12 Months of Culture Events

Many times companies miss out on ways they could boost culture and engagement for their employees because they think it will be very expensive or time consuming to organize. The events below are meant to be simple and cost effective ideas that your People Team could implement to make your workplace a little more fun! I hope you find something to add to your event calendar this year!

New Year, New You Event - The first day back in the office after the holidays schedule a desk cleanout hour with office music. Have cleaning supplies, office supplies, and recycling bins around the office. Host a goal setting seminar to help your employees set professional resolutions and share these goals with their teams and managers. This is also the best day of the year to stock the kitchen with healthy snacks to help your team stick to their personal goals. Everyone feels better and works better with clear goals, a clean workspace and healthy snacks.

National Chili Day - February 27th - National holidays may seem silly but, at Shaka, we believe you should seize every reason to celebrate! What better way to celebrate than with a company wide chili cookoff. Prepare your counter for crockpots and voting buckets. Gather small paper bowls for chili that employees can label with sharpies to remember which chili pot was their absolute favorite. Winners could receive prizes, a great parking spot, or just be crowned chili king/queen.

March Madness - As a company, you can either embrace March Madness and host brackets or ignore March Madness and catch employees live streaming games under their desks throughout the day. Our idea is to have each small work team collaborate to submit 1 team bracket. Then have a company wide tournament with prizes such as a team lunch outing for the champion.

April Fools Day - Does your company have a good sense of humor? If so, April fools day can be a blast. Set some ground rules on pranks such as no damaging property or interrupting meetings but let your employees play some harmless pranks. This is a great event for sharing photos on social media and getting your employees to post about your fun office culture.

National Salsa Month - There was a cookoff in February but how about a snackoff in May? Homemade salsa is easy to store in the fridge and cheap to serve with tortilla chips for your employees throughout the day. You could also participate in National Salsa Month by having team members take a photo at every restaurant where they order chips and salsa that month. The most photos or most creative photos win!

Company Cookout - Early June is a great time to host a company cookout at a nearby park. Ask employees to bring yard games, appetizers, desserts and invite their families. This is a great way to help employees connect outside of the office on a more personal level. Your company could potentially let employees out a few hours early on a Friday to help everyone get organized, pick up the kiddos, and get over to the park at a decent hour.

National Ice Cream Month - A simple and fun event to host in July is an ice cream social. Employees can enjoy an ice cream Sundae and get outside of the office for 30 minutes in the afternoon to enjoy the sunshine.

Office Olympics - The summer olympics only occur every 4 years but that doesn’t mean it can’t be an annual event for your company. This event is inspired by The Office episode where Jim hosts office olympic games and Pam ensures there is an amazing awards ceremony at the end. There are plenty of office minute-to-win-it or office olympic game ideas online that you could use as olympic events.

Community Service Day - There are so many opportunities to get your team out into the community in the fall. Leaf raking for the elderly, volunteering at low income schools or daycares, partner with your local Habitat for Humanity. These volunteer days have such an incredible impact on company morale. The younger generations in the workforce are demonstrating that they want to feel like their work has a meaningful impact on the world. It is important to present them with many opportunities to give back to their community through your organization.

National Books Month - Your team could host a book drive for children in October and/or do a company wide book exchange. Ask employees to contribute gently used books that motivated or inspired them, collect them for about a week and then put them all out in a common area for employees to pick one new book. Everyone needs an extra kick of inspiration going into Q4.

World Kindness Day - November 13th - Promote World Kindness Day at your workplace and encourage your employees to go out of their way to take part in random acts of kindness for their coworkers. Maybe it is just picking up a coffee for a coworker, sending an email to someone who is doing a great job or helping out someone who you know is behind on work.

Company Awards Ceremony - Recognition is an incredibly powerful tool for boosting employee engagement and retention. Although recognition should be an ongoing part of your company culture, December is a great time to wrap up the year with a fun awards ceremony. Allow employees to submit ideas for fun and unique awards that can be given out and host an awards dinner where plus ones can be included.