Many of the previous posts covered the idea that escape rooms are both entertaining while also being great activities that exercise the necessary teamwork and problem-solving skills of professionals. However, even the entertainment aspect can generate its own value for any business organisation.
This has to do with the long and testy shift on the subject of fun times at the office in today’s working world. Inevitably, it touches on the concept of work-life balance and how it is now endlessly challenged from all different angles.
That is why the idea of providing more entertainment initiatives within the workplace context has become a more significant issue than ever. It explains why companies have started using games in their team building activities. The trend of gamifying the workplace is also no coincidence. It shows that many of today’s business leaders are challenged to rethink the conventional wisdom of putting Work and Play into different silos of an employee’s life.
Utilizing escape rooms as your company’s go-to team building events is one way you can explore the possibility of Work and Play blending together as one. Up until recent years, this has often been considered undesirable (and it still is for some corporate cultures).
However, that does not negate the many cases where emphasising the Work-Life barrier has only done more harm than good. Aside from the usual cases of people prioritizing the former at the expense of the latter, you have the problem of disengaged employees and emotionless, extremely impersonal relations between team members.
When you decide to utilise entertainment within the context of your workplace, you have the option to prevent these problems and remind everyone that you are all still people. Thus, one can discern its value in some of the following ways:
- It can reduce pressure on the employees.
One aspect of a problematic workplace culture is over-emphasis on pressure. Everyone is forced to look for a high-stake objective that demands to be taken with grave seriousness. Counterbalancing this with an entertaining, more relaxing side of the company can dissuade this harmful mentality and tell everyone that it’s okay to take a break from it all.
- It exercises work skills without making them think of work.
When you are using games and escape rooms to cultivate problem-solving skills, the best way to do it is to actually not emphasise the similarities. Allow people to have fun and wait until the very end of the activity to explain how the skills they use at play can be used at work.
The thing about having fun is literally having fun, where the mind isn’t preoccupied with thoughts of their workload, tasks due or projects still on-going. The entertainment factor of a game enables people to exercise the same skills but without the added stress of thinking it as ‘work.’
- It allows moments of reflection on why they work.
Lastly, giving considerable time and space for leisure within the office empowers employees with room to reflect on the main purpose behind coming to work every day. This can be very helpful when you are working to prevent feelings of disengagement among employees (or at least understand why they would feel disengaged.
While it is good to always look for activities and programs that improve an employee’s skills, one must avoid the mistake of assuming that making those activities entertaining is just icing on the cake in terms of value. In truth, entertainment has equal value in the workplace and it has become a valid necessity in today’s working world.
