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Benefits of off site companies retreats in a nature setting
Hello! Thanks for your question about The benefits of corporate retreats in nature. The short version is that there are numerous benefits on a psychological level, according to Standford and Penn State Universities. Large business media websites such as Forbes, the Harvard Business Review, and the New York Times also believe they have a positive effect on employees. Below you will find a deep dive of my findings.
METHODOLOGY
When I went looking for the benefits of office retreats, there was a plethora of information from various reliable sources on the web. Starting on a large scale, I was able to find information on business trends from leaders such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, and the Harvard Business Review that gave the positive effects of corporate retreats as a whole, as well as a quote from the CMO of Audible. The New York Times posted an article in 2016 regarding startup company retreats.
Narrowing down the search, I was able to find papers and interviews from Penn State and Stanford that detailed the psychology of business retreats and the psychology of being in nature. Business Insider also posted an article that gave references to scientific papers that detailed the concrete benefits of being in nature.
Finally, I looked for specific hard data on how retreats improved company performance. I was not able to find any published data from well-known companies, likely due to the fact that companies do not publicly provide their internal performance data. However, I was able to find a firm called Hawk Incentives that specializes in reward and incentive programs. They provided hard statistics on how rewards and incentives benefit the company.
THE BENEFITS OF OFFICE RETREATS
According to Entrepreneur, the most important benefit of retreats is that they promote company culture through the sharing of ideas, unification of the whole company, and the freedom to be casual. A study from Forbes supports this idea by reporting that 90% of CEOs and CFOs believe that company culture is important to their business.
The Harvard Business Review agrees that retreats and workshops have a positive effect on a company's productivity. They spoke with Audible's CMO, who was quoted as saying that their company had success with retreats that focused on "soft" skills to improve individuals. The CMO states "Our team was engaged, opened and excited to have the rare luxury to focus on themselves as individuals — individuals as a conduit and lever to ourselves as a team. We all felt deeply rejuvenated and at peace with each other. That, ultimately, built trust — the ultimate ingredient to teamwork."
Forbes expresses a similar statement about unifying a team of employees. They claim that in order to be able to unify a team, it is "critical" that they learn together, share their concerns and ideas with each other, and bond together.
The New York Times gives a different but equally positive approach to retreats. They take a look at the start-up company, Gusto, and how it rewards long hours and hard work with a company retreat that is more about relaxation than work. Even non-start-up companies are starting to use office retreats as reward incentives aside from their standard function as team-building exercises.
THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND RETREATS AND NATURE
The Applied Social Psychology department of Penn State gives us an idea of why the psychology of retreats is successful. They claim that an off-site retreat that puts the workers in a non-threatening environment enables them to have positive interactions and relationships with each other. This social interaction improves how the group as a whole perceives itself, allowing the individuals to "maximize group integration", improve the perception of "task cohesion", and to achieve satisfaction with their group's ability to complete tasks.
Stanford gives us insight to the positive effects of nature on the mind. Dr. Katie Curhan, Ed.D, a scholar on the psychology of nature, claims that nature has the effect of reducing stress. She states that being in nature can improve a person's well-being. This is supported by numerous scientific articles listed by Business Insider. They pulled together a collection of sources that support the positive health effects of nature as well as the mental aspects. This includes improved short-term memory, restored mental energy, stress relief, reduced inflammation, better vision, improved concentration, sharper thinking and creativity, and improved mental health.
STATISTICAL INFORMATION ABOUT INCENTIVES AND REWARDS
As stated above, many companies — including startups — use retreats as an incentive or reward for hard work as well as an opportunity to teach teamwork. Hawking Incentives, a group specializing in incentives programs, give us the hard facts about work incentives.
Retreats and other incentives cause companies to experience 27% higher profits, 50% higher sales, 50% higher customer loyalty, 38% more productivity, and 155% high stock returns.
CONCLUSION
To wrap it up, corporate retreats have many benefits, namely improving unification and teamwork. There is a distinct psychology to how a retreat improves an employee's perception of a company. Furthermore, nature itself has plenty of positive mental and physical health benefits. Thanks for using Wonder! Please let us know if we can help with anything else!