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Employee engagement games are an amazing way to get people at your company to get and stay connected to each other while still having a good time.
As experts in team building and workplace dynamics, we know that a positive, engaged company culture is key to business success. That's why we've compiled this list of cutting-edge engagement games and activities.
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We get it; you've tried all the usual "fun" activities, and they're met with yawns. That's where these come in – they're fresh, effective, and ready to make 2024 the year your employees finally feel excited about coming to work.
In the aftermath of the pandemic, life at the office changed forever. For many companies, it meant never coming back again. For some, it meant coming back far less frequently. And even if you are back in the office full time, co-workers are less connected today than they have ever been.
On top of that, work now feels like a drag far more than it ever did before. So employee engagement games are a great way to A) increase camaraderie amongst the people in your company and B) have a fun time doing it!
When I'm trying to find the best games for employee engagement, I want to see the following elements:
Water Cooler Trivia has become the go-to tool for fun among social and work groups. Every single week, there is a brand new, free response trivia game for your team to participate in. It takes the fun of bar trivia and brings it to your company in a hassle free way. It's the ultimate set-it-and-forget-it type of game. Water Cooler handles writing all the questions, sending out all the quizzes, grading them, and sending out the results. The questions are designed to be as "Water-Coolery" as possible, so your group wants to chat about them each and every week.
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Trivia quizzes naturally spark conversations and anecdotes. Tens of millions of people watch Jeopardy every week, and it's like bringing Jeopardy to your office every single week. Plus, there's a four-week free trial for you to try for your company.
Escape rooms have become incredibly popular over the course of the last decade. Prior to the pandemic, the vast majority of them were in-person. However, after the pandemic, A LOT of companies pivoted to provide a virtual experience as well. Having tried a number of the virtual ones, we certainly recommend going with the in-person ones if your company allows it. Here's a helpful site to find the closest escape room to you.
Let's be honest...everyone loves a good game show! But did you know that you can actually participate in one with your co-workers? Yeah, technology is pretty awesome!
An online game show works by splitting your company into teams and then having them compete against one another in a variety of different ways. Some of the ones we've been most impressed by are Luna Park and Weve. They're certainly on the more expensive side, as you'll be asked to outlay hundreds and hundreds of dollars for a one-time event. However, it packs a big punch.
Many times when someone thinks about the idea of a scavenger hunt, they conjure up memories of summer camp when you were like 9 years old. Yes, those were fun, but there are actually scavenger hunts that are specifically designed for adults.
Companies like Lets Roam, Outback Team Building, and Scavify all offer various options if you want to shell out big dollars for your experience. However, you can also plan it yourself and add personal touches.
Donut isn't a "game" per se in its purest form. However recently the company has been focused on building out gamier functionality so you can get to know your co-workers better. You'll need to have Slack in order to try their offering, but it's a really fun way to get to know your co-workers better.
Talk about a throwback to the good ole days. Who didn't love field day when they were younger? It used to be that companies were quick to sponsor intramural teams so that some people could participate. But now, field day is becoming more popular as it allows everyone at the company to break a sweat during the workday. Planning a field day yourself may be hard, but it'll be worth it. If you're looking for a provider, you can look at Throwback, Mega, or National Event Pros. But warning, they will be expensive.
We don't think that Agatha Christie ever worked in an office. But if she did, we think this would have been the employee engagement game for her.
A murder mystery is a game where your co-workers will investigate a fictional crime, hoping to put together the pieces to catch the killer. The best part about murder mysteries is that they come in both in-person and virtual options. Either way, it's a great way to get people's creative and competitive juices flowing. If you plan your own and buy a kit, the cost per person is quite low. If you choose a virtual provider (like TeamBuilding) or an in-person provider (like Jest or Murder Mystery Co.), you can expect the costs to be quite high on a per person basis.
We know that many of your co-workers have a fear of performance or public speaking. So we get it if you want to avoid bringing this up to them. But some of the absolute best reviewed employee engagement games are improv games. In them, you will challenge your co-workers to think on their feet to provide quippy and funny responses to prompts and setups.
The laughs will absolutely be rolling, and you'll be talking about the results for weeks to come. You can always come up with the games and host them yourself using a guide like this or you can pay a company to host an event for you. We like ImprovGames.com and Laughter On Call as options for providers.
Fantasy sports have become basically ubiquitous in today's society. As of 2022, there are over 62.5 million people playing fantasy across the U.S. and Canada. For those you don't know about it, here's a quick primer about how to set up and league amongst your co-workers. Having your co-workers draft players to compete against one another is bound to be fun for those who dig that kind of thing.
Football is certainly the most popular. But baseball and basketball are certainly options as well depending on what type of sports your office is into. I'll briefly add that fantasy reality TV pools like The Bachelor Fantasy League are also really, really fun.
Ok. We're nerdy, so we had to add this one here. If you've never participated in a Wikipedia race, you're missing out. Essentially, the game is played by people racing to get from one Wikipedia page to another. However, the catch is that you can only get there by clicking on the internal links that exist on each page. You just pick two random pages and you're ready to go.
Then, your path is there for you if you simply look at your browser history. You can either win simply by who can get there the fastest or you can challenge people to get from one to the other in as few links as possible. Either works and is really fun!
Obviously, we’re a little biased here, but there’s a reason we built Water Cooler Trivia: we couldn’t find any flexible, low-price employee engagement games that actually work!
Water Cooler Trivia has everything you need to spark lighthearted conversations via online trivia. All of our quizzes are fully customizable - with options on quiz difficulty and length. This gives you the freedom and flexibility to craft quizzes your group will want to play.
Last but not least, Water Cooler Trivia offers a free four-week trial. Get started with a free four-week trial of Water Cooler Trivia today!
