National Networking Week
If you have a big company, it’s just as important to get your employees to network internally as well as externally. Take a photograph of every member of your team and create a baseball card out of employees’ pictures. Include important stats on the cards such as number of years they’ve been with your company, what department they are in, etc. Give each employee a stack of their own cards at the beginning of National Networking Week. Next, challenge employees to trade as many cards as possible with their colleagues. Employees can’t just demand to get a card from another employee, they must engage in conversation first. At the end of National Networking Week, award a prize to the employee who has collected / traded the most cards.
National Stress Awareness Day
- Have a National Stress Awareness Day Fair for your employees. Invite local businesses to come in and man a table where they offer sample stress release treatments to your employees for free. Encourage these businesses to sell their services to your employees for a discounted rate in exchange for the exposure you are giving them. Types of services to target include aromatherapy, massage, acupuncture, yoga, health clubs, etc.
- Get stress balls made up with your logo on them. Invite employees to choose one at random from a non-clear container. If an employee chooses one of the specially marked stress balls they win a free stress release treatment.
National Arbor Day
Invite each department to come out and plant a tree as a team-building exercise. This can either be on your property, or find an area in your community that needs to be beautified. Set up a plaque at the base of the tree with each department and / or employee’s name on it.
Administrative Professionals Day
Organize an Administrative Professionals Day Team-building Contest. Assign Administrative Professionals as captains. They get to choose which employees are going to be on their team. Or, assign departmental teams. Teams compete in games to earn points. The team with the most points wins a prize for their Administrative Professional. Have games such as:
- Jumping Through Hoops – Teams members take turns rolling a Hula-Hoop to a cone. Once there, they have to Hula-Hoop five times. Then, they have to run, football-drill style, through Hula-Hoops set out on the ground. The team that completes this relay in the quickest time wins.
- File Folder Fiasco – Give each team a file cabinet and an inbox filled with file folders. On go, the first player runs to the inbox, picks up the top file folder then files it in the filing cabinet. Play continues until everyone on the team has filed a folder, or until all folders are filed. The team that completes this relay in the quickest time wins (take seconds off for each folder that is filed incorrectly).
- Telephone – Teams listen to an array of different voices over a speakerphone. The voices can belong to customers, other employees or famous people. The team that identifies the most voices correctly wins.
- Team Cheer – Teams must write and perform a cheer that sings the praises of the team’s Administrative Professional. A panel of judges scores the team cheers. The team that gets the most points wins.
Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work Day
Ideas to entertain and educate your employees’ kids at work include:
- Job Title Dictionary – Write down job titles on a board. Write the real description on a slip of paper. Ask the kids to write down what they think the job description is based on the job title. Drop off all of the descriptions in a hat. Choose one description out at a time, give it a number, then read it out loud. Give kids a piece of paper and a marker. They write down the number of the description that they think is correct. After all of the descriptions have been read out loud, reveal the correct job description. Kids get points for choosing the correct job description and also for getting kids to vote for their version of what the job description is. Give a small prize to the kid that gets the most points.
- Tour – Tour the kids around the office, but instead of a dry, boring tour, turn it into a guessing game. Have each department come up with a hint as to what it is each department does. Before describing what that department actually does, have kids guess what it is from the hint. For instance, the sales department could be photocopying money (because it’s their job to make money). Or, they could greet the kids as if they were at an auction (because it’s their job to sell). Award points to the kids for each correct guess.
- Parent Report Cards – Give the kids “Parent Report Cards” to sign before they go home. The report cards grade parents’ performances and list praise for their parents’ efforts so the kids will feel pride.