5 Great Company Away Day Ideas

Two girls roll around inside giant plastic balls floating in water on a summer evening at the county fair, Rochester, MN, USA

Company away days are great for a number of reasons. They can help relieve tensions in the office, increase moral and strengthen team bonds. On top of that they’re just great fun, and a chance to get out the working environment and blow off some steam. If you’re in charge of moral, leader of the party committee or just the boss, you might be looking for some away day inspiration. Never fear, CNM Online; a leading provider of washroom and heating equipment for businesses, are on hand with their top company away day ideas.

Zorbing

If you haven’t been zorbing, you’re missing out! This one is more for fun factor than team building, as you’re in the zorbing ball alone, but it is definitely something different. Either throw yourself down a hill inside an orb or walk across water in one, some sites even have zorbing games to play against each other. This one really is a laugh a minute!

Treasure Hunt

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This takes a little planning, but is great for team building and getting creative. Leave an array of clues across your local area or a nearby city, then leave it up to the different teams to decipher them and complete the challenge. There are even apps you can download now which give the clues to your staff once they check into a geolocation on their phone, so you don’t have to hide bits of paper anywhere. This is perfect for strengthening smaller teams or improving relationships across departments, the last clue could even lead you to a bar or pub…we’ll leave that part up to you.

Mini Golf

This is one for the competitive types in the office. Mini golf is a great laugh and usually fairly affordable, plus, it should only take an afternoon. Get a trophy made for the office champion and offer a few days free annual leave as a prize to make it interesting. Google is your friend here, some cool venues in bigger cities combine food and drink with a bit of mini golf, or maybe combine the games with a picnic or something afterwards.

Paintballing

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This one isn’t for the faint of hearted, because if you’ve ever been paintballing you’ll know, it hurts! It is super fun though, great for releasing a bit of stress and you can do it in all conditions. If you play games like capture the flag it will also promote interaction and should improve teamwork and communication. You could even bring natural leaders out of their shell. If you don’t want the bruises you could always opt for laser quest instead.

The Great Office Bake Off

Unless you’ve been living underneath a rock, you’ll no doubt have some idea of what the Great British Bake Off is, well, you can now do it as a team building exercise. The best part about this one is once all the baking is done you’ll have office goodies for weeks. If you aren’t up for baking, try sushi making or a group cookery lesson. The important part is having fun whilst getting to know each other better outside of a work setting, plus it adds a little competition to keep it interesting.

Company away days aren’t just for having fun, they can also help you identify leaders, improve communications and strengthen bonds across departments. You can shape the activity around the desired outcome, and make sure it fits what you are aiming to achieve.

Let us know if you have any ideas or have done anything cool where you work, we can always add to the list.

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