Something for the weekend: Staff recognition programmes can vary greatly between organisations, often taking into account factors such as an organisation’s culture, values and goals. Manchester-based travel organisation Invasion made sure to mirror its fun-filled culture when planning a recent reward for employees, opting to turn its head office into a large ball pit.
Co-founder Lee McAteer, who planned the surprise staff treat, liaised with marketing and media organisation What Marketing to fill Invasion’s 3,700 square foot Salford office with plastic, brightly-coloured balls.
Starting at 3am in the morning, the ball pit took five hours to set up so that it was ready for staff when they arrived for work. Employees were able to play in the office ball pit together until the end of the working day at 6pm, when it then took a further eight hours to clear away.
McAteer organised the perk to reward and thank staff for their ongoing hard work, especially employees who had been travelling abroad to work on projects in America and Thailand.
McAteer said: “Here at Invasion Group, we treat people how we want to be treated and if you love what you do then you never work a day in your life. If you say to people your [organisation] is different you have to back it up.”
Here at Employee Benefits, we would love our organisation to create an office ball pit, however, we imagine this becomes slightly trickier over five floors…