The phrase “company culture,” gets thrown around so much these days that it’s hard to truly believe the claims surrounding them anymore. Surely, every company out there can’t have this fantastic team culture that they boast about.
Whether you’ve recently applied or interviewed for any jobs—or maybe you’ve worked somewhere—you’ve likely heard managers or owners talk about how great their team culture is—even if it’s really not.
Maybe you’ve even heard about how the company makes an effort to participate in various team-building activities meant to help employees get to know one another and build stronger bonds. But so often, these activities might be nothing more than the occasional company picnic where everyone hangs in their own little cliques or a lot of people don’t even show up.
While we by no means want to knock the “company picnic” (frankly, we love a good BBQ ourselves), the fact is, that unless team-building activities are truly thoughtful in nature, they aren’t typically well-attended or meaningful.
If you’re looking for one of the best companies to work for in Cincinnati, then an excellent team culture is likely important to you. Coming to work is so much better when people actually like one another and work well together.
But an amazing culture like that doesn’t happen overnight and it certainly doesn’t happen just because an occasional company-wide event is thrown together. That’s why we’re talking about not only the events that help to build that culture but the thought process that goes into planning them.
Building a Social Foundation
So often, companies assume that the best company events are these huge productions. Once a year, they might throw together a really big event where the entire team can get together.
But the trouble with this mentality is if you aren’t fostering a team-like, social atmosphere all year long then the team isn’t really going to know one another (nor will they really care about all hanging out). When events like these do take place, it often ends up being that the people who work together each day just stay in their little cliques and there’s no true team building at all.
Instead, the goal should be encouraging and supporting that social atmosphere all year-round.
At Oasis Turf & Tree, our team has built camaraderie through some of the simplest things from playing a game of ping pong or pool to just sharing a cup of morning coffee together. It helps that we have an office space that supports this type of culture with open spaces and recreation areas.
For us, competition is also a big thing. We all love a friendly competition whether it’s a pool or a corn hole tournament, our team gets really engaged. We’ve found that this is a simple way that our team has really gotten to know one another—and when we do hold a more formal event, everyone wants to come.
Don’t get us wrong—we cater a lot of meals and we have some really fun BBQs. But we’ve often found that it’s the day-to-day social atmosphere that our team appreciates most. Sometimes it’s even a silly team game where an impromptu competition pops up—like a food eating contest. To us, that spontaneity shows how the team truly does like being together. It’s by no means a forced event.
In the same way, so often we see our team going to the gym together after work or hearing that they hang out on the weekends. We love that they’re building friendships.
Planning Thoughtful Events
Of course, we are also a company that likes having fun planned events, too. We know that these events are one of the reasons that we are a place where people like to work. It’s just that without that foundation we talked about above, these events wouldn’t be as successful as they are.
Over the years, we’ve had numerous events and we often like to think outside of the box in terms of team-building activities. One of our most popular cook-outs, for instance, was when we got 50 steak fillets and grilled them up for the team.
We had another which was carnival-themed and we hosted a food truck with corn dogs and funnel cake. We also got a bunch of squirt guns and filled them with washable dye. The team all wore white shirts and we had a fun competition.
As a team, we’ve also gone to the Bengals and Reds games. Sure, lots of companies take their teams to sporting events, but even this get-together has a lot of thought put into it. We’re not all spaced out in different seats. We generally reserve two full rows (for the Bengals game, in the endzone), and make it an entire experience. We’ll have food and drink included and everyone gets really into it.
Another thing that we like to do as a team is to volunteer and work within the community. What better way to come together than to serve folks right here in Cincinnati? Among many different events over the years, we’ve done things like going to the Ronald McDonald house and cooking and serving meals for family members who have patients in the hospital.
We also had a group of lawn care technicians go out and volunteer services at the Dayton National Cemetery. And we’ve hosted events and activities to raise money, such as hosting a dunking booth. Oasis Turf & Tree matched the amount of money raised by selling softballs to dunk the management team and we donated it to The Wounded Warrior Project.
The Best Companies to Work for in Cincinnati Plan Ahead
One of the ways that we are able to be so thoughtful about the events that we plan is because we involve the team. It’s not just management deciding what the team might like to do. Instead, we have an event planning committee. We also rotate the people who are involved on this committee so that there are always new ideas circulating through! This has helped ensure there is a nice variety of team-building activities and events being planned.
We also have a committee that is in charge of our charitable giving. They have a budget and help determine which charities we want to contribute to and how we’ll contribute. This has been everything from volunteering our time to contributing money to even hosting a blood drive.
Like the event planning committee, we find that different team members contribute different ideas which keeps our efforts fresh and new.
All of these efforts come back to the fact that the best companies to work for in Cincinnati don’t make their events, activities, or community involvement an afterthought. There is actually planning and a thoughtful approach to all of this.
Join Our Team
If you’re someone who is looking for the best companies to work for in Cincinnati then we invite you to explore the opportunity of building a rewarding career at Oasis Turf & Tree. We are always looking for good people to join our team. At the end of the day, we know that it’s the people that help make this team culture something special and contribute to making Oasis a great place to work.
If you’re looking for a place to work where there’s truly a positive team culture, then a career with Oasis might be the right choice for you. You can find out more about a career with Oasis on our website along with the job listings we have available.
