From your role as a supervisor or HR manager, you have long been convinced of the usefulness of team building. And you see better than anyone that, precisely because of the many working from home, it is more important than ever to maintain the connection with employees. Not only because of your wish to be a good employer but also because of the tight labour market. Finding good people is difficult, but retaining them is even more challenging. If you take your idea towards management, people will listen, but at the same time, many other priorities have nothing to do with team building. And these are often preferred. You understand, but you want action. How do you convince the rest of the organization to tackle team building NOW?s
No costs, only investment
The most important thing you can do to get your plans into action follows. Explain that a team-building activity is not a cost but rather an investment. You can expect something in return, a particular result. And you can make that result measurable together by agreeing on a specific objective in advance. This way, you can have skills developed or maintained. And that affects the behaviour that people show in the future. It can also lead to less absenteeism, more committed employees, more energy and chemistry within the team and people who want to belong to the organization. Evidence from a recent article in the AD, the latter is more important than ever in this market with more vacancies than unemployed people.
The figures from Statistics Netherlands (Central Bureau of Statistics) leave nothing to be desired: in the second quarter of 2021, there were no fewer than 106 vacancies for every 100 unemployed. It is the first time that the number of vacancies has exceeded the number of unemployed. The majority of vacancies are in trade (65,000), care (45,000) and business services (52,000). Together, these three industries account for about half of all vacancies.
From team building to employee retention
Showing your people that you value them and want to invest in them will make a 100% positive contribution to employee retention. You mustn't plan 'just a nice drink' or an 'afternoon on the health'. It is better to opt for in-depth, qualitative activities that pursue a specific goal based on a well-considered plan. You do this, for example, by choosing a game in which people learn to understand each other better by observing each other's behaviour. Such actions make it easier to interact with each other in the workplace. You can also consciously choose a game in either competition or cooperation. Those are two different perspectives. It's about being goal-oriented. And that also convinces your management not to postpone the team building activity.
So, what does this all mean?
Team building is, therefore, an investment in retaining your staff. You can agree on clear goals in advance to align with your KPIs. That is nice for the management because the results then become measurable in outline. Compared to every 100 unemployed, 106 vacancies are open: taking care of your people is, therefore, more important than ever. And you do that by giving genuine attention and offering support in those areas where necessary.
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