If there’s one thing we’ve learned about company culture in the last few years, it’s how important creating connections is. While the rise of remote work has provided a wealth of benefits, it’s also made many employees feel more disconnected than ever. After all, humans are naturally social creatures and thrive in collaborative environments where creativity and belonging are not only valued but encouraged.
While most employees would agree that they enjoy the flexibility that remote work brings, it’s also led to a disconnect in developing relationships with coworkers. Statistics from Forbes show that an estimated 32.6 million Americans will be working remotely by 2025, revealing that it’s more important than ever to connect with work colleagues.
There’s no better place to foster company culture and employee well being than on a corporate retreat. Maybe productivity is starting to lag, your employees are scattered across the globe, or you have a big upcoming project that needs juicy, creative ideas. Whatever your reasoning for hosting a retreat, this is one of the most important investments you can make in not only your employees happiness, but also the longevity of your company.
With offsites and company retreats expected to grow to $500 billion by 2030, becoming one of the foremost niches in the corporate travel market, it’s obvious that company leaders are beginning to see the value in employee retreats.
Corporate retreats show current and prospective employees that you care about their wellbeing and creating a positive work environment. They create a social space, far from the confines of the office, where colleagues have the mental space to think up their best ideas. Sounds pretty impactful, right?
There are countless different kinds of retreats to choose from, all of which can be tailored to your company’s specific needs. Whether you’re looking to attend a conference with your team members—with the addition of wellness treatments and exciting activities—or you need a secluded venue to dream up your biggest ideas, our database of over 12,000 retreat venues offers endless fodder for your offsite dreams.
Some corporate retreats center around relaxation and rejuvenation, while others bring everyone together through collaborative activities—like glamping, cooking classes, destination excursions, and themed scavenger hunts.
With so many different retreat options and an ever-increasing remote workforce (an Upwork study estimates that 22% of Americans will be remote by 2025), it’s easy to see how this sector of the corporate travel market is seeing an explosion in growth.
Here are a few things to know about why company retreats are important, what the benefits of corporate retreats are, and tips for hosting your first successful retreat.
Benefits of a corporate retreat
With terms like the “Great Disconnection” being used to describe the post-pandemic workforce, it’s more important than ever to facilitate connection among your employees. Corporate retreat statistics show that taking your employees on holding company retreats is beneficial for things like boosting team morale, increasing productivity, and even saving money.
Whether you’re a burgeoning tech startup or a large-scale corporation, here are some of the benefits of holding a corporate retreat…
1. Boost Team Morale
Possibly the number one benefit of hosting a company retreat is that they boost employee morale. Gathering everyone together to share experiences, recognize achievements, and simply have a good time. While traditional business travel can be mentally and physically taxing, a retreat gives your team something to look forward to every year—a powerful incentive. After all, just the thought of travel increases happiness by 18%, from a according to a study by Airbnb.
It’s also shown that happiness in the workplace leads to high ROI, with a direct correlation between happy employees and a 20% increase in success over industry counterparts.
2. Builds Camaraderie, Connection, & Trust
As the number of remote and hybrid remote teams continues to climb, statistics show that feelings of isolation are also on the rise. Harvard Business Review revealed that 40% of people said they felt isolated at work.
Continue encouraging connection in your workplace by building trust and camaraderie at your company retreat through activities that encourage teamwork and problem-solving, alongside fun experiences like hiking, food tours, and scavenger hunts that are almost guaranteed to strengthen connections among your employees and improve collaboration.
3. Increases Productivity
A 2023 study by Management Science helped quantify the fact that employee happiness leads to increased productivity. The University of Warwick, which found that happy employees are 12% more productive, corroborated this finding.
According to a study by the Harvard Business Review, face-to-face interaction is more effective than email and other virtual communication. Productivity can also increase when team members have an incentive to look forward to—like an upcoming retreat!
4. Improves Employee Retention
Work environments that cultivate a collaborative, inclusive, and friendly company culture increase retention rates overall. The more time and effort you invest in your employees, the more likely they are to stick around, an important factor considering that losing a worker can cost up to 33% of their salary.
According to a study by Hilton, 75% of millennial business travelers see traveling for work as a major perk, a perk that might incentivize employees to stay with the company longer. Corporate retreats also allow you dedicated time to recognize achievements,
Holding annual corporate retreats can also help attract better recruits while simultaneously giving your company an edge over competitors. In a Moniker Survey, 60% of employees claimed they would be more likely to join a company that offers corporate retreats.
5. Sparks Creativity
Getting out of an office setting is great for thinking outside the box. Many companies who held corporate retreats reported that their employees came up with some of their best ideas while offsite.
According to TravelPerk, 34% of employees brainstormed their most creative ideas while on retreat, while a study by Frontiers found that trust is key to creativity, something that can be better achieved through activities and team-building exercises your employees can do on retreat.
