When morale is dipping, you need new colleagues to bond, or simply want to say thank you for a job well done, a team engagement day is just what you need!
But what are the best ideas out there? To find out, our Editor, Megan Jones, asked our NEW Call Centre Helper reader panel.
Read on to find out what Larayn Wilkinson from BargainMax.co.uk, Alan Mullen from Superdry Plc, Jon Dainton from Fasthosts, and Andy Swann at The Fuel Store had to say about what it takes to deliver truly memorable team engagement days and activities (and connect with Megan on LinkedIn if you’d also like to join our NEW reader panel).
1. Host a Pre-School Day for Colleagues and Customers
The team at BargainMax.co.uk hosted their first ever pre-school influencer event.
Want to try this yourself?
The agenda for the day was as follows:
- They welcomed everyone into the space with a talk (and everybody got Peppa Pig ears – even the parents!)
- They set up activities to keep the children entertained, including:
- A soft play area
- CoComelon on the TV
- A craft table
- They had areas set up for photo opportunities.
- They wrapped up the event with a visit from Chase from Paw Patrol.
They also had some light refreshments available, toy companies as sponsors (with promotional stands in the room), and were sure to make space for prams and buggies too.
As Larayn Wilkinson, Head of Customer Service at BargainMax, comments:
“The idea was to invite influencers from the local area to build trust in our brand and products. Given the age of our guests, we geared the afternoon towards small children and the length of a birthday party – 2 hours.
“This was a hybrid event and opportunity for customers and colleagues alike to bring their children. It was a great success, everyone had a fab time, and it must be the most fun I’ve ever had at an event.”
2. Bring in a Professional Pancake Chef for a Shrove Tuesday With a Difference
The team at The Fuel Store took Shrove Tuesday to the next level by bringing in an award-winning pancake chef to surprise and treat the team, as Andy Swann, Recruitment Business Partner at The Fuel Store, explains:
“We asked the pancake chef to set up in our office between 11am and 1pm on Shrove Tuesday, so everyone could go and order amazing pancakes over lunch. It was really good fun and got people talking and laughing.
“We made it even more special by making it a surprise for the team too, as they were just told ‘be in the office tomorrow if you can, because something exciting is happening’ – as we didn’t want our remote workers to miss out.”
Top Tip
Pulling off a great team engagement day doesn’t magically happen overnight! The BargainMax.co.uk team have found it starts from the hiring process!
Ask if they have the right skill set, but also are they the right fit for the culture? You must get the right people who fit in and buy in to being part of making things better for engagement days to work.
For top tips and advice learnt from visiting The Fuel Store’s HQ in Birmingham, read our article: 20 Ideas for Driving Success From The Fuel Store
3. Run a Steps Challenge Charity Fundraiser
If you have a lot of remote workers but still want to bring everyone together in spirit, why not try a steps challenge charity fundraiser, tried and tested by Superdry, as Alan Mullen, Senior Customer Services Manager, explains:
“It’s more challenging for us to have team fun days in a hybrid contact centre, as we have people who aren’t local, but one idea that works for everyone is a steps challenge to raise money for charity.
“Most recently, we set a virtual walking challenge to Belgium where our European warehouse is located – with the challenge taking place over the course of a month.
“Before starting this initiative, we did a staff survey to check that everyone was happy with this approach, as we do have a few people with walking difficulties, but they all agreed that it was a team challenge, and everyone could play their part – be it 1,000 steps or 10,000 steps per day.
“Superdry Customer Service completed their challenge in May 2024, walking 3 Million steps, which was 1,503 miles, going beyond Belgium to Oslo in Norway. The team raised a fantastic £530 for Leukaemia UK!”
Top Tip
Think carefully about what time you choose to kick off your next team engagement activity. The Fuel Store team have found that a morning activity is far better for morale and boosting business performance.
This is compared to an afternoon activity, where people can often be distracted in the morning with the anticipation of what’s coming, and then head home before business performance really benefits from any buzz created from taking part.
