company event

Do Your Employees Want a Company Event?

Photo by Kristina Evstifeeva on Unsplash

Do your employees need to beg you for permission to throw a company event? Or do you value these occasions for their morale-boosting and productivity-accelerating aspects? For the sake of presenting your employees’ possible perspective, we offer the following:

A Company Event from an Employee’s Point of View

There are many great reasons for putting on a company event, from creating a buzz and spreading the word about your business to giving something back to your staff.

But getting approval from your boss to put on an event for employees may not be as easy as you think, especially if the business owner underestimates the importance of company culture.

Nonetheless, a timely and well-organized corporate event is much more than giving employees the opportunity to let their hair down. Essentially, a corporate “do” can boost morale, increase productivity, improve information sharing, promote creativity, and help to create more bonded and focused teams.

RELATED ARTICLE: THE 4 PILLARS OF GOOD BUSINESS TEAM BUILDING

Above all else, a company event contributes to employee engagement and shows that leaders and management value their employees.

Therefore, whether you have a vision of a fun team building day, a company summer party, or a big corporate black-tie dinner to promote employee awards, how do you get your idea approved by the boss?

Basically, you’ll need to sell your idea and make your leader believe in the benefits of a corporate event as much as you do. It might not be easy, but with the right plan, there’s absolutely no reason why your event can’t get the go-ahead from management.

Here are the seven steps you need to take to persuade your boss to say yes.

1. Do Your Research

First, before you pitch your idea, make sure you’ve done all of your research. That’s because your boss will want to know why, when, and how you plan to put on the event, as well as how much it will cost.

Therefore, have all of your information to hand. However, first find out if the person you will be pitching to is the kind of person who prefers an executive summary or will want to know all the finer details. Tailor your pitch accordingly, and be ready for questions.

Either way, your boss will definitely want to know more about the company’s return on investment. Therefore, don’t be afraid to address concerns and objections. Moreover, be prepared for a no. Simply put, make it your objective to overcome hurdles and persuade your boss to give you a green light.

Above all, consider seeking advice from an event company or venue finder ahead of time, to get an idea on cost. Function Fixers, for example, provides businesses with dry hire venues. Plus, they have a range of no-hire-fee venues on their books. This could make your costs more favorable.

2. Pitch to the Right Person

This may seem obvious, but if you need to bypass your immediate manager to get your idea in front of the person who can actually approve it, then do so with care. Notably, be sure you don’t undermine your line manager. Try asking for their help or approval first, or convince them of your value to the team in making the pitch.

Keep your line manager in the dark and it could cause friction or send the message that you don’t trust him or her. Getting your boss to trust you is key to making sure your idea is pitched to the person who can actually sanction it.

3. Present Your Company Event Idea as a Solution, Not a Problem

It’s a good idea to show that your event concept is a solution for a common business problem. Therefore, if you want your boss to buy in to your event idea, you’ll need to make a direct link between the benefits of a company event and what your boss is worrying about.

For example, if the culture in the business isn’t great, and staff turnover is higher than it should be, bring facts and figures to your meeting with the boss. Use them to illustrate how a positive culture aids employee retention. This could help to swing your case.

In such a case, organizing a company event could be just the thing the business needs to boost morale. For one thing, it would show employees they are valued. Therefore, be specific about the benefits, especially around employee happiness and productivity. Especially if you can show that your event will have positive benefits on efficiency, productivity, and better customer service, your boss is more likely to be on side.

4. Focus on the Value (Not the Cost) of a Company Event

Company events, no matter how big or small, should be a part of any business strategy. That’s because a company event has many benefits and is a sure way to help engage employees with the vision and values of the business. Make the value of your idea the biggest part of your pitch. Explain how your event idea is going to help the business.

RELATED ARTICLE: THE IDEAL BUSINESS OUTING: TAKE EMPLOYEES ON A HIKE

5. Show Flexibility

Always, always have a Plan B (and preferably a few more variations). Showing your boss you have some flexibility around your company event idea could help you get the eventual outcome you want. For instance, consider a smaller-scale event to test your idea without huge costs.

6. Ask for Feedback

If your boss isn’t initially bowled over by your idea for a company event, find out what could be a deciding factor. Perhaps you can tweak your ideas and budget to get approval in the future. Ultimately, if the answer is no, you want to know what you would need to do to change the boss’s mind.

If you have some experience with pitching ideas to the same boss, learn from your mistakes. Analyze how well (or badly) your pitches have gone in the past and revise your approach to make it better.

7. Get the Timing Right

There’s little point in pitching your event idea to your boss if budgets are under scrutiny. If the company is looking for cost savings, the idea of a costly event will be seen as an extravagance, even if there are genuine business rewards.

Wait until your boss (and the company) are in a better financial place before making your pitch, or offer a more cost-friendly version to show you understand the budget restraints.

Conclusion

If your employees want you to throw them a barbecue in a nearby park or host a swanky event in a local ballroom, perhaps you should consider the costs and benefits carefully before you reject their ideas out of hand.

Perhaps you can find ways to compromise with them about what they want, balanced against what the company needs. Really, why not show your employees you appreciate them by throwing a company event?