Company Family Events
Although it’s not absolutely necessary, it’s a really nice practice to host an annual full company get-together in which you invite all employees to bring their special people - i.e. spouses, partners, children, and roommates. It feels so nice to put names to the faces of the people your loved ones hear about at dinner time. It can be an invitation to truly bring your full self to work - who are you when you’re not at work?
Planning tips:
Plan far in advance
Pick a weekend afternoon
Any full company events need to be planned far in advance for everyone to be able to get there - and it must be on a weekend. Sunday afternoons are a great time because it’s pretty safe from religious commitments for those who keep Shabbat, attend church, or have other commitments. For employees with children, typically lunchtime is pretty safe for kids regardless of their age. It’s helpful to have an end time on the invitation as well to make sure people know when to arrive and how long the event will go.
Making the invitation super clear
Use inclusive language to ensure all employees feel welcome
Give examples of who your team can bring as their guests
When you send out the invitation for the all-company event, make sure it’s extremely clear that this is for all employees - and their important people. It’s important to use language that is inclusive of all family types and home structures so that everyone feels welcome to bring a guest or two with them. You may even want to have a FAQ section in the invite to make it clear that yes, it’s OK to bring your roommate. No, we don’t want pets. And yes, children of all ages are welcome.
Planning food + activities for all ages
You can certainly plan on a fun BBQ or picnic for your employees - you know what they’ll like and enjoy. You also want to make sure that you have activities for people to do - especially children. You may want to have an arts and crafts table, some fun games hanging around, and maybe even get a special guest like a cartoonist or faux tattoo artist. It’s always a huge win to get an ice cream truck to arrive mid-way through the event! That is always such a fun surprise. Parents will have a hard time enjoying the event if their kids are bored and causing trouble!
While it’s always a best practice to consider dietary restrictions and allergies, you may want to also get some kid favorite snacks for the party like pizza, apple slices, goldfish, and lemonade.
Send them home with swag
When you bring the whole company together it’s a great way to reinforce company culture and values - and to help employees feel proud to be affiliated with your company. Just like a birthday party, you may want to consider putting together a fun swag goody bag to thank your team for attending.