Half of employees don’t want to pay for activities themselves
According to a survey by Just Eat for Business, called The Lunch Break Bonding survey, the majority of UK workers (82%) want their workplace to provide more team-building events.
Over 200 UK-based organisations were surveyed, and results were segmented by role (executive, management, CEO), region, and business size.
The survey reveals that after 18 months of largely remote working workers are desperate to reunite with their teams with 75% saying they would enjoy their workplace more with more regularly-scheduled team building events. According to results, larger organisations are interested in getting to know their colleagues better with 93% of organisations with 300+ employees wanting more frequent socialising opportunities.
The majority of workers (62%) said they’d enjoy their workplace more with increased team social events in order to create a friendlier working environment. When it comes to how workers like to socialise, the survey found team lunches were the favourite work perk (40%), followed by escape rooms (31%), team vs team competitions (31%), lunch & learns (26%), mixology classes (21%) and quiz or trivia nights (20%).
More than half of office workers (51%) said they were less likely to attend a team building event if they’re required to pay for all or a portion of the cost. Within teams, it’s management-level employees that are the most put off by having to contribute financially.
The study focussed on gaining an understanding of how team building events can improve the workplace. For CEOs and business owners, the most important outcome was creating a friendlier work atmosphere (67%), while executives valued showcasing company culture.
Robin Dunbar, Psychologist at the University of Oxford, comments on the study said: “This whole process of creating a bonded community depends on engagement in various activities, one of which is eating together, and that just creates a sense of belonging. It has huge knock-on consequences for your health, physical health and mental wellbeing, by virtue of forming friendships. In addition, it fosters a sense of loyalty to the organisation.”
Matt Ephgrave, Managing Director of Just Eat for Business also weighed in on the findings. He said: “It’s encouraging to see that office workers at all levels are eager to increase the frequency and quality of team building activities, particularly given that many organisations are either heading back into the office, or learning to operate remotely.”
