Colleagues mingling at work, involving in various interactions and conversations are a common sight. Having lunch together, chatting, and joking is known to cast away boredom and sleepiness, even to help reduce stress at work.
As an HR Manager, building a close, intimate camaraderie among employees could effectively help boost employees’ morale and increase the work engagement level. Having friends at work make employees feel happier and more likely to stick around than those who keep a distant with each other, rather like strangers working in the same environment. When good and close relationships are formed, employees are likely to produce effective teamwork.
According to Christine M. Riordan, provost and professor of management at the University of Kentucky, camaraderie is a key ingredient to happiness at work for male and female employees. Another research supports the argument that strong social connections at the office can boost productivity and make employees more passionate about their work and less likely to quit.
See also: Top 8 Motivational Phrases HR Managers Must Know to Build a Confident Workforce
HR professionals play significant roles to manage employees and enable them to feel tightly connected with each other as a united family. There are some fun office activities HR Managers can execute to build the camaraderie at work
Fun outings are one of the affordable activities HR Managers can opt to create camaraderie amongst employees. Company’s excursions to the city’s museums, parks, restaurants or cinemas will induce a friendly atmosphere where employees experience good things together as one family under the same organisation.
Such outings are also great alternatives to building a more stable team, as with such events, it is easier to socialise and get to know each other in a more casual and fun way. As the camaraderie happens, happiness will increase, and stress levels are reduced at the same time.
Although organising a monthly outing or office celebration outside the office are easier, HR Managers can initiate cooking together as an activity to build camaraderie amongst employees. Simply by inviting a chef or appointing employees who can cook well will create a different fun activity where people can learn something new about each other.
Dividing employees into groups to prepare different menus also allow them to work together in different contexts, recognise each other’s personalities and enhance the bond with each other.
Involving in a community service together, either volunteers or charity programs can also build a sense of camaraderie amongst colleagues. Doing social actions that bring significant changes to the society can bring valuable experiences. Such activities also promotes bonding amongst them!
Attending events, especially those which are tightly related to the employee’s job role can also be a great way to build camaraderie. Employees can gain much benefits such as expanding skill sets, gain richer information, be more updated on recent innovations, and at the same time, be on a learning journey together as a team.
It is common to have daily or weekly meetings at the office, but what about having something more unique? Such as ice breaking activities or games. HR Managers can organise such activities to build camaraderie and melt away work stress. Some easy games like Fill the Thank Tank, Who’s Who and Take What You Need can bring more joy and happiness to the boring meetings. Moreover, these games can be simple and quick, not affecting the normal operations of the company.
Building camaraderie at work brings about many benefits such as higher engagement, better morale and a greater degree of retainment of the employees.
What are the fun activities your company has? Share them with me!
Next read: Resilience in the Workplace: Impact on Employee Well-Being
