What are Team Building Games?
Team building games can be defined as fun activities you can do with your co-workers to improve how everyone works together.
Team building games are designed to encourage teamwork, collaboration and creativity within your company — a benefit that, in any company, would prove essential to a high-performing team.
That’s easy to do in the office, I hear you say… But what about when you have remote teams located across the country or the world? That throws a team-building spanner in the works.
What are the benefits of team building in a remote working environment?
Strong teamwork is at the heart of every successful and high-performing team.
At the end of the day, you want your team to do their best work, and often this involves working as part of a team. If you don’t have a culture where your team is working towards one common goal and ready to help others, that’s where it can start to fall apart.
Although remote teams are physically apart, it doesn’t mean that you can’t organize virtual team building games.
Whether it’s a short activity at the start of a virtual meeting to flex your remote team’s strategy brain or a Friday night happy hour trivia session, there are many ways you can bring the team together with online team games so you can reap the benefits such as:
Free online team building games for remote teams
1. Skribbl.io
If you’re looking for a fun activity that will bring everyone together, Skribbl.io is your go-to drawing game. The rules follow a similar approach to Pictionary, and it’s a fun way to get your entire team involved and laughing.
How to play Skribbl.io:-
Each user logs on and joins the designated team room. From here, each player will take turns being the artist. When it’s their turn, they will have to choose a word from the three different options provided and draw that word in 80 seconds.
The other players will then have 80 seconds to guess what the player is drawing. The fastest player to guess the drawing gets the most points, and the player at the end of the game with the most posts wins!
2. Donut
When working remotely, it’s normal to miss the office buzz and morning coffee runs with co-workers. Donut is a great way to bring back that general office chat amongst your team with virtual coffee catch ups, even if it’s just for 15 minutes!
Donut is an app designed to integrate with Slack. On a separate Slack channel and on a recurring basis, Donut will randomly select people within your company as pairs.
The app will send each pair a direct message encouraging them to meet up for virtual coffee. If you have a larger team or have new remote hires, this is a great way to get to know teammates you might not have previously crossed paths with.
Don’t use Slack for communication? Create a simple spreadsheet each week and pair up co-workers for a quick online office game or catch up.
3. Tea and coffee Tasting
When we’re in the office, it’s only natural that many office conversations will happen over morning tea and coffee. But what happens when we take away that social element?
*Cue sobbing*
Chances are, your workplace is filled with tea and coffee enthusiasts.
Send out a calendar invite to gauge interest for a tea and coffee tasting. From here, finalise numbers and start hunting for interesting tea flavours and exotic coffee blends. Round up 5 – 10 different individually wrapped tea bags and coffee sachets and place them in an envelope.
Once you’ve got your coffee and tea kit, address them to those taking part and head off to the post office.
When it comes time for the tasting, you can talk through the flavours, the background and whether or not it’s hit or miss. It’s a great way to unite the team over their love of tea and coffee!
Want to go one step further? Include a numbered tasting card with your team to write their thoughts!
4. Wine Tasting
. Wine tasting Similar to tea and coffee lovers, chances are you have a few wine enthusiasts in your company!
When it comes to organizing a wine tasting, there are a few options available
6. Trivia
Trivia There’s nothing like a few rounds of trivia to get your team working together!
Everyone loves a fun round of trivia, especially when there are prizes involved. Trivia not only encourages teamwork but is also a chance for your team to find out more about their co-worker’s interests.
Depending on the size of your company, you could split the groups up into different teams, e.g. marketing, sales or finance. Alternatively, you could mix it up and randomly assign people to teams.
Got the budget? You can use an external service trivia provider like Oz Party Events to organize your trivia night!
Did you know that with Employment Hero you can reward your team with Hero Dollars? With Hero Dollars, your team can access Discounts, our online marketplace with access to thousands of everyday items at a reduced price.
Price: Free to Low ($ – $$)
7. Book club
Book clubs are a great way to get those in your team together who share a love for reading.
To get started, nominate someone who will be the leader for the month. They will choose the book and lead the discussion when it’s time to meet.
Not sure where to get started? Start a Slack channel or WhatsApp group for your book club so people can ask questions as they’re reading through the book.
Price: Free!
8. Run club
If your team is working from home, chances are they’re enjoying all of the benefits associated with remote work — like more time to spend running!
Use an app like Strava to create a running group. In this app, you’ll be able to see everyone’s times and routes and keep each other accountable.
You could have a competition for the fastest time or furthest distance and entice your team with fun prizes to keep everyone moving.
Price: Free to low ($)
9. Bingo
Bingo is a great way to get the team together online for a bit of fun. Nominate one person as the bingo caller and the first person to mark off all of the numbers is the winner. You’ll be surprised how fun virtual Bingo can be, especially as a Friday drinks alternative!
To make it interesting, why not add some fun prizes like a day off work, a free lunch or even a gift card? Looking for something fun? Take a look at Drag Queen Bingo.
10. Cutest pet competition
A fan favourite at Employment Hero is our cutest pet competition. With many remote workers looking for companionship in all of the fluffy places, chances are there’s a few pet friends in the team.
At the start of the week, share the competition with the closing date and the prize and ask your team to submit away!
If you have a company-wide staff meeting at the end of the week, use this opportunity to announce the winner and share a pic of the cutest furry friend.
