons).
We definitely love to keep things a bit wild around the office!
OwnLocal
I reached out to Nicole Brooks of OwnLocal after I saw their company listed in an article on The Muse called “10 Comapnies That Are Just as Great as Google”. It sounds like there’s a good reason why they made this list:
Work hard play hard is extremely cliche, but that describes our office perfectly. People at OwnLocal work extremely hard throughout the day, so we encourage people to blow off steam.
We have catered group lunches everyday to get people away from their desks and talking about things other than work. Mini fitness challenges are also pretty routine; wall sits, planks, weekly group fitness classes, etc.
We take quarterly outings to get people out of the office – most recently we went bowling and past trips include boat parties and deep sea fishing.
Coloring materials are available at the office which is surprisingly relaxing. It’s also pretty common to find people playing beer pong towards the end of the day or having whiskey / wine tastings.
Levatas
Having a committee or even 1 person in charge of regularly creating fun around the office is a very good idea. Here’s how Wendy DeCampos says they do things at Levatas:
We have a Cultural Committee dedicated to creating a fun and inclusive work environment. Last month, for example, we hosted a mini-golf tournament at the local putt putt course, hired a masseuse on October 21, 2015 for “Back to the Future” day (get it?), and organized a costume contest for Halloween.
We also do what we can to contribute to our employees’ overall wellness. We offer access to a free gym membership, and have a standing invitation to a 2:30 p.m. company “meeting,” where a handful of us gather to pump out push-ups and/or planks – a perfect way to get the blood flowing after lunch.
For mental relaxation (or stimulation, depending on how you look at it), employees are encouraged to take breaks as needed to play FIFA on the Xbox, race the Anki car, or challenge each other to a game of chess.
This month, our Culture Committee is planning a table tennis tournament, an indoor soccer game with a local rival team, and treating the staff to a Thanksgiving feast.
Greenvelope
Alex Kelsey at Greenvelope reached out to me with these fantastic ways they create an enjoyable work environment:
The Greenvelope.com team works hard, but we also know the importance of stepping away from the computer and having some fun during the day.
Daily foosball tournaments are never missed, and are occasionally supplemented by a corn hole tournament on our custom Greenvelope set Weekly happy hours bring the team together, whether we are experimenting with new recipes and cocktails, crafting for the holidays, or exploring downtown Seattle’s bar and restaurant scene.
The newest addition to the office is a Nintendo 64, so you know there are Mario Kart championships going down on the regs.
And our CEO, Sam Franklin, also included the perfect dose of zen by including a yoga room in our new office, complete with workout equipment to help us de-stress or get a little workout in during the day.
Beach day on Whidbey Island-Copy
Team Volunteering Outing
Happy Hour
Office Snack Time
Office N64
Greenvelope custom cornhole boards
FUN.com
If you get competitive playing Rock Paper Scissors, then you’ll love what Marlon Heimerl over at FUN.com told me about their company:
At FUN.com you might imagine we’re all about promoting a Fun-loving culture.. Not only do we have an annual Mario Kart tournament and an annual Nerf Gun war, but we have an entire room dedicated to gaming on breaks.
We also like to break up the year by attending things like Comic Con in Minneapolis and take some time of our “grueling” day jobs with another very popular rock-paper-scissors tournament.
As you might imagine, the grueling comment was sarcastic! Promoting a fun environment gives people a reason to get up every day and do their best, not because you are working for a paycheck, but because you are working to help the friends beside you do well in the broader arena of finding a work/life balance while building lasting relationships.
Rock Paper Scissors Contest
CentricsIT
Check out the cool things CentricsIT employees get to enjoy:
At CentricsIT, we strongly believe in a work hard-play hard culture. Here are some fun benefits of working here:
Monthly catered lunches
Ping-pong tournaments
Game room
In-house gym & showers
An arcade golf machine
Themed parties that involve the following: hula skirts, pig roasts, water balloon fights, raffles, cook-out contests, Halloween costume contests, Ugly Christmas Sweater contests, tug-of-war, jumpy obstacle courses, scavenger hunts, mid-day basketball games, etc.
Friday fun night at Six Flags over Georgia for all operations employees and their families (this is an example of our employee appreciation events)
The sales teams get even more benefits based on their quotas. Those who meet or exceed their quotas get invited to the annual Quota Club and go together on an all-expense paid trip to Mexico
Objective
Liz Van Camp told me about an epic monthly tournament the company competes in:
At Objective, we have a monthly ‘Office Olympics’ tournament. The entire office gets to participate and relax while we hold the competition that afternoon. It has been a ton of fun and Events include the following, to name a few:
Water Balloon Toss
Nerf Shootout
Conference Table ‘Ice Curling’
Dizzy Dash (where after being spun around with your eyes closed, you see how far you can walk/run down a curb in 10 seconds without falling off)
This monthly competition brings the entire office together and keeps everyone laughing, but still trying their best, since the winner receives a prize. It’s the activity everyone most looks forward to each month. It also helps to break things up a bit and to encourage a fun atmosphere in the office.
Conclusion
There are so many ways to have fun at work, and hopefully you grabbed a couple of new ideas from the companies mentioned in this list.
What fun office activities does your company do? Share them by leaving us a comment below.
The post The Fun Office Activities Awesome Companies Use to Make Work Better appeared first on SnackNation.