Fun Online Games for Employee Engagement in 2024

I’ll never forget the moment I witnessed our first online game that completely transformed the way our team worked together.

As a team leader, I was constantly searching for ways to build a stronger sense of community and connection among my remote team members. Despite my best efforts, I noticed that communication and collaboration often fell short, and team morale began to suffer.

That’s when our HR suggested playing online team building games as an employee engagement activity, and it completely changed the game for us.

I was initially skeptical, but after trying a few online games like Solitaire, Among us , Pictionary, Gartic phone with my team, the impact was immediate and astonishing.

My team members are suddenly more engaged, connected, and motivated to work together.

Here is the list of online team games I curated based on feedback from employees. The goal is to boost engagement, improve communication, and strengthen team cohesion.

Skip to Online retrospective games that your coworker will love

or

Skip to 14 Fun Friday Activities to Boost Team Morale

Online Team Building Games To Strengthen Team Bonding

Online retrospective games are an excellent way to build team spirit and enhance collaboration. Read on to discover the top retrospective ideas for remote teams that I have used that gave these positive results.

The Benefits Of Online Retrospective Games

• Improved Communication: My team members communicated more effectively, and everyone found it easy to give constructive feedback.
• Increased Engagement: The retrospective ideas that the teams came up with created a more interactive and enjoyable work environment.
• Enhanced Creativity: By providing a fun and collaborative space for brainstorming, team members generated new ideas and solutions to complex problems.
• Better Team Dynamics: Fun retrospective ideas for remote teams helped to improve team dynamics and promote a positive team culture.
• Continuous Learning: I was pleasantly surprised to see that by reflecting on past successes and failures, my team identified areas for improvement and development.

Here are my top 5 picks for retrospective games for workers.

1. Random Word Game

After completing a big project, why not try a fun virtual retrospective game?

The game involves selecting a random word or phrase and brainstorming ideas based on that word. This game can help break out of fixed patterns of thinking and encourage more creative and unexpected ideas. For example,

1. Choose a random word, such as “tech support”
2. Set a timer for one minute.
3. Each team member takes a turn saying a word that is related to “tech support” within the one minute timeframe. For example, “emphaty,” “quick,” “24×7,” “helpeful,” etc.
4. If a team member cannot come up with a related word before the timer runs out, they are out of the game.
5. The game continues until only one team member is left, or until a pre-determined number of rounds is reached.

2. Idea Box Game

This is one of the most fun activities at work for brainstorming and coming up with complex tricky problems you face as a team.

In this game, team members write down their ideas and place them in a shared box.

Then, they take turns drawing ideas from the box and building on them. This game can encourage a diverse range of ideas and perspectives.

3. Emoji Feedback

Providing feedback is a crucial aspect of employee engagement, but it can be challenging to balance honesty with kindness. However, a solution to this problem is to use emojis.

This game involves team members giving feedback using only emojis, which can help to control the tone of the feedback. In addition to the standard emojis, there are several other options to explore, including:

🤗 – An emoji for appreciation

🙏 – An emoji to express gratitude

🧐 – An emoji to indicate areas that need improvement

💖 – An emoji to express an amazing job

🙃 – An emoji to express silliness or sarcasm

🙇 – An emoji to express embarrassment or apology

This fun and creative way of giving feedback can instantly create a positive team culture, making it an excellent pure virtual online retrospective game.

4. Who’s That Shoutout For?

Regular appreciation is important, but it’s also essential to spread the love to all team members, not just top performers.

This team-building game is a fun and anonymous way to show appreciation and boost team morale without creating jealousy.

Here’s how to play:

1. Ask each team member to write down three things they appreciate about their colleagues on separate slips of paper.
2. Collect all the slips of paper and put them in a hat or bowl.
3. Choose one slip of paper at random and read the three things written on it without revealing who wrote it.
4. The team must then guess which colleague the shoutout is for based on the three things written on the slip of paper.
5. Once the correct person is guessed, they receive the shoutout and are encouraged to say a few words of thanks or appreciation.

With this game, everyone gets a chance to be appreciated, and it creates a positive and respectful team environment.

5. Undercover Team Mate

This online team building game is inspired by the popular TV series “Undercover Boss,” with modifications to make it relevant for remote teams.

Here are the rules:

1. Before the game begins, each team member writes down their name on a piece of paper and puts it in a hat or container.
2. One team member is chosen at random to be the “undercover team mate.” This person does not reveal their identity to the rest of the team.
3. The rest of the team is given a task or project to complete, and they must work together to accomplish it.
4. Throughout the task, the undercover team mate will secretly observe the rest of the team and take notes on their strengths and weaknesses.
5. After the task is completed, the team gathers together to discuss how they did and what could be improved. The undercover team mate then reveals themselves and shares their observations and feedback with the team.
6. The team then has a chance to reflect on the feedback and discuss ways to improve their teamwork and collaboration in the future.

