A company outing is one way to enrich and foster the relationships your employees have built with one another. It’s a great way to increase camaraderie between employees, and it’s also an excellent way to boost company cohesiveness. It can also improve employee motivation and team performance when done right.
However, having a successful company outing isn’t easy. It requires months of preparation and dedication, but it’s something you can easily do in your free time. If you have been assigned to prepare your company’s outing, here are some essential things you should know.
Prepare A Budget Plan
Having a budget plan is one of the most important things you should do when preparing for a company outing. This is done months in advance. During this time, you’ll be contacting various venues and catering services to guide you on how much you might spend on your company outing.
Some big companies already have a budget for their company outings. Sometimes this is under team-building expenses because technically, a company outing is meant to enrich how everyone works together. However, smaller companies might not have a dedicated budget for this. It’s up to you to prepare the company’s budget plan.
To do this, you’ll have to call various services you might need for your company outing. This includes the venue, transportation, food, and more. You can then average each service’s cost and put that in your budget plan to see how much your company might spend on your outing. You should have a perceived budget before this to compare both and see where you’ll have to make some adjustments.
For example, a coach RV might be cheaper than renting a bus when it comes to transportation, so you might opt for that instead. You wouldn’t have seen this comparison if you didn’t prepare a budget plan for your outing. This comparison will help you visualize what you can have for your outing and what you can’t.
Ultimately, the point of a budget plan is to streamline the entire process of preparing for your company’s outing. Once you have a budget, you can then see what you can exactly do for your outing.
Set Expectations
Once the budget plan is done, it’s time to set employee expectations. Setting expectations can help avoid disappointments for the outing. It can also bring employees in to bring in their ideas for the outing.
Employees enjoy being part of the decision-making of every company, and this includes the yearly company outing. This makes setting employee expectations an integral part of preparation. There are a lot of ideas you can get from your employees by implementing this phase. They might even recommend services they know or venues that they have visited. They can also recommend certain activities that they might enjoy doing.
But there is one thing you should remember while doing this: you shouldn’t let them go over-budget. It’s quite easy to give your employees everything, especially when it’s your first company outing. However, remember the budget plan and stick by it!
Have a Theme
One of the critical things you need to have to streamline your company’s outing is a theme. Once you’ve set expectations, you can have a more precise look into the possible themes you can explore for your outing.
Themes are an essential but often overlooked aspect in company outings. Themes can dictate what can happen in your company outing. It can also help you set up the dress code, choose the appropriate venue, and have the right activities for your outing. Generally, a theme shouldn’t be strictly followed, but it’s a helpful guideline to make your outing a success.
Consider Having Team-Building Activities
Remember that company outings are still a business investment. It’s not just a laid-back situation where your employees can forget about everything. It’s a time when you can start developing their talents and skills as a team. So consider have team-building activities prepared for your company outing.
These team-building activities can be in line with the theme you have set for your outing. It doesn’t have to be anything complex, just something that can boost employee relationships. It can be a simple ‘Get-to-Know-You activity’ or anything that can stimulate your employees’ senses during your outing. These can also be fun activities that are team-building exercises in disguise. Be creative and make sure that your employees know beforehand what activities you might have during the company outing.
Here are some essential things you should know when preparing for your company outing. These things can help you streamline the process of preparing for the outing. It can also help you visualize what kind of company outing you might have in advance.
