Once upon a time, department managers and HR-led employee committees would seek to spice up a Friday morning by popping into Dunkin’ Donuts to secure coffee and sweet treats that would be made available to employees in the breakroom. While not a healthy option, it was intended to put employees in the right frame of mind heading into the weekend.
The stomach-to-heart shortcut (in more ways than one) has long been a token tool in the team-building kits of many a business. But through the years, office equipment dealers have tapped into their creative reservoirs to devise team-building activities that have been essential to strengthening corporate culture. As part of August’s State of the Industry focus, we’ve asked our panel of dealers to share some of the initiatives they have found to be most effective.
Bay Copy of Rockland, Massachusetts, is an active member of one of the state’s largest Chamber of Commerce organizations. According to Bay Copy President Ray Belanger, the dealer supports the CoC’s activities, including after-hours networking, breakfasts with speakers, and cultural visitations.
Belanger believes it’s important to show support for individual employees’ fundraising initiatives. “If one of our team members is participating in a walk for cancer or in support of a school project, we’ll often put together a team from the company to support their activities,” he said.
The most impactful activities are the ones that tie in the family members of employees, notes Barry Simon, president of Little Rock, Arkansas-headquartered Datamax. Riverfest, an arts and music festival held in Little Rock, was a popular attraction for the company before the event went on hiatus. The dealer hosts game nights with refreshments and door prizes for all employees and their families. The Datamax Texas branch puts on a “burger wars” competition. All 10 of Datamax’s branches participate in Datamax Cares, raising money to support the communities in which the dealer does business.
Simon notes that the best-received activities are unexpected, impromptu gestures. “If the IT department has a great month, for example, we’ll do pizza and beer on a Friday,” he said. “When something like that is unexpected, people get pretty excited about it. And we do it for all the departments. The more people that get invited and involved, the better it becomes.”
Wide Variety
There is something to be said about the value of holiday parties, picnics, parking lot cookouts and a day at the ballpark (with corporate partner St. Paul Saints), notes James Loffler, president of Loffler Companies in Bloomington, Minnesota. The dealer has long relied on recognition programs and presentations (along with “shout outs” for exceeding expectations), team development sessions over lunch, president’s club trips and other reward trips.
The dealer’s Helping Hands program enables employees to dedicate time and efforts to community-based organizations, and Loffler Companies employees also participate in fundraisers for coworkers who are experiencing personal- or health-related challenges.
“We believe the closer you get to members of our team, the more trust, loyalty, communication and openness is built, and the more likely an employee will stay,” Loffler noted.
One of the cornerstones of corporate culture for Bartlett, Tennessee-based XMC is XMC Cares, the philanthropic arm of the company. Established in 2015, XMC Cares has contributed more than $32,000 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and $18,000 to the American Cancer Society during the past six years. Locally, the organization has participated in food drives and donations that have provided roughly 3,000 meals.
Alyssa Hirsh, the company’s director of culture and HR, notes that the charity drives make for friendly competition among XMC’s branches, and the winning teams are awarded additional funds for a team outing. “We have had murder-mystery dinners (costumes and pictures highly encouraged), golf outings, soccer and baseball games,” she said. “We have even had a team event at an indoor rock-climbing facility. The options are endless and the creation of a work family helps tremendously with retention and employee satisfaction.”
Team Unity
Team volunteering provides a great deal of satisfaction for employees of Applied Imaging. The Grand Rapids, Michigan-based dealer participates in homebuilding as part of Habitat for Humanity, according to Casey Lowery, chief operating officer. In conjunction with the company’s 25th anniversary, the dealership performed 2,500 hours of community service. With employees from different divisions taking part in efforts such as volunteering at a soup kitchen, Lowery points out that people who don’t normally have the opportunity to interact are given the chance to get to know each other in a meaningful way.
The company’s annual ImagePalooza meeting also incorporates music, food, entertainment and a theme, which takes employee interaction to the next level. “When you can spend time getting to know somebody, your interactions with them are on a different level at the office,” Lowery added. “I think it actually makes us more productive.”
When Premium Digital Office Solutions embarks on a team-building venture, you can be sure that food will be involved. On the Friday before every Super Bowl, employees come to work adorned in the jerseys of their favorite team, and for this Parsippany, New Jersey, firm, that usually means Giants, Jets, Eagles and Patriots garb.
Another popular event, according to partner Van Seretis, is Heritage Day. With an ethnically diverse employee roster, the company invites staff to bring in a dish representative of their heritage. The result is tasty selections of Greek, Italian, German, Indian, Dominican and Columbian origins, among others. Thursday afternoons also means company barbecues featuring ribs and chicken, which often draws in employees from companies located in the business complex; they’re also welcomed.
“We try to make it a family atmosphere here and are always looking to have a great time,” Seretis said.
