An event might just seem like a fun way to wrap up the year, but getting your team together to share a positive experience is a powerful way to engage and excite your people, inspire innovation, retain top talent, and improve productivity. According to Gallup’s ‘State of the Global Workplace’ report, only 23% of employees feel engaged at work, and 1 in 10 employees don’t feel “valued at all,” according to a report by Workhuman. Well-planned and executed events, that have a clear purpose, are an important part of the puzzle when it comes to addressing these issues and fostering a positive workplace culture in the coming year.

End-of-year events are a well-honoured workplace tradition, but more organisations are looking to go beyond drinks after work at the pub and create a positive, shared experience and really say thank you. We have been working with a range of businesses to invest in engaging their teams through events, including CF Fertilisers and Leighton. Earlier this autumn we partnered with CF Fertilisers to deliver a leadership conference at Wynyard Hall as part of their annual staff engagement series. Now in its second year, the conference centred around the theme of ‘Inclusive Leadership,’ with a focus on inclusion, collaboration, and empowerment, and gave the leadership team a way of recognising and rewarding success across a large team.

Just recently we had the pleasure of planning a company day for Leighton after a record year for the organisation. Leighton wanted a day that blended business updates, team bonding, and celebratory fun and we brought that to life with a mini internal awards ceremony to acknowledge outstanding team contributions, a lively quiz, complete with themed rounds and friendly competition, capping off the evening with laughter and tasty food. The result was a company day that strengthened their company culture, celebrated achievements and left a lasting impression on the team.

Events don’t have to be run of the mill and can range from team-building retreats and workshops to annual parties and corporate celebrations. When businesses invest in these gatherings, they provide employees with opportunities to step away from their routines and engage in unique experiences. These experiences often help cultivate camaraderie, thereby strengthening relationships across departments.

So, how can events make your team feel more motivated in 2025?

1. They give an opportunity to say thank you

We all like to know that our hard work has been noticed and appreciated, and sometimes simply saying thank you is all it takes to make teammates feel appreciated. Simple words of gratitude can transform organisational culture and getting everyone together allows leaders to personally show their thanks to for hard work and dedication in a really personal way. Making time to organise an event to say thank you shows that every team member is valued and plays a vital role in the future success of the business, creating a sense of shared purpose.

2. Increase productivity

A well-timed and thoughtful event can lead to increased productivity across the whole business. When teams are given the chance to recharge and bond outside of the conventional work environment, they return to their tasks with renewed energy and creativity. Well-executed events with a clear purpose serve as a platform for brainstorming and innovation. For instance, hackathons or brainstorming sessions during retreats can give you valuable insights and foster collaborative thinking. By creating opportunities to collaborate in an informal setting, businesses can inspire idea generation that may not have a chance to surface during typical office hours!

3. Attract and retain the best talent

In an era where talent is at a premium, retention is more critical than ever. Events present the perfect opportunity to engage teams and instil a sense of belonging within the business. Regularly scheduled events – such as monthly check-ins, recreational activities, or professional development workshops – can all enhance job satisfaction. It doesn’t always have to be a big celebration either, getting into the habit of recognising birthdays or work anniversaries through small celebrations or acknowledgment events can significantly boost morale. These gestures show appreciation and encourage loyalty, making teams feel more like family. When colleagues feel appreciated and connected, they are more likely to stay with the business and contribute to continued success and growth.

4. Give people a chance to connect

How we make space to connect defines the culture of a business and provides the foundation to achieve almost anything – this could be through a fun day out, an outdoor adventure, an awards ceremony, a charity event, or a cooking class. Modern working patterns and alternating shift patterns might mean that some team members never have the chance to meet or get to know each other. This could lead to cliques forming or teams being unaware of priorities across the business.

5. Reward effort, achievements, and value-led behaviours

Designing an event that everyone across the business can enjoy and be part of, is a fun way to reward not just commercial success, but also give a pat on the back to those who best demonstrate company values too! Why not create a poll where people can choose what they want to do at the event so everyone feels involved, or make space to celebrate people who have gone above and beyond?

6. Create positive shared experiences

Events can range from team-building retreats and workshops to annual parties and celebrations, but at BeaconHouse we always do things a bit differently…so teams are surprised, engaged, and entertained for the whole event.  When businesses invest in bringing people together they provide opportunities to step away from routine and engage in unique experiences – especially important for hybrid teams or those with mixed shift patterns. These experiences help to strengthen relationships across departments and allow people the space to get to know each other.

