If you've followed our blog, you know that HR often carries the weight of solving some pretty tough challenges —much of this behind the scenes. So, we wanted to take a moment to lighten things up a bit. Let’s shift our focus to morale, and culture, and share some simple, quick ways to bring a bit of levity into your team’s daily routine. Energizing your company’s work culture doesn’t always have to be a heavy lift. Sometimes, the smallest tweaks can make the biggest difference.
Let’s dive in:
Surprise ‘Work-From-Anywhere’ Days
The Hack: This is obviously better suited for our hybrid or in-office teams. On random days, announce that the entire team can work from anywhere—be it their favorite café, a park, or even a cozy corner at home.
Impact: It helps to break up the monotony and spark some creativity. Your team may appreciate the spontaneity and freedom, which can lead to fresh ideas and a morale boost.
Workweek Wind-Down
The Hack: This one might again be easier for in-office teams to pull off this easy bonding activity: curate a shared playlist where everyone adds their favorite chill tracks. Play it during the last hour of the workday to help everyone wind down.
Impact: Helps everyone unwind and ease out of work mode, making the switch to personal time feel a lot smoother.
Virtual Coffee Roulette
The Hack: Set up a system (like Donut for Slack) where employees are randomly matched for a 15-minute virtual coffee chat each week.
Impact: Breaks down silos across the company, especially in remote teams where collaboration opportunities can be harder to encourage organically. It helps employees feel more connected, reducing feelings of isolation and improving team cohesion.
Innovation Blitz
The Hack: Think about this like a Hackathon but for everyone in your org (and not just our engineer pals)! Organize a quarterly “Innovation Jam” where teams or individuals can pitch and work on out-of-the-box ideas for the company. The best idea gets implemented.
Impact: Encourages creativity and innovation, while also giving employees ownership and a sense of purpose.
Focus Flow Days
The Hack: Designate one day of the week as a no-meeting day, giving your team uninterrupted time to focus on deep work. If this is too hard to pull off, try a smaller block of time once a week called “Heads Down Mode” and have your team use a designated Slack icon to signal they’re unavailable for chatting or collab.
Impact: This designated time allows employees to tackle big tasks or projects with full concentration, increasing productivity and reducing the stress of unfinished work. Provides a break from the constant flow of meetings, leading to higher productivity and more meaningful progress on important tasks.
Kudos or Pay-It-Forward Board
The Hack: Dedicate somewhere (i.e. in Slack, a #kindkudos channel) where your team can post ‘random acts of kindness’ they’ve observed from their colleagues or challenge others to pay kindness forward. I've also used a tool called CultureBee which focused on this idea of "culture activation" through recognition of fellow team members.
Impact: Promotes a culture of kindness and gratitude. It encourages conscientious behaviors and builds a stronger, more supportive team environment.
Secret Skill Swap
The Hack: We used to call these Ignite Talks at a past company, and it was a really cool way for our team to talk about things they were passionate about. It gave a short window in the month for our employees to share a hidden skill, hobby, or interest with the team (say 10-15 minutes). It could be anything from cooking tips to coding tricks, to - and this is my own Ignite Talk - Michigan: The High Five State, where I talked about cool things to do and see in my home state.
Impact: Simply put, it builds camaraderie and adds an element of fun to our work. More substantively, it also provides a great opportunity for team members to practice and refine their public speaking and teaching skills. It’s a low-effort way to learn from each other and have a good time while doing it!
For more Michigan love, quirky coffee date questions, or just a bit of fun, find us at Sproutwise—where we consider ourselves connoisseurs of all things delightful.
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