It may seem obvious, but teams that like each other, tend to stay together. What this means on the nitty gritty level is that teams which put in the effort for formal team bonding are more likely to experience great employee retention.

And unsurprisingly, this is excellent for everyone all around, from your individual employees to your company as a whole.

But we’re going to dive into exactly why team bonding is great for retention, and how this domino effect impacts your entire organization.

Plus, we’re going to talk about things you can do to promote a sense of workplace security and bonding, through formal and informal activities. 

So let’s get into it, shall we?

 

Why People Leave 

Managers and leaders are faced with the constant need to keep positions filled.

But it’s likely you’ve experienced a time at an organization (whether in a leadership role or not) when it seemed like everyone was leaving at the same time.

What gives? Why is it that when it rains it pours when it comes to employee churn?

While employees can leave for a litany of reasons, company culture is one of the oft-cited reasons. For example, one survey found that 47% of people looking for new positions blamed company culture as the main reason for wanting to leave their job. 

And if it seems like employees always tend to leave in batches, this can truly be the case. When “key employees” leave, this can trigger a domino-like effect, where other employees quit.

This has been coined “turnover contagion,” and has to do with the fact that at our core, humans are social creatures, with a herd-like mentality.

In fact, when we look at many of the other causes of employee turnover, we can often boil them down to company culture.

Lack of engagement and feeling undervalued, for example, are two other reasons employees leave, which could be mitigated by improving company culture.

What this all tells us is that aside from explicit issues regarding work (such as burnout or poor management), most of the time people are leaving because of company culture. And one of the cures for poor company culture? An emphasis on team bonding and connection.

 

Why You Want To Keep Your People 

Employee retention might seem “nice to have,” but as it turns out, it’s actually critical to the success of your business.

 

First of all, employee turnover is costly. Studies show that every time a business replaces a salaried employee, it costs 6 to 9 months’ salary on average. For a manager making $60,000 a year, that’s $30,000 to $45,000 in recruiting and training expenses.

 

Also, there is a massive shortage in the creme de la creme of employees. While there is plenty of good talent out there, great talent is scarce. But that great talent can bring so much more to your business than an average performer. A study of more than 600,000 researchers, entertainers, politicians, and athletes found that high performers are 400% more productive than average ones.

 

Employees Want Team Bonding (Whether They Know It Or Not)

The term “team bonding” may elicit images of cheesy ice-breakers and low-key groans from everyone involved, but believe it or not, your people want team bonding. They probably just don’t know that’s the name for their craving.

 

For example, in one survey, 63% of employees said they were so frustrated by the way their company communicates that they’re ready to quit. In another, 80% of employees said they feel stressed because of ineffective company communication

Plus, we know that employees really want (and need) psychological safety in the workplace. Psychological safety is that belief that it’s okay to take risks and fail a little (in a responsible way) in order to succeed, and it’s super necessary for innovation and incredible advancements.

When a workplace has good communication and trust, it fosters a sense of psychological safety, plain and simple.

So your employees want (and need) excellent communication and understanding. And as we discussed before, if one person leaves, it could cause a domino effect of people leaving.

At the end of the day, what this all tells us is that we need to take steps in order to help foster communication, culture, and to keep top-tier employees on board. And team bonding is the perfect solution to this need.

 

How to Tackle Team Bonding

Team bonding can happen through both formal and informal ways. Informal team bonding can happen in the day-to-day, maybe even without your people really realizing they’re bonding. Here are some ways you can encourage informal team bonding among your employees:

  • Create a theme day: Wacky Shirt Wednesday. Potluck Friday. Activities like these will not only bring a little fun into the workday, but will also get your people talking and sharing. “Tell me what’s up with your wacky shirt, Wes?!” These informal activities will create natural opportunities for your people to chat, get to know each other, and connect.
  • Organize a lunch-and-learn: Lunch-and-learn is a great way to get everyone together and on the same page, and get everyone thinking. You can bring in a guest speaker and order pizza, or host a presentation for your virtual team while everyone uses a gift card to order their favorite takeout. Afterwards, everyone can break off into discussion groups to chat and connect. 
  • Set up mentorships: Mentorships can be an awesome opportunity for encouraging employee growth and retention, but also for stimulating company culture. Pair up employees and watch your office culture flourish. 
  • Have a group check-in: Especially in the era of remote work, some employees might slink into the shadows, keep their cameras off, and stay quiet. In order to encourage engagement, have a regular group check-in, where everyone gets to participate. This can be a weekly Monday morning meeting, where everyone gets to share something, or an end-of-week wrap up meeting, for example.

Aside from informal team bonding opportunities, leaders can organize awesome formal team bonding events, which give everyone the chance to really go all-in on connecting. Formal team bonding is great because employees realize that “this is team bonding time,” and they can be completely engaged in one-another, and just enjoy the experience.

For your virtual team, you’re going to need a comprehensive virtual team bonding experience. And virtual happy hours, while they’re just fine, can only happen so many times before they become a little tiresome. So that’s where we here at Kabloom come in.

We’ve revolutionized the remote team building industry, and offer next-level activities for your next-level team. Our industry experts will lead them through hilarious and engaging team building activities like a DIY Cocktail Class or Pub Quiz Trivia. Watch them belt out their favorite song with Virtual Karaoke, or bring out their inner artist with our Graffiti Workshop. 

Our virtual team building experiences will not only energize your team and give them something to look forward to, but will also have them truly bonding. Contact us today so we can curate the perfect experience for you and your team.