Is your company retreat returning your investment?

Companies are often looking for ways to reengage associates, come up with new ideas and progress with the times. Ironically one common way companies have been trying to achieve the goal of reengaging employees is by taking them out of the office.

More and more companies are hosting company retreats to get employees out of the office and off the internet to allow employee bonds to form and new ideas to spark.

There are many companies that provide this sort of service exclusively. Offering a mix of work and play to company executives, select staff and development teams.

According to the 2014 Corporate Learning Factbook an estimated $70 billion is spent on corporate retreats and trainings each year.

The problem facing companies is the lack of proper organization at these retreats.

While the intentions are to step out of the box to see what they may be missing, many company’s fall into a pleasure trap. Instead of approaching these retreats with clear goals and objectives they see it as a chance to get on the golf course and enjoy a tax deductible happy hour.

Company retreats cost companies thousands of dollars and time away from daily operations. If you are investing that money into your company and employees be clear about the return you expect on it.

You don’t have to remove the fun and leisurely activities from the event schedule but be sure to put specific emphasis on expectations of the work activities.

What do you want your employees to accomplish as a result of the retreat?

What do you want your team to take away from the retreat?

What are some new skills you want your team to learn?

What employee questions do you want to answer?

What employee concerns do you hope to put at bay?

Before you leave for your retreat you should be able to not only answer but express these goals to your team.