Who Is This Blog For?
If you are constantly challenged by event organization, work in HR, or are simply curious about what goes on behind the scenes at Omedia regarding informal activities and entertainment, this blog will give you a clear picture. It might help you in your daily workflow, or—if you are that one friend who is always the initiator and organizer of every plan—you might just stumble upon some interesting ideas.
Most of you have probably attended at least one company-organized event or activity where you actually had a great time. You got to know your coworkers from a completely different perspective, maybe picked up a new experience that turned into a hobby, or ended up in one of those "what happens at the team building, stays at the team building" kind of adventures. Maybe you finally found out about a project you hadn't even heard of before, or honestly, you just had a great time.
When talking about this topic, my absolute favorite idea is that one day, instead of the HR team organizing everything, the participants will be our own team members, and the other employees will plan it all from scratch. However, since I’ve yet to see anyone outside of HR thrilled by this idea, it's probably better to use this blog post to share our own team's actual experience. We operate in a tech company with a hybrid model (some employees are fully remote) and work via outstaffing. Most of our team belongs to Gen Z, and sometimes it feels next to impossible to pitch an idea that will actually grab their attention. (Seriously though, if anyone out there has actually managed to pull this off, please slide into our DMs and share your secrets—we are dying to learn!)
Why Do We Even Bother?
In today's corporate world, pretty much everyone—especially HRs and anyone interested in people operations—already knows ‘what use a rooster has’ and why informal activities matter. (Dear non-Georgian readers, my deepest apologies for this highly contextual cultural joke!) But let’s refresh our memories anyway, just in case some aspiring HR professional is reading this blog:
- Fosters Team Cohesion: It gives employees from different projects or departments a real chance to bond. You can intentionally design games or activities to help this process along, but honestly, even just stepping out for a quick coffee together will "do the trick."
- Improves Communication: This becomes infinitely more critical if you are working in a hybrid or fully online environment.
- Boosts Employee Engagement: It keeps people actively connected to the workplace.
- Supports Work-Life Balance: It provides a much-needed breathing space and a chance to unwind after a stressful, high-intensity work week.
- Strengthens Organizational Culture: Keeping your culture in mind will also guide you in picking the right type and style of activity.
- Increases Loyalty & Retention: Every single point mentioned above directly impacts your ability to keep great talent with you.
Setting the Right Expectations (And Finding a Venting Buddy)
These reasons are probably more than enough to make us want to jump straight into the planning phase. But before you do, it is absolutely crucial to set your expectations straight. Do not, under any circumstances, assume that every single employee will participate with pure unadulterated enthusiasm.
💡 Pro-Tip for HRs: If you still harbor hopes of 100% enthusiasm, select at least one trusted team member with whom you can openly complain, blow off some steam, and then get back to work. Make sure to "save" this specific colleague in your favorites—you will need them a lot during this process.
How to Choose Relevant Activities: The "Ask the Employees" Trap
When it comes to choosing what to do, the golden rule and standard textbook answer is always: "Just ask the employees what they want." Naturally, most of us—if not all—do exactly that. But in reality, this is where the real challenges begin.
(Before you take any action, don't forget to swing by the finance department to figure out what kind of budget you're working with for the upcoming year—but we won't bore you with that specific bureaucratic staff in this post).
1. Standard Survey Forms (Google Forms, Typeform, etc.)
This is the most common method. Despite all its challenges, I still recommend keeping it as one of your sources—just not your only one.
If you have already sent out a form like this, most of your employees filled it out, and you gathered a ton of great ideas—congratulations! All you have left to do is create the schedule and handle the logistics.
However, in our reality, tech employees aren't exactly huge fans of losing time over filling out corporate forms. Or, more frequently, they are deep in the zone working on a critical task, catch a glimpse of the Slack notification, mental-note it to "fill it out later," and... completely forget it ever existed.
Furthermore, out of those who do actually fill it out, a large portion usually drops very vague ideas. Don't dismiss this though—it’s still informative and gives you a general direction.
2. Alternative Information Channels
Since reminders can only do so much, we also turn to other ways of gathering data:
- Integrate into Feedback Systems: Sneak questions about their interests and preferred ways of having fun into your regular feedback loops or 1-on-1s.
- Casual Chatting: Simply ask them what they like to do with their friends in their free time (just be careful not to invade their personal space, and make it clear that sharing is completely optional).
- The Recruitment Process: You can even use this question during interviews. Besides getting fresh ideas, it gives you a much clearer picture of the candidate's cultural fit and a glimpse into their personality.
- Observe and Pitch: Pay attention to what they love/enjoy during casual office chats. Once you brainstorm an idea, casually pitch it to them and watch their immediate physical reaction—their faces won't lie.
3. Step Outside Your Company's Box
Don't limit yourself to your own walls:/
- Google it, ask an AI, or look into what other companies are doing (and not just tech or industry peers—the most interesting ideas often pop up in the most unexpected places).
Recall movies or TV shows, and keep an eye on what your friends are posting on social media. If you stumble upon a cool activity, save it immediately.
📂 HR Survival Tool: Maintain a separate working document where you dump every single random idea you overhear during lunch gossip or find while doomscrolling—completely raw and unedited. When planning time comes, just open it up and glance through it.
Processing the Data: The Need for Variety
The next stage of handling this mountain of information is shaping it into frameworks and concrete plans. In our case, we have experimented with various approaches to help us plan. Why change things up?
- The Boredom Factor: Experience has shown us that sticking to just one type of approach or repeating the same activities over and over becomes incredibly boring for our team.
- Process Optimization: To continuously improve, it’s great to test different versions and see which one delivers the highest efficiency for both your employees and the company as a whole.
Versions We Have Tested So Far:
- Limiting by Content/Type: For example, setting a quota for the year—at least 2 parties (1 themed event and 1 casual office gathering), a sports activity, 1 intellectual game, 1 workshop, and 1 niche/micro activity. (For instance, we did an in-office movie screening followed by a discussion—a huge shoutout from this blog to the amazing film critic who helped us pull that off!).
- Frequency vs. Scale: We tried two different approaches here—hosting small, frequent, and stable events versus putting all our energy into 2 or 3 massive activities throughout the year. Both models have their pros, but our experience shows that you need to periodically rotate them.
- Structuring Around a Major Theme: In this case, we pick a big overarching goal or theme for the year and align all activities under it. For example, last year was our "Work Hard, Chill Harder" year, and everything—from themed parties and workshops to our "Healthy Wednesday" initiatives—revolved around this concept. In our case, employees were actively involved in choosing the theme, but you can easily select one yourself based on company goals and culture to tie the concept together nicely.
The Concrete Pitch: How to Frame Your Next Survey
Once you have picked your approach and you are ready to design a formal survey, use this trick to avoid the "ignored form" trap we talked about earlier:
Give absolute concreteness to the questionnaire. From your massive master-list, select specific activities that align with your company culture, fit your strategic or short-term goals, and are highly realistic for your budget. List them clearly and tell the employees exactly how many will be chosen (e.g., "We are picking the top 2").
Sometimes, a little bit of pressure works wonders. For example, whenever we noted that "a minimum of 20 people is required to make this activity happen," employees suddenly became much more attentive. They even started reminding each other to go fill out the form. Just make sure you are consistent with your rules.
From Wishlists to Roadmaps
Gathering ideas and framing surveys is only the initial sprint. The real challenge begins when you try to deploy these plans into the wild without crashing your systems. How do we handle chaotic numbers, sudden ghosting, and the sheer unpredictability of tech team logistics? Stay tuned for our next post, where we will share our raw, on-site lessons learned.