A decade of research conducted by the Harvard Business Review points to a performance-boosting alternative for helping employees build meaningful collaborative networks: corporate offsites.
Offsites, or corporate retreats, are not a new practice. HBR’s recent research, however, provides the first observable evidence that they can be a powerful strategic tool for managers, allowing them to reshape employees’ informal organizational networks to promote more sharing of ideas and expertise.
Why Offsites?
Collaborative networks, particularly those that cut across departments, can improve both individual and firm performance. But organic opportunities to build critical trust-based connections are far less frequent when more employees work from home or are in a hybrid situation.
Even in a shared office environment, organizational hierarchies and divisions can cut off access to the diverse knowledge and complementary skills of someone’s coworkers.
Offsites—company sponsored, often multi-day events that bring employees together outside the office—lead to interactions that otherwise might not happen. Offsites create unique opportunities for employees to connect in person, forming new relationships and strengthening existing ones. As a result, offsites help people learn about others’ knowledge and build interpersonal trust, which are both critical ingredients for effective collaboration.
Offsites Work for Attendees

HBR’s recent research with a large, global firm explores a solution to the ever-pressing question of how to jumpstart collaboration. Their research was exhaustive, studying eight years of data from the firm’s annual offsites and analyzing more than 350,000 instances of formal working relationships using work records of more than 750 employees.
After examining the collaborative networks in the months before and after the offsite, results concluded that offsites work for attendees, not only forming personal connections between employees teaming up people able to produce substantial revenue for the firm.
Here’s a look at the immediate and ongoing benefits:
- Attendees received 24 percent more new incoming collaborative work requests compared to before the offsite, especially for those who had been at the firm for fewer than five years. Why? Simply due to increased visibility and opportunities to showcase their expertise.
- HBR’s analysis of company records revealed that each offsite studied generated over $180,000 in revenue from new collaborations within the first two months.
- 17 percent of the new connections were still active two years later, significantly multiplying their value.
- Offsites had value even for people who didn’t attend, as the study revealed that effects were spread across the firm, leading to increased collaboration among everyone in the firm.
- In general, offsites encouraged firm-wide collaborative activity and a rewiring of the organizational network.
Making the Most of an Offsite
Hosting an offsite is a significant investment. As leaders are setting their annual budgets, a natural question is: How will they get the highest ROI from an offsite?
Based on further qualitative research, plus a decade of direct work with more than 100 global organizations’ senior leaders planning and following up on corporate retreats, HBR offered four strategies for capitalizing on an employee offsite.
- Tailor sessions based on pre-event data
Too often, employee offsites revolve around leaders’ objectives, not attendees’ so before the event, survey people—especially those who work hybrid or remotely—on their specific needs and goals for the get-together.
- Charge new hires with offsite objectives
Newcomers have the most to gain from targeted network building: In just a matter of days (or hours), they can considerably increase the quality of their network, paving the way for more interesting projects, greater job satisfaction and higher performance.
- Guide employees’ preparation
It’s easy to simply show up at an event cross your fingers. While you may get lucky at times, this is not a recipe for success. Instead, provide tools to help employees make the most of the offsite opportunity. Diagnostic tools run the gamut from psychometrics to 360s to elevator pitch workshops. They help employees identify 1) where they excel and 2) where they need complementary knowledge and perspectives from colleagues.
- Track the value of offsites
Monitor key outcomes from your gatherings. For example, what relationships were formed? Which were revived? What commitments were made, and what joint work resulted? What new business originated from these new or revamped ties? What other strategic benefits (e.g., greater client satisfaction, efficiency, talent engagement) were sparked?
Leaders can also ask employees about any changes in their collaborations through short surveys or focus groups.
These data give a fuller, more tactical picture of ROI than the highly subjective evaluation forms that many firms use—or worse, simply assuming that value was created. Collecting data that’s aligned with the goals of the offsite gives you a solid basis for designing future meetings, and planning other events and programs that ignite collaboration.
Harvard Business Review’s research methodology appears in the Strategic Management Journal.
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