Engaging Company Culture & The Rise of Company Events

The way the world operates is always changing, and the same can be said for the way companies operate. Within the last decade, the way people see the workplace has dramatically changed and the workforce itself has begun to shift to accommodate another generation. Corporations and startups alike are each trying to grow and expand like always but with a different structure than they once had.

With an increase in remote workers, telecommuting, and virtual offices, there has never been more flexibility for employees. Not having a daily in-office routine frees things up but employers still see that there is a need for a strong cohesive company culture.

Company culture is broadly defined as something that ‘encompasses the values and behaviors that contribute to the social and psychological environment of an organization’. With employees working further apart than ever before, organizations have found the need to create exciting and valuable opportunities to bring an organization together. Not only is it important to bring people together, but to drive employee engagement in ways that haven’t been done before. This is where company events come in.

However, like everything else, the way organizations run events and the reasons why they have these events are changing as well. Organizations are finding it increasingly difficult to bring employees together outside of office hours unless the experience can be of greater value to the employee and the organization as a whole. With work-life balance becoming more of a recognized and valued concept, employees across the board seem to be more objective with their time and the events they go to, especially with the rise of the tech employee.

This is where event planning and company events truly come together. Organizations from the start-up level to the major corporation are seeking to create events that not only bring people together but make people want to come together. Bringing a new experience to the table like virtual reality, interactive design elements, and parting favors that guests will actually use. Company events need to be valuable to everyone involved, engaging, personal, and of course memorable.

Of course, the culture of each organization is unique, so strengthening it will look different for each organization. With people spending at least 40 hours at work per week if not more, that is simply too much time for it not to be valuable, to the employee. People want autonomy in their organization but they also want work life to fit in a balance with their personal life. This is why it has become so important for the organization to understand it’s demographic in order to drive engagement.

Organizations where the demographic swings more towards employees having kids will want events that can cater towards their busy parenting schedule and allow them to engage with their family and their organization in unison. Kid friendly work events have been on the rise as it’s a great way to create engagement with employees that may often not be able to commit extra hours to work events and it also allows for a sense of community amongst those who have kids in an organization.

The demographics of employee that appears to be growing the fastest with the tech industry boom is the young, millennial tech employee. This generation of employee although not the majority now, will soon make up more than half the workforce in under a decade. There is incredible value in understanding how to drive engagement with this new type of employee by organizations because the sooner an organization can do so, the more desirable they will be as a future employer.

Looking at major tech companies like Amazon, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google it’s clear to see that these companies attract a lot of skilled workers not just for the pay but for their renowned and engaged company culture. These companies are constantly investing in new and innovative ways to drive engagement and company events are a huge part of that. Not only does investing in creating more engaging events impact the overall appeal of a company for skilled workers, but it allows the organization to unite its workforce and create a more cohesive engaged community despite offering remote employment, having regular re-org, or splitting teams with contractors and full-time employees.

Event planners are now reinventing the wheel when it comes to office events. Instead, the event aspect is being brought in for more casual activities. Bring new life to your group’s next all-hands meeting, your next client and company open house or happy hour. There are so many more avenues than just a company picnic or office holiday party and sometimes it’s the subtle touches of fun and engagement throughout the calendar year that make the biggest difference in bringing more engagement to your office culture.

It is time to leverage time spent with your team and not only create fun memories for guests and families experiences but engage your workforce and shape a stronger more connected community within your organization.