7 Ways to Socialize With Your Employees (and Not Get in Trouble)

Whether you need to foster teamwork, get a major project underway, or just show your team a fun time, there's a wholesome - but not utterly nerdy - way.

There's something to be said for birthday lunches or beers after work at the pub across the street. Simple, casual, all-staff events can foster a lot of camaraderie. But they can also exclude certain people – non-drinkers, parents with small children who need to get home right after work, and plenty of others. And who hasn't heard stories of company holiday parties that ended in disaster when someone (or several someones) tosses back a few too many? 

We've been digging through the Inc. archives looking for the best examples of team-building social activities companies with great corporate culture have used. But not every social event is right for every company. So we've included some motivating factors for getting the staff together before prescribing social plans.

Goal: Nurture the sweet feeling of success.
Solution: Host an annual poker night.

Each February, Inphonic CEO David A. Steinberg holds a poker party for his top executives at Washington, D.C.'s Historic George Town Club. As a reward for their long hours, his executives are treated to scotch and cigars as they bluff and bet with members of InPhonic's A-list board of directors – top venture capitalists, famous politicians, and John Sculley, the well-known former CEO of Apple and Pepsi. The tradition feels bigtime and established, the kind of ritual befitting a company that keeps stern oil paintings of past CEOs in its wood-paneled boardroom. But InPhonic, which is in the very modern business of selling mobile phone handsets and services over the Web, is no such firm. It has existed for the grand total of five years and sports a founding CEO of the ripe age of 35. Instead, the annual poker night is one more way Steinberg creates the image of success and carefully guards it until, like wet cement, it sets and becomes real. Steinberg, says Sculley, "does a wonderful job of making you feel like the company is bigger and further along in its life than it is at the moment. It sort of felt like we were all grown up and we were only two and a half years old." 

Goal: Making your business feel like a happy family.
Solution: Integrate casual game nights into a family-friendly office.

The Booksource, which is based in St. Louis, sells discounted books for use in schools. Employees describe this 36-year old family-run business as exactly that — a family. Weekly bingo nights, bowling outings, and the annual company picnic (which was held at a winery last year) create a true sense of community among co-workers. The family-friendly feeling extends into the office, too. The "Baby Policy" allows parents to bring their newborns to work for up to six months, or employees can choose to receive a $50 weekly reimbursement for day care. Read more.

Goal: Get a serious work project started with a tight-knit team.
Solution: Hold a company retreat.

What does your company really need to accomplish, fast? Bruce Withrow, the founder of Meeting Facilitators International, helps his clients start to plan their retreats by asking this question first: "If I could wave a magic wand and put it into your hand, and you could make a successful conclusion to your retreat, what would it look like?" It's important to be as specific as possible. "To just say 'strategic planning' isn't enough," says Withrow, who plans between 50 and 60 retreats every year. "It's such a plastic word that means so many different things to so many different people. What is it that you think is missing? What is it that you want?" CEO and founder of Tutor.com George Cigale says of his company's past retreats: "Slowing down time allows you to think a little bit differently about the way you communicate and depend on each other." Before you stress about where you will go and what you will do, remember that, from a business perspective, this is probably the least important part of planning your retreat. Cigale's company has held retreats at a dude ranch, Las Vegas, Florida, and, when the budget was a little tighter, at a conference center near the company's offices. But he considers each retreat to have been successful. It's fun to play golf, but is it really necessary? If you can afford it, adding some fun to the trip does have advantages. First, it can help get your employees excited about the retreat and somewhat compensate for pulling them away from their homes and families. Second, it can provide time for informal discussion and help your team get to know each other better. "Just the time together at dinner and talking about the Olympics or whatever, I think that that helps with communication," Withrow says. Cigale recommends sticking with about a 20 percent fun, 80 percent work ratio. 

Goal: Simply understanding your employees better.
Solution: Do lunches with a focus on sharing.