Create a culture that means business™
Schedule a demo with an Achievers solution expert today.
Turns out, work doesn’t have to feel like… work. The right employee games don’t just break up the day — they build employee connection, boost morale, and reinforce the kind of behaviors that keep your culture strong. (And yes, they’re actually fun.)
And culture matters. According to the Engagement and Retention Report, it was one of the top five reasons employees chose to stay or leave their job in 2024. That’s why this list goes beyond icebreakers — these games are designed to spark engagement, support well-being, and help your culture stick. Because everyone deserves to feel connected, included, and part of something bigger.
Let’s dive in and discover the 20 employee games your team will actually want to play.
Whether you’re building trust, reinforcing values, or just getting people to laugh together, the right games can bring your culture to life in ways that spreadsheets can’t.
Here are 20 smart, scalable ideas to spark connection, support engagement, and strengthen the everyday experience at work, no matter where your teams are.
Forget the hypothetical case studies. Give your team a real challenge to sink their teeth into. Maybe it’s improving an internal process, brainstorming better employee onboarding, or coming up with ways to reduce meeting overload (yes, please). Let employees pitch their ideas, vote on the best ones, and reward the winners. You’ll get creative solutions and spark some well-earned recognition along the way.
In a global survey, more than half of employees said they’d take a 20% pay cut for a better quality of life. That’s a clear signal: people want work to support how they live, not compete with it.
Build a little momentum by turning wellness into a team effort. Set goals around steps, hydration, mindfulness, or safety — and celebrate the wins with meaningful rewards. Healthy competition meets actual health.
Employees care about purpose, and they’re paying attention to how your company shows up. A charity challenge lets people rally around the causes that matter to them, while also showing off your values in action.
Let employees nominate organizations, track impact, and vote for a winner. Then reward the top team or individual with volunteer hours, a spotlight on your channels, or a donation in their name. It’s recognition with heart.
Great work doesn’t always come with a mic drop. Sometimes it’s just a team quietly hitting targets, solving problems, and keeping things moving.
Shine a light on those wins by running a goal-based team challenge. Celebrate the first group to hit a target or go above and beyond, then spread the kudos through your company’s recognition platform. The more visible the impact, the more it inspires others to follow suit.
Creativity isn’t just for the brand team. Invite employees from any department to pitch smart, scrappy ideas — whether it’s a better way to run meetings or a fresh take on your onboarding process.
Set a theme, open it up for peer voting, and reward the top picks. You’ll surface unexpected ideas and give people a reason to flex their creative muscles (even the ones who swore they weren’t “creative types”).
We talk a lot at work, but how often are we really listening? Active listening is a skill that benefits everyone, not just managers. And like any skill, it gets better with practice.
Pair employees up: one plays the talker, the other the listener. The talker shares a real work scenario, and the listener practices giving full, thoughtful attention. Then they swap roles, reflect, and get feedback from a coach or facilitator. This works just as well over Zoom, where distractions like multitasking and camera-off culture can be part of the scenario.
Yes, the childhood game, but with a workplace twist. Start with a whispered phrase passed from person to person, then reveal how hilariously garbled it becomes by the end.
It’s a lighthearted reminder that messages don’t always travel the way we think they do — especially across teams or time zones. Play it at an all-hands or offsite to kick off a session on better communication. Or, just use it as an icebreaker that actually gets people talking.
Start with a simple challenge — like “how could we improve our next team meeting?” Each person writes down an idea. Then they pass it to the left, and that person builds on it. Repeat a few rounds, and you’ve got a stack of co-created ideas worth exploring.
This game keeps loud voices from dominating and shows how good ideas get better when they’re built together. It’s creativity, collaboration, and a bit of controlled chaos in the best way.
When employees feel heard, they’re not just more engaged — they perform better too. In fact, they outperform their disengaged peers by more than 40%. One way to build that engagement? Make their voices count.
Make that a reality by inviting employees to share ideas for improving the workplace — from small fixes to big-picture thinking. Open up voting, encourage collaboration, and reward the idea that gets people talking (and contributing). A good idea might win, but the real win is showing your team that their voice actually matters.
Pair your serious idea challenge with something a little less… spreadsheet-y. Run a quick “office Olympics” alongside your crowdsourced challenge — think paper tosses, quick relay races, or trivia sprints. Offer recognition points or badges for participation, not just winning.