We also have some great tips that we discovered at Superdry HQ, to find out more read: 10 Great Ideas Delivered Straight From Superdry’s Contact Centre
4. Get Your Game Face On!
If you’re stretched for time, you could take a little-and-often approach to team engagement days, as Jon Dainton, Head of Customer Service Operations at Fasthosts Internet Ltd, shares:
“I would say ‘think small and often’. It’s about sharing the experiences and forming bonds. In my opinion, big-bang approaches every now and again can appear forced and can even feel quite intimidating – especially for introverts.”
Here are some ‘little and often’ ideas that have worked well for the Fasthosts team:
Playing Multiplayer Games Together Online
The frontline team have games evenings, where anyone that wants to participate can log into a server and they all play multiplayer games together. This happens monthly.
Eating Pizza and Setting Up a Board Game in a Meeting Room
With a lot of gamers and board gamers on the team, a firm favourite at Fasthosts is a pizza and board game session, where colleagues book out a meeting room, order pizza, and spend an hour eating and playing games together. It’s always good fun.
Find out what else we learnt when we visited Fasthosts contact centre by reading our article: 18 Ways to Reboot Your Contact Centre Operations From Fasthosts
5. Get out of the Office and Get Competitive!
Another great way to promote team bonding is to get out of the office to try something new, and encourage some healthy competition – just like the teams at Fasthosts and BargainMax.co.uk.
Get Everyone Together for Airsoft at the Weekend
Lately, the team at Fasthosts have started to get into Airsoft, a sport that is similar to paintball but uses more realistic replica guns that fire a small inert plastic pellet.
They aim to play every 6 weeks or so on the weekend. It’s great for building camaraderie and trust between colleagues.
Try Go-Karting One Evening After Work
The team at BargainMax.co.uk recently tried the “Chaos Karts” Go-Karting experience in Manchester. This was organized by the colleagues themselves as an evening activity (after work) and was very fun and competitive!
With everyone together, the leadership team also took the opportunity to celebrate success, and the CEO hosted an award ceremony to recognize individuals for their contributions to the business.
How Often Should You Run a Team Engagement Day in Your Contact Centre?
How often should you run a team engagement day in your contact centre? We polled our readers to find out – with mixed results – as it appears it really depends on what’s right for your contact centre (and budget).
| Frequency of Team Engagement Days | Response % |
|---|---|
| Monthly | 32% |
| Quarterly | 26% |
| Yearly | 11% |
| Never | 31% |
Paul Weald, The Contact Centre Innovator, comments:
Weald
“In a hybrid working world, many contact centre operations have a day each month when the team is in the office together. They still do contact handling work, but it dovetails around slots for team meetings, mandatory training, etc.
“In terms of whole days out of the schedule, then I know of operations that combine this with corporate social responsibility initiatives. Here team members support each other on a charitable project spent off site doing something constructive and ‘hands on’ for the charity.
“Also remember that we all got rather good at virtual team engagement during lockdown, when everyone was working from home remotely and still needed that connection with team members.
“Many of the ‘feel good’ Friday reward and recognition initiatives that we migrated to social media and messaging remain as relevant today. Contact centres are, and always will be, a team-based environment where engagement is key.”
There’s Certainly No Shortage of Ideas Here…
So if you’re brave enough to try some Airsoft, host your own pre-school day, or have any other great activities you’d like to share, connect with the Call Centre Helper team on LinkedIn and let us know!
If you are looking for more ways to engage your team and bring fun to your contact centre, read these articles next:
- Seven Simple Ideas to Bring Some Fun to Your Workplace
- Ways to Make Working in a Contact Centre Fun
- Top 20 Motivational Games for the Contact Centre – Suitable for Office-Based Agents and Remote Workers
Author: Megan Jones
Reviewed by: Xander Freeman
Published On: 3rd Jul 2024 - Last modified: 10th Dec 2024
Read more about - Call Centre Management, Alan Mullen, Editor's Picks, Employee Engagement, Fun, Jon Dainton, Larayn Wilkinson, Morale, Motivation, Paul Weald, Team Building, Top Story
