Businesses, teams, and individuals have been through a crazy two years. Since early 2020 when many businesses were forced to close and teams were thrown into remote working environments, it has been a roller coaster ride for all.
Now, as the dust is starting to settle, we are seeing a very different business landscape to which we left pre-pandemic.
Here are six of the most common trends and challenges businesses are facing in 2022, and how they are dealing with them.
Returning to the office
Managing how and when staff are returning to an office environment is one of the biggest talking points of 2022.
Most businesses are in the trial phase of this or watching the approach of others and whether it is successful. The two most common approaches we are seeing are:
- Rostered Days: Set specific days for staff and teams to attend the office – eg Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
- Minimum Number of Days: Set a required number of days per week that staff must attend the office. Many also include rules such as no back-to-back days, or that one of those days must be a Monday.
We are seeing that the majority of workers are excited about getting back into the office in a hybrid environment, especially if the “why” and “how” is considered and presented correctly by management.
Most people understand the benefits of face-to-face working environments such as innovation, meeting efficiencies and team bonding, so it is important to ensure those things are delivered when workers are in the office.
If someone spends an hour in traffic simply to sit at their desk and do what they were doing remotely, they will resent it. Moreover, any workplaces that forces staff back five days per week can expect that to be challenged by their employees, unless it is a necessity for their role.
One-day offsites in small business units:
Rather than running multi-day conferences with the entire company in attendance, businesses are increasingly running one-day events for small business units. The same content is still being delivered, with the added benefit that it is also tailored for the team.
The content is generally being delivered in the morning to align people around a message or theme, followed by lunch, and then a fun, easy team engagement program in the afternoon.
This trend has largely been a result of gathering restrictions, however the success of this format suggests it will be here to stay in some capacity.
CSR, sustainability and giving back
Fires, floods and global conflict has seen a strong uptick in demand for team building programs that deliver on corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability and giving back.
People want to help; however it is important that your giving matches what is needed and building that into a team building program. Great options include Impact, Go Give and Helping Hands, among other giving back events.
Fun and easy:
There is an obvious trend towards fun and engaging team building events as businesses bring their teams back together. Teams want to zone out from work, connect with their colleagues in a different environment, and relax.
Popular programs that deliver this include Survivor, Big Picture, Essence of Excellence, and Impact.
And people are loving it. The biggest joy of our job is seeing the delight on people’s faces when they tell us: “This is exactly what we needed”.
Getting to know the team
There are huge workforces that have formed and deformed through COVID and people are now starting to catch up with colleagues they have only ever met through Zoom.
To support this, smart managers are choosing team building activities like DiSC and 5 Behaviours that are designed to help workers better understand their colleagues and themselves.
Demand for the outdoors
Despite the weather, outdoor team building has been in high demand. Workers do not want to be inside and even if it rains, many prefer to don ponchos and brave the rain rather than choose the indoor backup delivery method that we prepare for every event we run.