Ultimately, when a business prioritises the experiences of their team and actively recognises their contributions, they cultivate a thriving workplace and set themselves up for sustained success. Harness the power of events, say thank you, and watch the positive ripple effect across the whole business in 2025 and beyond.

To speak to the team at BeaconHouse Events about creating a meaningful experience for your team or to simply chat through your staff engagement plans. Email info@beaconhouse-events.co.uk or give us a call +44 (0)191 691 3456.

You and the BeaconHouse Events team have gotten involved with a range of charitable initiatives over the past few years – which ones have you enjoyed the most?

I love being outside, and earlier in the year a few members of the team got the chance to support The Children’s Foundation, planting trees at their inner-city allotment, which was a real highlight. It was a cold but crisp spring day and the team from the charity told us about the projects that they deliver from the site and the difference that our support was making for young people in the region. We helped to tidy up the space and then took oak seedlings and planted them in a border foundation around the allotment which felt like we were leaving a legacy for the young people that are using the allotment today and in the future too.

With Groundwork North East, we went up to Hebburn and litter-picked around the local area before heading over to the salt marsh, a re-wilding part of the bank of the Tyne. We learnt about what the team was doing with the space and counted some of the species that were being protected in the space so that the Groundwork team could assess how the patch was growing.

Sustainability is a key priority for us here at BeaconHouse Events, so while this project was ultimately about supporting young people in our community to thrive, it also aligned with our green credentials!

How important do you think it is for businesses to support charities in this way?

When you look at a busy calendar, there is sometimes the temptation to think you’re too busy to take time out to do projects like this, but you can really see the difference in the team when we are back in the office. We carve the time out of people’s available capacity to go and take part in these charitable initiatives like this, which means people can really turn off, take time away from their emails, and get immersed in the task they are doing. While there is the philanthropic element of supporting charities that are close to our hearts (we recently chose to partner with ten charities as part of our 10th birthday celebrations), it also has a strategic business impact too. The team always comes back more creative and collaborative after working together to deliver something for a charity; it is a real morale boost and makes us an even closer team because of those shared experiences.

You have a busy calendar – tell us about what you get up to outside of work?  

I love living in the North East because you have the coast, countryside, and city all nearby, so there is plenty of opportunity to get out and explore. I love cold water swimming with Katie (Whitehouse), another event manager here at BeaconHouse, and alternate going early morning or at lunchtime depending on the weather! I find it helps with managing stress; we work on complex, busy projects, and it can be difficult to take time to totally switch off. Being that cold takes up all your brain capacity, so it is impossible to think about anything other than what you are doing, which can be very addictive! I would recommend it to anyone, especially people who work in the events sector – we tend to be quite tough and resilient anyway in this business, so it’s a great way to push yourself out of your comfort zone and decompress. As a business we acknowledge that the events sector is a busy one, so we make time to check in on each other and share tips on how to focus on wellbeing in and out of the office. I used to do longer walks quite a lot, but I’ve reigned it in a little recently after I contracted Lyme disease from a tick bite!

That sounds nasty! Has it made you think more about your health and well-being?

Yes, it took a a very long course of strong antibiotics to get me feeling like myself again, and it is one of those things that might flare up again in the future. It left me feeling pretty drained and lethargic which isn’t like me at all, and while I feel much better now, it made me think about my health in a way that I haven’t had to consider before. Due to global warming, there is a increase in ticks, and therefore an expected rise in Lyme disease cases over the coming years and there is so much uncertainty and confusing information out there. I would like to take my personal experience and see how I can use my skills to benefit organisations that raise awareness about the disease in the UK in the future, and support people who have also been impacted.

Are there any other causes that you looking forward to supporting in the coming twelve months?

Christmas is just around the corner and we’ll be Christmas wrapping again in Eldon Square for The Children’s Foundation which is always a highlight in our diaries. You get to meet such a range of different people, who either need a bit of a hand to make their gifts look lovely or are looking for their way to support a local charity. We’ll  be donning our festive jumpers and heading down as a team this December to get stuck in.

I love reading for pleasure and find it a great way to relax. One of my ambitions for 2025 is to use some of my free time to start volunteering for a charity that supports children and young people to get more confident with their reading ability. Alongside being a fantastic way to turn off at the end of the day, I’m a big believer that reading for pleasure makes you more creative, more curious about the world, and more able to explore and talk about complex issues; if I can help more children and young people find joy in that I think it would benefit them as individuals, and our future region as a whole.