Virtual vs. in-person offsites: What’s better for building work relationships?
Virtual vs. in-person offsites: What's better for building work relationships?
Sara Iannacone · 3/30/2023
Every organization wants to foster stronger relationships. Some remote and distributed companies have invested fully into in-person gatherings, while others are all-in on virtual experiences. Question is, which is better for cultivating relationships between team members? The answer depends greatly on your unique team, goals, and needs. Let’s walk through the pros and cons.
It's no secret that strong working relationships are the cornerstone of a successful team. Authorities like Harvard Business Review have been studying the connection between workplace relationships and success for decades, and have consistently found that employees with close connections at work are more creative, collaborative, and productive.
Alternately, employees who are disconnected tend to be lower performers. Disconnectedness is also one of the top reasons for low engagement, which leads to higher turnover. If you’re not focusing on creating solid relationships between team members—now is the time to start.
Events, particularly team offsites, are a crucial tool for stepping away from day-to-day tasks to invest in connection. But what type of offsite is more effective for fostering workplace relationships—virtual or in-person? Today, we’re going to share everything you should consider when deciding between virtual and in-person offsites as a relationship-building tool.
What’s the goal of an offsite?
Offsites have grown rapidly in popularity.
Since many teams are remote, we’re losing those water cooler moments or Friday afternoon lunch excursions that spark interpersonal connections at work. Now, teams are having to be more intentional about how they engage their team and foster belonging. For many, one solution to that challenge has been team offsites and retreats.
While the goals are entirely dependent on what your organization is trying to achieve, there are some outcomes you can anticipate from a successful company offsite:
Better communication
Building healthy, effective communication is a challenge every organization has to tackle, and studies have shown that socializing among your team can increase communication patterns by over 50%. It’s easy to imagine the kind of impact that could have, from better productivity to streamlined processes.
Social bonds
One hiring manager shared that there’s a question he asks every new hire.
“What will you miss most about your last company?”
The answer for 90% of people was their co-workers.
That sense of belonging that we all crave as human beings doesn’t go away at work. If anything, it gets stronger. Those with a work bestie are happier, more productive, and more creative. And offsites with social activities seamlessly carved into the agenda are ideal for creating those connections.
Boosted engagement (and, in turn, retention)
But… not only are those employees with friends at work happy, productive, and creative—Gallup found they’re also twice as likely to be engaged at work, which we know leads to a huge variety of benefits.
Greater creativity
Have you ever noticed that team members seem to come up with their most creative ideas when they're outside of the office? It's not just your imagination.
Being away from the typical distractions of the office—like email, phone calls, and Slack messages—can help us focus on brainstorming and problem-solving.
In-person vs. virtual offsites
All of the benefits we just described can be achieved with varying success in both in-person and virtual events. So how do you decide which to focus on?
Here are a few pros and cons to think about.
Pros & Cons of an In-Person Offsite or Retreat
Pro: New Ideas
One of the major benefits is creativity. If your main goal is strategizing new launches, coming up with new product ideas, or getting creative with your offers, an in-person offsite will lend more results, typically.
Stanford conducted a research study after the pandemic that shared that in-person teams cultivated up to 20% more ideas than virtual teams, and the ideas they did come up with were rated more highly for individuality.
Con: Higher investment
With a fully in-person team retreat, you will have to deal with things like hotel, travel, and event contracts to accommodate your team and plan. With a virtual offsite, the logistics and expenses are much lower—but the results are often lower, too.
Pro: Stronger relationships
People need impromptu social conversations over dinner. They need fun challenges and games to become true team players. Ultimately, when it comes to building deeper relationships, in-person is a perfect vehicle.
Con: Must travel
To be fair, this con may be a pro for some team members who love hopping on a plane and exploring new places. But it can potentially be difficult for families to cover childcare and things like that.
That said, if anyone can’t attend an in-person retreat for any reason, that’s when it’s really fantastic to include a hybrid component with virtual offsite activities everyone can participate in together.
Pros & Cons of a Virtual Offsite or Retreat
Pro: Easy participation
One pro is that it’s super easy for anyone to attend a virtual offsite. We’ve all been doing it for three years now, in reality! No travel. You can engage the entire team with no problem. All you need is wi-fi and a link to join. And usually, a fun box of goodies or a gift!
Con: Same environment
While it’s simple, it also doesn’t get team members out of their environment! Even if they’re doing a wine and chocolate-making class—they’re still in their kitchen. If they’re doing a virtual scavenger hunt, they’re still in their office.
This can spark surface-level relationships with team members, but not the deep relationships that may create engagement.
Pro: Location-independent activities
The great part about a virtual offsite is that you can put together a day of activities that are totally location independent. You don’t have to be in Napa to do a wine tasting. You don’t have to go to the local bar for trivia. The agenda you can come up with can be entirely location independent, which is fun for you and your team!
You can browse a few of our favorite activities here.
Con: Harder networking
Networking 1:1 is much easier in-person. While with a virtual offsite, you can put together a few breakout sessions where you can connect team members with a few icebreaker questions, it’s not the same as unfacilitated interactions in person.
So, with these in mind, which is best for your team?
Choosing the best type of offsite for your team
We’ve given you a lot of information to consider when it comes to planning an offsite that will spark valuable work relationships. But, when deciding between the two options, there are two things to look at most closely:
Comfort levels
Is your team okay with traveling? Here are a few questions you can choose to ask in a team survey to gauge how willing to travel they are:
Are you interested in exploring a new city together?
If yes, how far are you willing to travel?
If yes, rank the below cities in order of preference from most desired destinations to least desired destinations.
On a scale of 1-10, how comfortable are you with work travel for a team offsite?
If people aren’t comfortable with traveling, a virtual offsite is an incredible option for teammates to have a little fun rather than only spending time in those weekly stand-ups together! But, if the majority of individuals are good with traveling, consider an in-person retreat with some virtual offsite components for those who prefer to log in remotely for whatever reason.
Company goals
You also have to look at your company goals.
What are you trying to achieve with your company offsite?
When the company goal is relationship building with deepened connections, our choice is always in-person offsites.
While you can tie in virtual components to create a hybrid scenario to include more team members, in-person allows unique 1:1 conversation, impromptu laughs over coffee in the morning, new environments to stir up new ideas, and more.
But if the goal is to show appreciation and do something fun for the team, you can definitely do something like a cool gift paired with a virtual event!
Need help planning your next virtual or in-person team offsite?
BoomPop is ready to help. With a carefully curated portfolio of both in-person retreats and virtual team-building activities perfect for virtual offsites, our team is the expert in creating inter-team connections (our customers will tell you so)!
Set up a call to chat about your goals, and we’ll help you determine which format is best for you and help you make it happen!
Featured resources
8 Steps for Planning Your Company Retreat
A resource for new organizers on creating fun, productive, and successful corporate events.
