How to create connections with colleagues — without dinner and drinks

As workers adjust to return-to-office mandates and new hybrid structures, employers are left to figure out what it will take to bring their employees together.

According to employee recognition software Nectar, nearly 70% of employees agree that they would be happier if they had deeper connections with their colleagues, and almost 80% agree that connections are important to company culture. But whether the workforce is a mix of fully remote workers and office workers, or all hybrid workers, it's become increasingly difficult to create opportunities for connection in the last four years. That's why employers should rethink how they design their offsites and ask themselves if they're really making the most out of a rare occasion for colleagues to bond outside the workplace, says Lisa McDowell, chief marketing officer of Immersive Gamebox.

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Immersive Gamebox hosts interactive digital rooms employers can book for their employees, featuring video games from Tetris and Angry Birds to others inspired by Black Mirror and Squid Games in 29 locations worldwide. Equipped with motion-sensitive visors, employees break into teams and play.

"You don't need any video game background — there are no skills required," says McDowell. "Everyone is on the same level, and everyone has to work collaboratively to play. You just need to put on a little visor and give yourself permission to be silly and run around with your colleagues."

McDowell points out that regardless of their company status, employees have to interact with each other if they're in a game room, especially since the goal for each team is to beat the game, not each other. She stresses that a successful offsite tries to eliminate hierarchy in a company's social fabric and instead encourages people to get to know one another outside of their roles and titles. The common go-to of drinks and dinner just doesn't cut it, according to McDowell.

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"You want the junior teams and the senior teams to be on level footing, and that doesn't really happen at dinner," she says. "At dinner, the highest-paid person in the room just ends up holding court. We've all seen it."

And by centering the offsite on an activity rather than drinks, companies can also avoid the HR concerns that typically surround alcohol, whether it's rude behavior or liability for the employee's safety. Not to mention, for employees struggling with addiction, alcohol-centered offsites can be incredibly stressful, if not impossible to engage in. 

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McDowell notes that people are more willing to connect with each other if their environment already gives them something to talk and laugh about, without the formality or pressure that comes with being in the office. It's easier to think of your manager as a person rather than a boss after running around with them in matching visors, trying to outthink a computer, explains McDowell.

"When you're trying to build up water cooler moments, you need to build trust between teams, and you need people to feel like they enjoy one another's company," she says. "For that, you've got to have those out-of-office moments."