This game can help teams to better understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and can provide valuable feedback for improvement. It also encourages teamwork and collaboration, as everyone works together towards a common goal.

With the rise of remote work, it’s more important than ever to prioritize team building and morale-boosting activities. That’s why I’ve put together a list of Fun Friday Games for office and virtual teams. These employee engagement activities are a great way to help your team unwind, connect, and build a sense of camaraderie, all while having some fun.

So let’s dive in and give our remote teams the boost they deserve this upcoming Friday!

1. Comedy Club

Laughter is the best medicine

You won’t find a better way to get your employees in an upbeat mood than to host your company’s own comedy club. Invite professional stand-up comedians for a live show, or let that hidden comic-genius amongst your colleagues have a go at office humor.

Best results are seen when hosted monthly on Wednesdays, to help employees get over the mid-week hump.

TIP: Don’t forget to come up with a funny name for the company’s comedy club

3. Virtual Concert

Nothing can be more relaxing than enjoying a live concert.

With nunify, you can stream a pre-recorded concert as well reduce the stress of internet issues when live. Don’t forget to uncover those hidden musicians and give them the exposure they’ve never had. Best results when hosted quarterly. Check out our experience with virtual concerts

TIP: Poll your employees for their favourite bands they want to hear live

5. Virtual Office Water Cooler Hour

Nope not all water cooler talk needs to be gossip.

Have a live office cooler hour for anyone to join in to share their personal or team experiences. It could be about the new baking recipe they tried out yesterday or the best sales anecdote – give a platform for those stories to be heard.

Best results seen when the activity is hosted every Friday!

TIP: Don’t over-moderate, trust your employees to self discipline – after all, you hired them! 

6. Live Gravity Challenge

Confused? Made popular on Tik Tok & Instagram this challenge is simple except lets do it live!

1. Choose a male AND a female colleague and bring them LIVE on screen.
2. Ask them to get on all fours
3. Then ask them to rest their forearms on the floor, followed by their elbows, with their faces resting in their hands.
4. Then, they quickly move their arms from the ground to behind their back.

Here is how others fared! This activity is best done once.

TIP: Our bet is that women crush it. Don’t forget to record the challenge.

7. Micro-Learning Virtual Workshops

Learning never stops and it doesn’t always need to be about work. Invite external experts or find one within your company to continuously teach and learn new skills & techniques. It could be How to bake your own sourdough, or 30 must use shortcuts in excel, or Under 5 minutes makeup essentials – no dearth of topics.

TIP: Keep it short and have limited seats – let your audience ask for more.

8. Book Club

Reading is a dying art with the onset of social media & netflix. All great leaders are readers and a company book club can be a great start to find your next generation of leaders.

Use your employee app to build a digital library with recommendations from avid book fans.

Host book club meetups to discuss the book-of-the-month. 

TIP: Internal podcasts could be used to promote audio books but be careful of copyrights

9. Company Cribs

Remember MTV Cribs?

Let’s go live weekly into one of our colleague’s homes. Let them  give us a tour of their home and share their favourite things. If they feel comfortable we get to say hi to their family and it surely is a great way to know each other on a personal level

TIP : Ideal for small teams where all team members are comfortable

10. Karaoke Battle

Do we need to say more? Best results when done anytime – every night can be karaoke night and convert it to be a championship with brackets!

TIP : Your CEO & COO have to be the first ones to battle it out with live results

11. Offsite & Team Dinners

If we can enjoy virtual birthdays and virtual weddings we surely can have a virtual offsite with our teams ending with an amazing dinner that everyone orders from their favourite restaurant nearby. Don’t forget to send them their offsite goodies – what better way to surprise them and have everyone wear the offsite hoodie at the virtual event

TIP: Add frequent breaks and trim the agenda

12. Office Culture Trip

Who doesn’t miss their annual vacation to new places? While we can’t wait to get back to travelling, let’s make the best of what we have.

A virtual culture tour from our colleagues.

With an increasingly diverse workforce coming from different countries & cultures, ask individuals to share unique culture facts & tips. So when we are back to travelling, our colleague’s hometown would surely be an option . Best results done monthly. 

TIP: Make it interactive by asking them to teach us a few words in their language

13. Virtual Celebrations

Use push notifications, virtual events , app contests and more to celebrate festivals, company milestones, individual achievements, diversity, anniversaries & birthdays. Celebrate small wins and most importantly celebrate each other.

TIP: Here is how we celebrated virtual holi & virtual easter

14. Meet In-Person!

Meeting in person in itself will be an event. Ensure you make the most out of it.

In conclusion, there are many enjoyable and interactive online team building games that can enhance communication, and team dynamics among employees, regardless of their age or location.

These games not will help you break the monotony of work.

By incorporating these games into your regular employee engagement activities, you can create a more positive and enjoyable work culture that benefits everyone involved.