How to Organize Effective Corporate Retreats

If you want to develop your company culture, facilitate team-building activities, and improve your organization’s output, consider hosting a corporate retreat.

In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about organizing effective corporate retreats, including why you’d plan one, types of corporate retreats, the steps to take when planning a retreat for your team, and more.

What Are Corporate Retreats and Why Do Companies Invest in Them?

A corporate retreat is an event that business managers and leaders host to bring their teams together to strengthen their professional connections and set them up for more successful collaborations. 

These events typically incorporate: 

• Relaxation to prevent burnout
• Professional development
• Employee recognition
• Strategic planning
• Team building
• Networking
• Innovation

Benefits of Corporate Retreats

Corporate retreats have quite a few benefits. For starters, they provide a fresh environment for employees to step away from day-to-day operations, encouraging new perspectives and outside-the-box thinking. 

Furthermore, most retreats have structured team-building activities. These workshops, seminars, challenges, and other enrichment activities help strengthen colleagues’ bonds, improve teamwork and communication, and boost team morale.

At the very least, a break from the regularly scheduled programming gives employees a chance to refresh.

Types of Corporate Retreats

There are a couple of types of corporate retreats you should consider, including on-site and virtual.

On-site retreats

The most popular type of corporate retreat is on-site events. These events bring your team together for face-to-face interactions, which are great for forging authentic bonds through organic connections.

If your team usually works remotely, an on-site retreat is a great way to facilitate face-to-face introductions for team members who chat almost daily but haven’t met each other in person.

On-site retreats can take place in your office or at another on-site.

For instance, if your company is in California, an affordable and flexible option is an RV rental in California. This allows for a memorable road or camping trip and ensures everyone can travel comfortably together.

It can also be fun to tap into local experiences, especially if the retreat is held somewhere new to many members of your team. For example, if you’re hosting your retreat in France, you can embark on a WWII historical landmark tour or go wine tasting.

Virtual retreats

Virtual retreats are another cost-effective option. You can hold them over Zoom, Teams, or a similar video conferencing tool.

The primary benefits of hosting virtual retreats are their affordability and accessibility. The most significant expense you save with a virtual company retreat is the venue, transportation, accommodations, and other travel-related expenses.

Questions to Answer When Planning a Retreat

As you plan a retreat for your team, there are a few crucial questions to ask yourself to set yourself on the right track to hosting a successful event.

What’s the goal of the retreat?

When planning a corporate retreat, the first thing you should consider is what you want to accomplish from the event. 

Think about the outcomes you’d like to see and how they relate to your company’s objectives. As you map this out, ensure you’re setting goals aligning with your company’s values and mission.

Remember that some results of company retreats are not entirely tangible, so you may have to get creative with measuring success. For example, it’s hard to measure team bonding, but you can study the efficiency of your team’s communication and productivity after the team returns to the office.

What time of year will you schedule the retreat, and where?

Think about what time of the year you’d like to host your retreat. Typically, you’ll want to consider employee availability and weather conditions at potential locations. 

You should also pay attention to busy seasons in your office. For example, if you run an accounting firm, tax season isn’t an ideal time to pull people away from their work.

If people will be traveling to the location, look into off-season dates to make the experience more affordable. Avoid the holiday season or long weekends throughout the year when your team is more likely to spend time with family.

What’s the budget for the retreat?

When planning a company retreat, it’s essential to establish a budget upfront. If you’re hosting an in-person retreat, you need to consider the cost of the venue, food, transportation, entertainment, and any workshop materials.

Since travel is a major expense for many company retreats, you need to make sure you allot an appropriate amount for these costs. Travel management booking services can optimize your budget by finding the best deals for accommodations, transportation, and so forth.

How to Organize a Successful Corporate Retreat

Luckily, with the proper planning, preparation, and execution, it’s pretty easy to organize an effective corporate retreat. 

Keep everyone in the loop

Since a common purpose of company retreats is to facilitate communication among your team, it makes sense to prioritize it during the planning process. 

Determine who needs to be in the loop with different details as you plan. Use meeting minutes software to keep track of the points discussed during these planning sessions.

Once you nail down the logistics, share a company-wide email to inform your teams of the retreat date, time, and location.

Hire an expert

When you work with an external facilitator, you have a third party to bring a fresh perspective, handle conflicts, and facilitate solution-focused discussions.

Outback Team Building offers both virtual and in-person company retreat activity planning. By leaning on their support to plan the flow of your retreat and facilitate the day-of activities, you can focus on the bigger-picture planning.

Don’t overload the itinerary

Be sure to schedule time for the retreat attendees to unwind. Add breaks into the program that promote wellness and creativity. 

For example, you can designate a cozy meditation area or set up a refreshments station with different types of relaxing teas or Delta 9 drops to unwind with at home. 

In addition to scheduled relaxation time, consider making some activities optional so people can take what they want and leave what they don’t. People will get more out of workshops or activities in which they are eager to participate.

Ask for feedback afterward

It’s very important to gather feedback from your team after the event has come to an end. Feedback allows for evaluation of the retreat’s success and helps identify areas of improvement for future retreats and team-building activities.

A great way to collect feedback after a company retreat is to send out an anonymous survey for your team with questions that can be answered in a short-form text box or with a rating system.

Host Your Best Corporate Retreat Ever

Company retreats are a phenomenal way to strengthen your team, optimize your operations, and enhance productivity. With the proper planning and support, you can easily organize an effective corporate retreat.

Hiring a retreat-planning professional to facilitate your retreat can help improve the experience for you, the manager, and your team. Request a quote from Outback Team Building for your next corporate retreat!

Author Bio

Catalina Grigoriev is an incurable optimist with a bubbly personality. That’s what my colleagues say. Secret mission: cat lover disguised as a dog person. Ex law student who switched into the digital marketing lane. Currently delving into the depths of SEO and content marketing at Planable.