Some companies find bonding outside the tasks of a typical workday is more important than ever if that workday remains remote. Todd Zanzinger guiding a large group through a virtual Olympics over Zoom, from his apartment in Charlotte, N.C.Travis Dove for The New York Times “Fun to be had! Fun. To. Be. Had!” Todd Zanzinger crowed to an audience of remote tech workers on Zoom. It was the opening ceremony of an I.T. company’s virtual Olympics, and music blared as Mr. Zanzinger, whose Zoom display name read “Hype Guy Todd,” walked 69 teams of co-workers through the rules of lip sync karaoke.
In the world of tech companies, off-site retreats were once the stuff of legend: a Beyoncé concert for Uber employees in Las Vegas. A lavish summer camp for WeWork employees in the English countryside. Parties that lasted all night. Friendships that lasted forever.
During the pandemic, they have taken a turn for the tamer: remote trivia. Virtual escape room. Three more hours on Zoom. “You’re on mute.”
Many organizations, especially high-growth tech companies, have long relied on off-site retreats — broadly defined as team-building or strategizing events that occur beyond the scope of regular office work — to build and maintain their corporate culture, as well as to present workers with an attractive perk in a competitive labor market.
When the pandemic hit, flights, hotel blocks and banquet dinners were canceled. But instead of shelving the idea of off-sites, which often involve both meetings and social activities, companies strove to recreate the magic remotely. Companies planned events online, and in recent months some have crept back into in-person and hybrid events. Though it’s much less expensive to gather on Zoom than it is to fly workers to a beach, many companies have plans to rebook those hotel blocks and try to meet up in person again this year.
Why, in a time when many workers are not on site to begin with, are bosses pushing so hard to retain the off-site, a concept that by definition depended on going somewhere else?
Managers are betting that off-sites will help their workers feel invested even when a remote job can feel like little more than an abstracted paycheck. During the pandemic, the tech industry, famed for its luxurious offices and no-expense-spared parties, lost key elements of the signature in-person culture that set Silicon Valley apart. Big tech companies like Facebook have announced that many employees can work from home indefinitely. In January, nearly half of workers employed in the computer or math fields said they had worked from home at some point because of the pandemic, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data .
Bosses with growing teams and a lot on their plates have landed on off-sites as way to build culture and retain workers. Hanmei Wu, the co-founder and chief executive of Empowerly, a tech company with about 40 full-time remote workers around the world, said she would advise founders with struggling teams that an off-site “could be a fantastic opportunity to reinvigorate them and motivate them — and realign them with your mission or values.”
Off-sites help companies convey messages efficiently to many employees, build trust among workers and make the staff feel treated well without paying them extra. So managers are hanging on for dear life. Off-sites are not just about leaving the office. They are about breaking up daily routines that, after nearly two pandemic years, can feel monotonous.
But Google Hangouts is no team trip to Hawaii. Faced with the prospect of planning an engaging suite of activities for a remote or hybrid work force, managers have rushed to consultants for help executing off-sites.
“The trajectory of our businesses has been crazy since March 2020,” said Mat MacDonell, the chief executive of the Offsite Company, which primarily plans events for start-ups. (Mr. Zanginger works for him.) He added, “We’ve been in hyper growth mode.”
Bob Frisch, founding partner of the Strategic Offsites Group in Boston, whose company focuses on executive retreats for corporations, said, “We’ve had our busiest two years we’ve ever had,” partly because many leaders are stumped about how to plan a viable virtual event without outside help.
Facilitators like Mr. Zanzinger show up equipped with activities, costumes and playlists. On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Zanzinger, this time in the role of Ranger Todd, coached a group of tech recruiters through a virtual escape room. The co-workers, in teams of four, solved word and math puzzles in breakout rooms on Zoom.
One woman arrived in her breakout room — just a smaller Zoom […]
source For Workers Who Are Never on Site, the ‘Off-Site’ Still Beckons
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