War for talent heats up as recovery takes hold

The war for top talent is heating up and creating an engaging place to work has never been more important. Fun events are a key strategy in doing this but there is also a growing need for team building as new teams are formed and workloads increase, along with the recovery.

During the recession which took hold of Britain after the financial crisis struck in 2008, and even in the subsequent aftermath, many businesses in this country focused not on large scale growth but simply on survival. Fortunately, as recovery continues to build in momentum, businesses are increasingly seeking to grow their employee numbers in a bid to capitalise on an improvement in consumer confidence.

Yet several factors still stand in the way of exponential growth; firstly, a lingering unwillingness by banks to lend has prevented many small businesses from acquiring the investment capital they need; secondly, and perhaps more importantly, is the diminishing talent pool from which recruiters have to choose from. In part, this is due to the so-called “brain drain” as young graduates leave the UK in search of better opportunities overseas. According to figures from the OECD, around 1.3 million British citizens educated to a university level now live abroad, meaning that UK businesses in high skilled sectors such as engineering or financial services have fewer options when recruiting.

This struggle has only intensified lately, as larger companies choose to expand and poach talented employees from rivals by offering cash incentives or the ability to advance their careers further. In a way, this is reminiscent of recruiting techniques used prominently in the pre-recession days, although the practice has been greatly enhanced to suit the modern age by CV uploading sites and social networks such as LinkedIn.

In order to appeal to the top talent in their sector, businesses must begin to place a high emphasis on employee satisfaction – and this does not necessarily mean adding an extra decimal point to the monthly pay check. With a survey from BambooHR highlighting that ongoing training, concise instructions and an approachable manager are more important to satisfaction levels than an increase in pay it may be wise for businesses looking to invest time in ensuring these aspects are in good shape before launching a new recruitment drive.

Competition has always been an elemental part of business operations, but with companies across all sectors of the economy seeking rapid expansion it has now become more important than ever for firms to attract only the best. By utilising their best aspects in their favour, and constantly seeking to improve, recruiters may find that obtaining the most talented jobseekers is not as insurmountable a challenge as first expected.

Team Building Events

We've been extremely busy with our team building events in 2011. It was a long Summer with some remarkable weather in October, at times it was almost tropical. The sunshine certainly made people want to be outdoors enjoying each other's company.

Popular events this year have been The Parmesan Job, Crystal Challenge and we've seen an increase in Hostage events. The latter are great fun and highly memorable!

We now move into the realms of indoor team building and we have a full range of events so that team building doesn't have to stop just because the weather is more challenging.

Visit our indoor section on the team building website to explore the options in detail.

Team Building Activities

What makes an activity team building as opposed to just an activity? Some activities are individual, others require a team to make it happen.

Social team bonding is at the core of the team building activity. Groups have a positive shared experience and this bonds them into a team. The best events have a lasting effect, with recalled memories and photos to remind people of the fun that they had.

Some activities, for example bungee jumping and even high ropes, can be divisive - splitting the team into those who enjoy heights and those who don't. A good team building activity will appeal to as many in the team as possible. There are plenty of activities that will appeal to everyone.

Team Go Team Building

Our own team decided to head off for a bit of team building so we turned to Solent Events to organise a day of sailing with a RIB support boat to take us out for some high speed blasting.

It was a great day out on The Solent. We had a bit of extreme weather in the morning and then after lunch the sun came out. It was like two different days, as is so often the case on The Solent.

When we got back to land we hoisted poor Hannah up the mast to take this picture of all of us!

Olympic Themed Events

The Olympics is a hot theme as 2012 rapidly approaches and companies are looking to reflect that in their conferences and events.

Various events are suitable for an international sporting contest theme. It's A Knockout is an obvious choice with a variety of games that can each be themed to a different country.

Care must be taken not to infringe any copyrights, but events can still feel suited if well planned.

The Generation Game

Our Generation Game evening team building event is as good as it has ever been. There are four different activities and the audience gets really involved, with some hilarious results. The challenges include:-

Catwalk Capers - A volunteer steps forward and the rest of the team create an elaborate costume using a variety of materials. We then have display the results on the catwalk with all the style and sophistication of a real designer show but with two significant differences; the style and sophistication.

We also have The Hakka or Morris Dancing and the evergreen Cake Decorating. The Generation Game is great fun and getting excellent feedback.

Edinburgh Treasure Hunt

Just back from a fabulous Treasure Hunt in Edinburgh. It's a great city for a Treasure Hunt because there's so much to do in such an accessible area. We finished up in The Caves in Old Niddry Street which is a great venue and perfect for the end of an event. We flew from Southampton and it took one and a half hours, with a half hour bus trip to get into the city centre. It's almost as close as London.

Team Building For 2011

Our Hustle event seems to be very popular at the moment. Teams play against our casino to try to tip the odds in their favour using techniques that our hustlers teach them.

The Parmesan Job continues to attract a lot of attention and we've followed this up with The Parmesan Job II, which brings speedboats into the plot. Very exciting and the ultimate sequel.

The trend for short notice events continues, we're often contacted one or two weeks before the event date. Some people in the industry say that budgets remain low but we think that if you have the right product you can still get the higher budget events.

Essentially if you believe that budgets are low and you reduce your offering to a lower budget level what result will you get? Low budgets.

It's important to keep the ideas big and exciting.

