It’s very important to make sure that your staff knows how valued they are and are offered tokens of this appreciation from you. You can show your gratitude to your employees through various schemes, such as offering annual bonuses, helping them out with healthcare costs, monthly prizes, or even allowing them to have flexible working hours to make their lives easier.
Another way you can let your employees know how grateful you are to them is by organizing a retreat that they can get involved in. This can also help to contribute to team building by allowing your staff to bond with each other outside of the office environment. If this is something you would like to offer your teams, here are some ideas to help you organize an event like this.
How Long is This Retreat?
The first thing you will need to decide is how long this retreat will last. Are you getting everyone together just for the day? Or will this event take up an entire weekend? Your budget will impact this, of course, but once you have decided how long your retreat will last you can move on to planning an itinerary for it.
Finding a Venue
When you have determined your budget and the length of the retreat, you can begin your search for suitable venues. If you’re planning to have a weekend-long retreat, you’ll need to hire somewhere that has accommodation on-site nearby, too. Hotels are ideal for this, or you can look at renting a private holiday rental for smaller parties. Some venues might also offer package deals for your retreat, including set menus for meals, and access to any facilities on site like a spa or gym. You should also make sure that the venue is easy to get to for your employees or look into arranging transport like a coach to take your teams to their destination.
Entertainment
You’ll also need to arrange some corporate entertainment for your employees to enjoy throughout the day. These could include a variety of options to cater to different preferences and interests. Sporting activities are also a good choice, particularly if one of your aims of the retreat is to encourage team building. Parties are another option you can choose, and your employees will appreciate being pampered after all of the hard work they have done throughout the year. You could also arrange to have a fun staff awards ceremony one evening to reward the individuals who have been particularly outstanding throughout the year.
Gift Bags and Branded Merchandise
Another nice addition to the retreat would be providing your teams with some branded merchandise they can wear over the weekend, such as hats or t-shirts. You can find examples of these items at anthembranding.com. Consider putting together some nice gift bags for the attendees of your retreat that they can take away with them. You could include some nice bath salts and soaks, gift vouchers for popular brands, and so on.
If you want to give back to your hardworking employees, consider arranging a staff retreat so that they can let their hair down and have some fun.
