In this informal conversation, two speakers share how their company blends traditional multi‑day, in‑person retreats with virtual Zoom‑based retreats to foster team cohesion. They describe a yearly week‑long resort retreat in the Philippines for employees based there, and the cost‑driven shift to virtual retreats that incorporate activities like scavenger hunts, breakout one‑on‑ones, and cooking classes. Practical advice is offered for small businesses: keep physical retreats short (e.g., Monday morning to Wednesday midday), use Airbnb homes with amenities (tennis courts, kitchens) to enable cooking lessons and lawn “Olympics,” and consider employee constraints such as parental responsibilities and part‑time status. The speakers emphasize that despite the loss of some personal touch in virtual formats, well‑designed activities can still deliver valuable connection and team‑building outcomes.
Chapters
Annually we do an extended retreat where it's multiple days. Some businesses, I have a friend, Jason Snyder, they have offices in the US, in the Philippines, all over. Most people are still in the Philippines, so he'll actually fly to the Philippines and they'll spend a full week out there at a resort as a company once a year. And then their other retreats, because it's so expensive, are effectively done over Zoom. And so it sounds kind of weird to have a retreat, but over Zoom, we've done that with PFP out of necessity at times. But we integrate these activities. A fun activity, like a scavenger hunt. So it's like, for the next 10 minutes, run around and do this and come back and report. We had little breakout sessions where people were talking one-on-one about a life's experience. And yes, we do lose that one-on-one personal touch, but it can invoke elements that don't come out of the traditional remote work environment.
Practically, I just wanted to offer this up too for business owners, entrepreneurs who are thinking about starting this with their companies, some practical thoughts on how we do these. We usually leave on a Monday morning and we're back by midday Wednesday. It's not a huge ask of the employees. Most of our employees are moms, so it's a lot to, you know, leave your family for a couple days. And a lot of us are part-timers. It's a commitment, but you want to do it, and it's always worthwhile and valuable for all of us, not just for the company. It's really— it always ends up being a valuable experience for all of us. We have stayed at hotels and things like that. We're a small company, so this is feasible. We usually do an Airbnb that can accommodate us. As you said, Mike, it gives time for connection in the downtime hours. We get some nice homes, like we had a house tennis court. We've had some beautiful kitchens. When, uh, Jeremy was with us, he was a professional chef and he would do like a cooking class. So a house in that regard offers up a lot of potential for connection, for other activities. We've had some of our fun Olympics out in the lawns of these great houses and things like that.
