As yet another Covid wave sickens the nation, employers weigh the risks and benefits of bringing employees together

One or more nights at a luxury resort, cooking classes, candle-making…all sound like special-occasion date nights, but at some companies, they’re being deployed to rekindle the magic of IRL collaboration with employees, after years of pandemic-induced remote work. This spring, company retreats have been making a comeback, with Protocol reporting that demand is “urgent.”

With mask mandates largely eliminated across the US and corporate leaders reportedly less concerned about potential employee unwillingness to travel, businesses are starting to ramp up travel again. But while some companies are bringing staffers together everywhere from Portugal to Miami, others are once again canceling their plans as Covid cases and hospitalizations rise again.

So where are we now? A recent international survey of knowledge workers by Asana and GlobalWebIndex found that 41% of respondents felt more isolated when working remotely, “suggesting that companies who lean heavily into remote work should consider hosting engaging virtual social events or encouraging off-sites so workers can bond with their colleagues in-person several times a year,” according to the report’s authors.

Database management company Cockroach Labs recently convened more than 350 employees in New York City for its first large in-person gathering (called In-Fest) since before Covid. Lindsay Grenawalt, chief people officer at Cockroach Labs, told HR Brew the company tried to make the most of its time while understanding that some employees may feel overwhelmed, asking themselves, “What can we do to really make this [the event] the largest value-add to our employees while giving them a situation that they feel comfortable with.”

Grenawalt says smaller teams got together for activities such as cooking classes, and then everyone came together for a company-wide brunch and evening activity.

Don’t pack yet. As of the third week of May, the average of daily reported Covid cases in the US had risen to levels not seen since early February, according to data compiled by the New York Times, and the CDC recently recommended that a third of Americans consider masking again, which may once again force employers to rethink their company’s in-person events.

Suman Siva, CEO and co-founder of Marco Experiences, a corporate-events company that has worked with clients like payment processor Stripe and private equity firm Bain Capital, told HR Brew that he’s seen a rise in demand for in-person employee experiences and retreats since the beginning of March.

Siva doesn’t believe that Covid will continue to impact company social events, and noted that “a minority” of corporate leaders are worried about Covid. “I think it’s one of those things where people will be aware of it, but it’s not going to preclude them from getting together in some way,” he explained.

Nevertheless, Highwire, a public relations firm with over 100 employees, decided to forego their annual company-wide kickoff, set to occur this spring for the first time since 2019. Highwire Co-founder Emily Borders said in a statement, “We were hopeful for a May event and were very close to signing with the event space when cases began rising again. Ultimately we couldn’t justify flying more than 100 people to a single destination, risking our celebration to turn into many small pockets of quarantining instead.”

Companies are now largely left to make a judgment call: bring employees together now for IRL candlemaking and possible Covid infections, or set up yet another round of Zoom cocktails. 🎉—KP

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