By Marina Vassilopoulos (pictured) on behalf of Maximillion.
Corporate retreats are about disconnecting from reality and creating an environment in which interpersonal relationships flourish. As such, these events often revolve around fostering good mental and physical health for employees, and prioritising wellness and well-being.
A recent study of 7,500 consumers across six countries discovered that 79% stated that wellness was important, with 42% considering it a top priority. Similarly, new research has found that compared to life before the pandemic, 53% of employees worldwide are now likely to prioritise their well-being. Being a business that encourages and helps to foster this drive is therefore essential.
Maximillion is a corporate event management agency operating across the UK. Staff have put together a guide on how to plan the perfect corporate retreat and bring your employees together for maximum personal and professional development. Here are the key points:
- Incorporate mindfulness and stress management practices
Introducing your employees to new, stress-relieving practices that they can integrate into their everyday lives is a great way of promoting well-being on an ongoing basis. Low-impact exercises that can be completed at home, like yoga or pilates, are inexpensive with many training sessions readily available online.
Alternatively, taking your staff on a long hike, walk or a group activity that blends exercise and team building is a great way to kick off the retreat.
- Provide healthy meals
A diet full of nutrient-rich yet delicious food helps to improve both mental health and your ability to focus. In addition, studies have discovered that clean diets can actively help relieve symptoms of anxiety and depression, meaning feeding your staff well is essential for a health-forward corporate retreat.
3. Encourage switching off
While a corporate retreat is naturally work-related, the focus should not be work itself. Employees should feel they can ‘switch off’ from their everyday work duties, instead prioritising how interpersonal relationships help to keep the cogs in the business machine running.
Prolonged periods of being unable to switch off are associated with employees ‘burning out’, workplace-associated stress that lowers productivity and confidence in the ability to perform. Avoiding burnout should resultantly be a top priority for all businesses that want to see staff flourish and succeed.
4. Promote opportunities for team building & social interaction
A corporate retreat should, most of all, be a fun experience for all involved. As such, you should make the principal focus to re-energise your staff and focus on their relationships from a personal viewpoint, rather than a professional one. Having excellent working relationships and happy staff means hiring individuals that actively care and contribute to your business and its ethos.
- Offer workshops that encourage self-expression
Painting, drawing and writing are all mediums of self-expression that help your staff gain a deeper understanding of themselves via the release of emotions. Negative feelings like resentment, anger and frustration can all build up in the workplace.
Creating a safe space in which these can be explored, communicated and collaboratively addressed is therefore a healthy way to promote well-being on both a personal and interpersonal level. In addition, this can lead to great friendships between staff, which boost employee engagement, job satisfaction and even productivity.
Friendships might start at the corporate retreat, but the well-being benefits will last all the way through to the office. And, who doesn’t want to work with their friends?
Maximillion is a highly reputable and long-established corporate event management agency helping businesses UK-wide unlock the full potential of their staff.
