3 Reasons Why Team Building Activities Are More Important after Company-wide Layoffs

Every day we are hearing about more companies laying off massive numbers of employees. Just Twitter, Lyft, Meta, Salesforce and Stripe alone have a combined lay off of almost 20,000 employees.

With budget cuts, hiring freezes, and staff reductions along with inflation and economic uncertainties, it seems like the party has ended. Is there still a need to have team building offsite activities?

Here are the three reasons why team building plays an even more crucial role after companies have undergone layoffs in these challenging times:

1. Boost morale. At the time of crisis, it is more important to boost morale for your valuable employees that are still with the company. They could be asked to work longer hours and pick up some of the unfinished work that someone else had started. They may feel they are under a tremendous amount of pressure to perform. Having team building sessions offsite helps them to relieve stress and connect with the rest of the team on a personal level without the stress of work.

2. Reinforce corporate culture. Your best talent at the company will now wonder if the corporate culture has changed. It may be unclear to them whether the values and beliefs of the company still align with their own. Having manager-led team events gives assurance, hopefully preventing them from being quiet quitters.

3. Discover talent. At times of a workforce reduction, your employees may be asked to take on multiple roles at the organization or take on tasks that are previously assigned to others. Having team activities in an informal environment allows managers to unveil your team members’ passions, interests and even hidden talents. They can help you to find creative ways to fill the gap of the laid off employees.

In summary, hosting team building activities is still a very important productivity and retention tool at times when a company is going through a layoff.