Business travel booking platform TravelPerk surveyed HR professionals and travel managers worldwide to determine the current trends in team building. Around 125 companies from a wide range of countries around the world took part. The study targeted companies with 1-25 employees to more than 1,000. The data show how companies plan their team-building events, how they organize them and how often they bring teams together.
81% of respondents said they would organize more personal events than in the previous twelve months. The most popular types of events are team lunches and dinners (70%). The most important factor in choosing a location is proximity to the office (33%).
When it comes to organizing, respondents focus on staying within budget (62%), planning activities that are fun (49%) and having as many participants as possible (37%). They see last-minute changes as the biggest challenge in event planning (37%).
Whether remote, hybrid or purely face-to-face teams, the research shows that all types of teams come together for company events and most even do so at regular intervals. More than a quarter of companies said they like to meet once a month, while 22% prefer to get together every three months. About 9 percent even rely on weekly meetings.
Nearly 70% of respondents said team lunches or dinners are a popular event option, while nearly 60% said they plan seasonal celebrations such as a Christmas party or summer festival.
Half of the respondents said they planned team-building activities - 46% relied on casual meetings after work and 44% planned workshops.
When it comes to organizing travel, planners usually go the traditional route: accordingly, most companies do not use dedicated collaboration tools to organize their events. 79% use e-mail and 58% use the Outlook calendar.
When choosing a venue for team-building events, most companies attach importance to a convenient and central location. But the choice of an interesting location is also a high priority. Almost 13% of respondents named this as the most important criterion, outweighing other factors such as price and accommodation options.
Planners know how important it is to stay within budget during a corporate event. As we all know, the cost of booking venues, transportation and hotels can add up. It's no surprise, then, that nearly 62% of respondents said staying within budget was one of the top three considerations when organizing a team event. Other considerations include planning fun activities, managing the number of attendees, and choosing good food options.
The biggest challenge is dealing with last-minute changes, which 38% of respondents rated as "difficult". Other hurdles included finding dates that suit everyone (34%), finding a suitable venue (22%) and staying within budget (22%).