Want to know the norm for IT team retreats? 🏨✈️🎉
👀 Ever wonder how often other IT teams do off-sites or retreats? At my job, we head to a nearby city twice a year with my team and once with the entire department. But, I’ve heard some consulting companies jet off for a whole week to countries like Spain or Portugal! 😲
🤔 So, how often does your IT team take off for team retreats? What’s considered “normal” in the industry? Share your experiences and let’s compare notes! #ITteam #teamretreat #companyculture #offsiteevent #worktrip
Honestly depends by org and teams.
I’ve been in shit orgs where all I got was a $100 Amazon gift card instead of a retreat.
My current org is pretty good about this and we try to do annual one for the entire company and semianually for the team. Last year we did Austin, TX for the entire week.
lol, never
I did win $10 cleaning goo in a holiday drawing last year though
By your definition of an off-site event (going out of town), never. Maybe 2-3 times a year we’ll do a casual dinner and maybe an event like Top Golf or bowling, but that’s about it. We all work from home, so it’s nice to see each other in person.
We canceled the next dinner because the company won’t pay since we’re tightening the budget this year. Our manager suggested we go Dutch and everyone sort of groaned.
never. my company only cares about their stock price. All unnecessary expenses are not approved. At least we also get paid in stock so we some what benefit from their cheapness? I have mixed feelings about it.
We generally do two a year for the team. using major Conferences as the destination.
This year is RSA where everyone is in classes together then the event itself. Later in the year we’ll be at DefCon with some training to be determined.
I have interned at 3 places and worked professionally at 2 places, only 1 had something like you describe but it was for the whole company and not 1 department (it was a place I interned at as well). They would take people to this ski resort during the summer (so no snow) and would have different activities (like wine and paint, dance area, hiking trials [whose bright idea is it to take drunk people hiking btw?] etc…) along with a open bar (cider, beer, wine, and hard liquor).
We have after work parties usually once a month where we go out, eat, drink and have fun. During Christmas we have a big Christmas party. Other than that we might have some small gatherings in the office after work during special occasions.
Current remote company: I’ve worked here for over two years, only seen another employee in person one time (co-worker flew into my city for a wedding and we had lunch together). I wish we had a once-a-year thing.
Do team lunches count? We do one every quarter roughly. But other than that, not much else. Tbh, I like most of my co-workers, I don’t like them that much though lol (save for one co-worker as he’s an actual friend outside of work, I can shoot the shit with him). I’d rather be at home with my family or real friends and not have to worry about corporate breathing down my back when I’m trying to have fun.
Had the whole spectrum from reluctantly paying for pizza on a change night that went on well past midnight to four days on Mallorca (off season bust still awsome).
Never in my entire career. IT is a cost center and gets nothing. The motivation money is spent on revenue generating orgs and teams.
Once a month we do a dinner or lunch, we’ll work at someone’s house as well, I’m going to Denver this year for team meetings, potential for Re:Invent if we want to go, we have a big team department party once a year, two tournaments with prizes( basketball/cornhole), all inclusive baseball game next month, and a couple other conferences.
A few other small benefits of the company that are nice, we can check out cars whenever we want, so if your car is in the shop or you need a minivan you can just grab them, a lot of catered lunches, and games like pickleball, ping pong, and basketball available.
One yearly holiday party where they’ll fly everyone in and pay for our hotel rooms. Best part is that it’s optional.
If I’m going to fly to Spain for a week, it’s not going to be with my boss and coworkers.
Never had one. We do team lunches
My department have off site gatherings at restaurants or venues for the holidays events in December. But most of events such as Halloween, May (star wars, Olympics, etc) is on site.
Never. One of the managers invited us to lunch one time, and we all assumed we were being laid off, because it was so different.
My team did one once a year. The colleague in South America and myself (US) would go to the city where the rest of the team was in Europe. From there, we’d go a couple hours from the European site to a hotel and do team building stuff for a week. That lasted a few years until the company started the cost savings BS… they’d still have something every year.. I just quit going because then they wanted us to fly the 12 hours in coach and stay in hotels without AC in the middle of summer.
wait people get (re)treats at work?
I haven’t done this ever, but the place I currently work for is supposed to have an giant town hall/event once a year where everyone in the IT team goes to some hotel somewhere.
The last two years it was cancelled, which I’m okay with, because it just wasn’t in the budget.
That said, I have no real desire to go, especially after being told everything is paid out of pocket and then we’re reimbursed about a month later. Typically this wouldn’t be that big of a deal, but from what I was told by others it’s never cheap as people typically have to pay close to $3,000-$5,000 out of pocket because the CIO picks the location and is absolutely loaded compared to the peanuts the rest of us get paid.
Which honestly, it baffles me that we’re expected to pay out of pocket for something that costs more than maybe 10 people at most make in a month.
Never. I really like my team, but if I’m going to spend days away from my family, then I’d rather it be with friends. Regular evenings in the pub are welcome though.
Don’t be jealous; they’re a pain in the ass, mostly a waste of time, and take time away from being with my family and friends. I resent them so much. Though we only do once a year to a nearby retreat center (days only, not hotel yada yada). Even if we went to a resort in Hawaii or something, I just want to be home. Or on vacation with my family, not my coworkers. Oh, and all of my workload just piles up while on these boondoggles.
Who cares im not coming anyways.
I just use it for time off to enjoy the shit i really like to do with the people i really like to hang out with.
“Our retreat” is to the office once a month where execs can swing by, threaten our jobs in veiled terms and let us know they are the overlords. They usually spring for pizza party on those days to try to make it festive and team-buildy but we get the message. Anything we do to earn their displeasure will be punished swiftly and harshly. They know about all the layoffs, that we’re anxious to keep our jobs, and they love to rub it in our faces.
Most of the time, they remember to pay us
Never. The pay’s shit, the benefits worse. No chance to WFH unless you’re a bosses favorite…
The job before, they’d send some of the team to conferences. Colorado was the furthest I’d heard of (I’m in MI), but it was mostly MI, IN, IL, and WI.
Normal is never. Work family shit like that is bizarre. Why, even for free, would I ever want to vacation with my team?