How Can We Make Office Days More Fun? Share Your Favorite Employee Activities!

Dear All,

I would like to know what fun games or activities can be held on office premises. We want to allot one day from the week for fun activities. Can anybody suggest some employee recreational activities to make the office environment more fun-loving? Kindly suggest a few activities.

Hi,

Antakshari,
Pool volleyball if you have an indoor pool.
Team building exercises are good fun, as well as people will learn something.
Best-dressed male/female.
Dancing on the paper/dancing with a balloon.
Rasgulla/gulab jamun eating competition.
One-minute games.
Three good things about any of the team members.
There are many more, but I guess to start with, you can use these.

Cheers!!
Archna

Hi all,

Please, can you guide me on what activities we can offer to employees for recreation?

Hi,

It's practically difficult to have one complete day of recreation every 'week' as managing the number of employees and deciding activities for full-day entertainment would become a constraint on a regular basis. Also, it would literally reduce your productivity to a 5-day week. :-)

We had this practice in our office of having Friday afternoons for team-building exercises and recreational activities. We had themed dressing like Bollywood, Govinda style, color themes, vampire themes, etc., only for that day. It used to set the mood for the day. We used to award the best-dressed employee with a slab of chocolate. We would decide on a variety of indoor games like dumb charades, word games, hangman, news reading styles, best work desk contest, quiz competitions, etc., and play in teams.

We were also mixing learning with fun by asking all employees to make presentations on various topics or debate on various topics. You could choose fun topics as well as those useful for your work. This way all employees would learn presentation techniques, lose their stage fears, and improve their communication skills. You could also undertake some simple personality tests and discuss the surprising results arising from the tests.

It is better to appoint two or three enthusiastic members as the coordinators to ensure that the recreation hours are properly planned and organized.

I've left the organization, but the fun days are the closest to my heart in my memories.

Good luck.

:-) Jyothi

Hi, HR managers can help motivate their employees by organizing different contests each month. For example, in my company, we have designated 2 Fridays in a month for activities. The best performer is given a surprise gift. Activities can be of any type that can help the employees refresh and improve their mood. For instance, defining a color to wear for a particular day, playing 1-minute games, etc.

The effectiveness of these activities depends on the type of culture the company upholds.

Thank you.

I am sure that you would agree that sitting in front of the computer all day is not the most exciting thing in the world. It is a great idea for HR managers to encourage more sports and recreational activities for their employees because sports do not just benefit overall health but bring out character, teamwork, and a desire to compete. There are so many sports leagues in NYC!

Pool Volleyball and Other Sports

I love the pool volleyball idea, but it can be inconvenient in many ways. I am a volleyball player myself; I played Division 1 in college, and after my graduation, I started playing every possible type of volleyball depending on the season - beach, grass, doubles, quads, you name it! In the spring, I had the best experience playing wallyball with some co-workers at Baruch College. Imagine volleyball in a racquetball court, where you are allowed to play the ball off the wall. Even though I was the only one with more volleyball experience, the intensity level was insane. Everybody loved it.

You should definitely check it out! I heard these people might be organizing a league in the fall: http://www.nyvolleyballinstitute.com/

Just an idea for something affordable and fun, without a huge commitment.

Wallyball! It's volleyball on a racquetball court - much faster and more intense than volleyball. It is a great exercise and a great way to get your workers to engage in a competition where they will need to come up with a winning strategy. I play with my co-workers in the winter, and we have tons of fun. Check this website if you are interested: http://www.nyvolleyballinstitute.com/page/show/2016218-wallyball