Company Recreation
Activities
Purpose of Process:
Social and recreational activities can help promote teamwork and mental well-being among employees. Some employees are particularly attracted to companies that offer social and recreational activities.
Recommended Steps in the Process:
- Establish a company budget for social and recreational
activities. The budget need not be large. Just $25 per employee
per year can afford several activities. A company might also
choose to fund a program with money obtained from vending
machine or scrap sales. Sharing a portion of the costs of
recreational activities with employees is another option.
- Establish a volunteer committee to select, sponsor and
facilitate social and recreational events. The members should
represent a cross section of organizations and interests within
the company.
- Establish guidelines for the committee (e.g. events should not
be offensive to any group of employees, determine whether or not
alcohol can be served at the events, etc.)
- Charter the committee to:
- Select the events which the company will sponsor.
- Plan the details of the events (e.g. time, location, cost to employee, publicity, etc.)
- Manage the spending within budget.
- Review the committee's selection and provide counsel to the
members of the committee, on the appropriateness of the events
selected, relative to guidelines. A sample of recreational and
social events includes:
- Company picnics
- Fishing
- Boating
- Skiing
- Golf Tournaments
- After work parties at the end of a week or near holidays
- Publicize events in the company newsletter, bulletin boards and at company meetings.
Process Tips:
In addition to sponsoring social and recreational events, the company can utilize discounts offered by amusement parks or other family entertainment attractions. Typically these discounts can be offered to employees at no cost to the company.