Gingerbread House Challenge

As a creative team building company we felt it was important to come up with something interesting and fun for our partner hotels this year. In our Gingerbread Challenge teams are invited to build their own gingerbread house and submit a photograph for judging. The best example will win the team a huge one metre tall gingerbread house.

All in all, that's a lot of gingerbread.

Treasure Hunt Locations

Treasure Hunts are a great way of exploring interesting areas. Favourite locations include London Tower Bridge and West End, Brighton, Windsor and The Solent.

In some areas it's quite difficult to find interesting clues but somewhere like Windsor, for example, has great clues every few places.

Here's a great Treasure Hunt picture featuring an interesting landmark in Windsor.

Green Team Building

It is possible to hold a Green Team Building event with really enjoyable activities without compromising on fun.

Laser Clay Shooting uses infra red instead of shot and it's a very enjoyable competitive activity. Pulse Ranger is an electronic combat game, a bit like paintball without the paint ... and pain. Segways are one of the most popular activities available, whether the event has a green objective or not.

All of these activities are safe and environment friendly. They don't damage the ground where they are held and they are very energy efficient. The cost of charging all three is less than £1 and they are fully charged for a day for 30 or more people.

Other activities are available with a minimal or event non-existant environmental impact. The Crystal Challenge event, in particular, makes no impact at all.

It sometimes seems that we need to compromise to fit in green ideals, but there are many events available where this is not so. That is when our commitment to a better environment will really start to work; when it is effortless, enjoyable and doesn't have to come with an evangelical message.

The Team Building Team

What a great bunch of people. Here is our team of event instructors at the open day of our new office and warehouse building. Dame Ellen MacArthur came down to perform the opening ceremony in front of 200 guests and we set up all of the activities in the adjacent field and put on a hog roast.

It was a great day. All of our people are hand picked for their attitude and aptitude and many of the emails we received after the event commented on how engaging they were on the day.

Great work team!

DaVinci's Designs

If ever there was a visionary and a genius in our midst it was Leonardo DaVinci. Although his ideas were legendary by all accounts he was not much of a team player, preferring to work alone.

In tribute to DaVinci's genius we created an event called DaVinci's Designs in which teams solve problems based on his work to earn materials with which to paint a picture, using our mosaic format. So teams build a crane and costruct a bridge using Davinci's ideas. Then they finish up by each contributing to a canvas which eventually joins other canvasses to make up one big picture.

It's a great event and a fitting tribute to the great man.

Team Building

Team building is starting to take off in a big way this year. Finally, after a long period where teams were being taken apart, the mood is changing and teams are being built again. It's great to see the large corporates coming back and investing in their people. For a while they were concerned that they should not be seen to be doing anything which could be viewed as frivolous.

It's a shame that words like 'frivolous' and 'jolly' are used around activity based team building. We always say that fun is not a four letter word in business, in fact it's an essential factor in increasing productivity and retention in a business. It would be intolerable if everything had to be serious after all.

Hustle - Learn to card count

Hustle is our latest event in which participants learn how to card count and master other techniques to improve the odds at a casino. They then get into teams to take on our real casino with trained croupiers. This can be set up in an hotel or venue in the UK.

Card counting is not as hard as it might sound. People usually think of Dustin Hoffman's character in Rain Man remembering the order of four decks of cards. Actually the technique is much more straightforward and it's interesting knowledge to get to grips with.

This is an interesting new event, and learning how to play Black Jack and Roulette is good fun.

It's A Knockout

We're looking for an outgoing host for our It's A Knockout events. Stuart Hall was the original host and he had a unique style, laughing his way through many of the games.

Our host needs to have an outgoing personality and the sort of voice that makes people smile. They need to comment on the ongoing event, interview participants and generally give the event tempo and enthusiasm.

Applicants should visit The Team Building Company's website and make contact.

How does team building work?

A picture speaks a thousand words. You can have the cleverest ideas, the most expensive equipment and the most comprehensively thought through itinerary, but what really work on the day are the random moments of fun that the particpants create themselves.

Our role, as the professional team building event organiser, is to create a stage and give the players everything they need to have a fun and enjoyable experience. The rest is up to them.

Successful team building away days create memories of fun shared experiences and that is one of the foundations of team building. It's no different from friendship. Your friendships are built on a series of good shared experiences, often hundreds of them going back years. They make a chain that is hard to break.

Conference Icebreakers

Another use of activities and events is the conference icebreaker. These sessions are usually run at the beginning of a conference to help delegates get to know each other and start the conference in a positive way. When these sessions are run during a conference they are generally 'energisers'.

The drumming event shown on the left is a good example of a professional icebreaker. It's fun and enjoyable and not corny, so people will want to participate.

Chocolate Making

Chocolate making is a relative newcomer to the team building market, and it's very popular. Teams are coached in the art of making fine chocolates and then undertake the challenge of producing a box of luxury confectionery.

A chocolate making event is different and appeals to many rather than being more popular with men. It can also be themed to Christmas, Easter and even Halloween.

Catapults

Catapults, or slingshots, are very popular on team building events, people see them as they approach the field and can't wait to pick them up to relive childhood fun and games.

A professional layout is set up using colourful targets and firing mini paintballs, which give a pleasing 'splat'.

This makes an ideal element in a round robin format where teams rotate around a collection of activities in round robin format on their away day. Other activities might include archery, quad bikes, laser clay shooting and so on.