2019 Company Retreat

Fresh ocean air, sun-soaked beaches, and a sunset cruise on a catamaran. What better way to end the 2019 legislative session than on an island? Specifically, Anna Maria Island.

We chose Anna Maria Island as our first ever company retreat and boy it did not disappoint. Especially after what seemed like the longest legislative session in history (I promise we’re not being dramatic). We needed a hefty dose of vitamin D accompanied by white sandy beaches.

Further, we used this retreat as way to destress and reinvigorate the office. Recently, studies have shown that taking time off work helps to boost productivity. According to the Work and Well-Being Survey, working adults reported that, following time off, they were more productive (58 percent) and their work quality was better (55 percent). So, naturally, we really leaned into the “relaxation and time off” part – for the sake of increased productivity and work quality, of course.

Aside from all the fun and relaxation, we used this retreat as way to engage in team building because team building is essential to creating great company culture.

The first day of our retreat we analyzed our StrengthsFinder results with, Cindy, a life coach. She spent the next few hours going over each of our strengths and how our strengths work together as a team. We discussed what we truly kick-ass at as well as ways we can improve. As a result, we learned a lot about ourselves individually and as a whole. At first, some of us may have been apprehensive, but in the end we fully believed in the team building session and we are now a stronger team because of it.

In addition, we gained a sense of our company culture through these team building exercises. We analyzed our personalities and how they best mesh together. We learned that our company culture was already phenomenal, but being the go-getters that we are, we wanted to find ways to make our culture the best.

We found that the Novitas culture embodies a hard work ethic, drive, competition, woo, and most importantly fun. When you spend 40+ hours a week with your co-workers you hope they would be the type of people you actually enjoy being around. Especially when you work in the world of public relations, where some days are consumed by absolute chaos. Yet, amidst all the chaos we genuinely enjoy being around one another here at Novitas.

After our team building session, we hit send on full relaxation mode. Our out-of-office replies were up, and our toes were in the sand. We spent the last two days of our retreat soaking up all of the sun on the beach, floating merrily in the ocean, and eating all the fresh seafood possible.

On the last night of our retreat, we spent the evening on a catamaran sunset cruise. The next three hours were full of relaxing, dolphin watching, and eating cheese. We reflected on how fun our retreat was and how this experience helped us grow as a company. We even started planning for our next retreat. Lake Como we’re looking at you!

In all, we realized the importance of having a company retreat. A retreat not only helps to build long lasting company culture, but it also helps to improve work productivity and quality because it allows employees the chance to hit refresh and come back to work relaxed and ready for new challenges.