It’s a great way to create shared momentum across teams, and remind people that fun and performance aren’t mutually exclusive.
Not every challenge needs to tie back to KPIs. Sometimes, solving a puzzle as a team is the perfect reset. Whether it’s a digital brain teaser, a shared jigsaw in the office, or a logic problem with a reward on the line, these games give employees a low-stakes way to collaborate, think creatively, and build momentum.
And in a world of endless to-do lists, a shared win — no matter how small — goes a long way.
Plenty of companies offer employee development opportunities. The challenge is getting people to actually take them. Between full calendars and competing priorities, even the most motivated employees can hit pause on growth.
Make learning more visible, and fun, by turning it into a challenge. Award points for completed courses, certifications, or lunch-and-learns. Let teams track their progress together, then celebrate milestones with recognition or rewards. It’s a win for morale, retention, and upskilling.
Environment matters. A cluttered, outdated workspace doesn’t exactly spark creativity or motivation. Let teams pitch budget-friendly ideas to improve their shared space — think ergonomic chairs, whiteboard walls, plant corners, or just a better snack setup.
The team with the best pitch gets the upgrade, and you get a more energized crew (without a full office redesign).
There’s nothing like a little friendly competition to break the routine. Trivia is an easy way to bring people together and spotlight shared knowledge — or very random fun facts.
Mix company-themed questions (your values, mission statement, quirky origin stories) with general categories to keep things interesting. Reward the winners and throw in a few surprises to keep everyone on their toes.
Build a bingo board filled with moments that reflect your company’s core values — think “gave a shoutout,” “shared a learning,” or “helped someone solve a problem.”
You can make it collaborative or competitive, but either way, it encourages people to live your values out loud — and recognize those around them who are doing the same. Culture-building disguised as a game? We’ll take it.
Give employees a chance to flex their creative muscles by designing a campaign for one of your products, services — or even your workplace culture. Encourage humor, originality, and cross-functional teamwork.
The winning pitch earns bragging rights (and maybe a prize), and you get a glimpse into how your team sees the brand from the inside out.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that your colleagues are full humans with rich lives outside the Slack window. Set up space for storytelling — whether it’s about a first job, a family tradition, or a favorite career moment.
Stories can be shared in small group circles or on the company intranet. Either way, they build empathy, cultural awareness, and trust — the stuff that doesn’t always show up in OKRs but powers real connection. Try it in Slack or Teams for a way to include your remote employees — emojis optional but encouraged.
Scavenger hunts never really go out of style, especially when they’re creative. Send teams searching for quirky clues, work-related Easter eggs, or fun facts about coworkers. You can run it in-office or virtually with photo uploads and digital breadcrumbs.
It’s low-lift to organize and high-impact for morale. Add a time limit and a prize, and let the problem-solving begin.
This one’s part gratitude exercise, part guessing game. Have employees submit anonymous shoutouts recognizing a teammate who helped, encouraged, or just made their day better. At the end of the week, read each one aloud and let the team guess who it’s about.
The recognized employee gets a reward — but so does the person who guessed it right. It’s a fun way to surface unsung contributions, reinforce everyday recognition, and remind people that what they do really sticks with others.
You can’t go wrong with a little structured play. Host a board game tournament where teams face off in rounds of Pictionary, Scrabble, Codenames, or even a custom game with workplace themes.
It’s simple, collaborative, and a solid way to shift gears after a big deadline or during quieter seasonal lulls. Just don’t underestimate how competitive your team might get over a round of Connect Four.
These games might look like lighthearted fun — and they are — but beneath the surface, they’re doing real cultural work. They help teams connect, surface behaviors worth recognizing, and give people a chance to feel seen in ways that traditional work structures often miss.
But games alone won’t shape your culture. To really move the needle, appreciation has to show up consistently, in every part of the employee experience. That means reinforcing what great work looks like — not once a year, but every day.
If you’re ready to build a culture where recognition is part of how you work, not just an afterthought, Achievers can help you get there.
Employee games are just the start — see what really drives belonging for remote and offline teams
Achievers powers connection — from employee games to recognition
Written by
Rebecca Mattina
Discover how easy recognition can be with Achievers
We use cookies
We use cookies to help us understand how you use our site so we can show you personalized content and enhance your browsing experience.