A scientific study by Nature showed that bringing everyone together for a collaborative brainstorming session was much more effective at gleaning new and improved ideas while simultaneously boosting employee engagement when compared to your typical Zoom conference.
6. Creates a Sense of Belonging
A study done by Betterup looked at the relationship between a sense of belonging and happiness in the workplace, finding that workplace belonging led to a 56% increase in productivity and 50% reduction in turnover.
A great place to foster this sense of belonging is at a corporate retreat where colleagues can form bonds, employees can be recognized for hard work, and relationships can be created, a factor that’s crucial for creating a sense of belonging at work. There’s no ingredient better than belonging for building a strong team and encouraging better team dynamics.
7. Fostering Understanding
In a remote work environment—and even in a hybrid or in-person setting—work-related misunderstandings are inevitable. Meeting co-workers in person can help employees to foster understanding when friction does arise. If you’ve never met someone before, you’re far less likely to have a sense of compassion than if you’ve rode Vespa’s through the Italian countryside or shared a glass of wine in Sonoma.
Putting a face with a name is becoming increasingly important, a fact that was proven in a Forbes Insight Report that showed 85% of people said in-person meetings were much more effective at building stronger, more meaningful relationships and offered the ability to bond with coworkers.
8. Saves Money
While this might seem counterintuitive at first glance, holding a corporate retreat can actually save you money—especially if it’s something you invest in annually. Instead of paying to fly team members to a central location several times throughout the year, holding a yearly company retreat can help discourage nonessential travel at other times and streamline your meetings. Booking bulk travel can also be cost-effective as you’ll often find discounts on accommodation, transportation, and more. Setting aside a company retreat budget well in advance can also help keep costs down throughout the planning process.
How to ensure your company retreat is done right
It can be daunting to hold your first company retreat, but with a little forethought and the help of experts, you’ll have a much higher chance of success. Here are a few considerations for ensuring your corporate retreat goes off without a hitch.
- Have a mixture of activities. Be sure to include a variety of activities at your retreat, like team-building pursuits, excursions that explore local culture, total free time, adventurous activities, and more.
Make sure expectations are set well in advance. From safety briefings to detailed agendas and what to expense, make sure the whole team knows exactly what to expect upfront. This keeps everyone happier in the moment and helps set expectations well in advance. - Keep the entire team in mind. Not everyone on your team will be excited about the same activities. Offering a variety of activities, like something creative vs. a more adventurous activity, planned at the same time allows everyone to feel included. Send out a survey ahead of planning your retreat to get a pulse on what your team members would be interested in, including both destinations and activities. That being said, it’s also a great idea to pull information from your team after the retreat, too so you can improve on future retreats.
- Offload the majority of the planning process. Using a corporate retreat company (like Retreats and Venues!) to take care of the nitty-gritty details like transportation, meals, and team-building activities takes the stress off your own team. That means everyone can relax and get excited about attending the retreat instead of dreading the logistics. As the largest and most comprehensive platform and marketplace for finding and sourcing retreat venues we do all the heavy lifting behind the scenes—the same heavy lifting that often has company leaders shying away from holding a company retreat in the first place.
- Pick a retreat theme. Creating retreat themes can help create lasting memories, boost creativity, and set the mood for the entire trip. Retreat themes can be fun and playful or more business-minded, focusing on current company goals. Basing your theme off the retreat location is an easy way to spice things up.
FAQs About Company Retreats What is a corporate retreat?
At its simplest, a corporate retreat is a dedicated gathering for company employees in a fun and enriching environment, away from the office. Most company retreats focus on facilitating team bonding, improving company culture, and creating lasting memories—with a few important meetings sprinkled in, too.
Why have an offsite retreat?
While it might seem counterintuitive to take the entire team (or a specific department) to a location far from the office, spending time in a novel environment helps magnify creativity and allows employees to relax. A change of scenery might be just what your team needs to avoid burnout, brush off the day-to-day cobwebs, and dream up new ideas.
How can corporate retreats contribute to the overall well-being of employees?
Corporate retreats are proven to promote better work relationships, foster a sense of belonging, and even improve mental health, all benefits that add to an employee’s overall well-being.
Many people walk away from retreats feeling relaxed, connected to their coworkers, valued by their company, and more excited about their role. Even better, a well-planned retreat is something that your employees will look forward to year after year and an asset that will attract future new hires.
What is bleisure?
You may have heard the term “bleisure” being thrown around in the last few years, especially when it comes to company retreats and business travel. The words “business” and “leisure” come together in the portmanteau “bleisure”. This slang term also happens to be the perfect description of what company retreats aim to do — mix business with leisure, relaxation, and a rejuvenating getaway.
Hosting a corporate retreat might be the missing link to your company’s success. Whether you’re looking to boost team morale, build camaraderie and trust, increase production, enhance creativity, or increase employee retention, it’s obvious that the benefits far outweigh any drawbacks like cost — which can actually be a positive!