Francisca
Marketing · Vivencias Travel
Employee engagement fell to its lowest level since 2020 and the lost productivity is measured in trillions. Team building does not fix that on its own, but there is something it does, and it is worth knowing exactly what.
Start with the figure that explains why this is on every HR agenda: according to Gallup's State of the Global Workplace report, employee engagement worldwide fell to 20% in 2025, its lowest level since 2020. The lost productivity that implies is estimated at $10 trillion a year.
Put another way: eight out of ten people go to work without being genuinely involved in what they do. That is the underlying problem. The question is how much of it a team building day can move.
What the evidence does support
Research on team interventions is consistent on one point: they work, with moderate effects, and they work more on the interpersonal than on the operational. That is, they improve trust, communication and coordination between people before they improve productivity measured in numbers.
That is not nothing. In practice it is the difference between a team where someone messages a counterpart in another department directly and one where everything has to escalate through two managers.
Gallup also measures what happens with teams that are genuinely engaged: they show lower turnover, lower absenteeism and higher profitability than low-engagement teams. Team building does not create that engagement on its own, but it is one of the few tools that acts on the relationships engagement rests on.
What it does not do, and this is worth saying
- It does not fix a structural problem. If two departments have contradictory objectives, or a manager is not working out, a day outdoors will not correct it and can make it worse: people see money spent on an excursion instead of on the problem.
- It does not replace everyday recognition. Gallup shows that quality recognition substantially reduces the likelihood of someone resigning. One day a year does not substitute for that.
- It is not measured in productivity. Anyone promising a percentage productivity gain from an activity is selling an invented number. What can be measured is in how to tell whether team building worked.
Why it matters more now than five years ago
Three things changed at once:
- Hybrid work left teams coordinated but unacquainted. They see each other two days a week and those days fill up with meetings. The detail is in team building for hybrid teams.
- Turnover got more expensive. Replacing someone costs months of salary across search, selection and the learning curve, which turned retention into a finance issue, not just an HR one.
- The generations entering the workforce explicitly value atmosphere and belonging, and say so in exit interviews.
What actually makes a day work
It is not the activity. It is the design:
- An objective written before quoting. Integrating two departments, welcoming new people, closing a hard year. Without an objective there is no possible result, because there was nothing to achieve.
- Something that forces people to depend on each other. A raft with one instruction and seconds to execute it produces more than a three-hour motivational talk. Team building activities and what each one is good for covers what each option produces.
- Nobody left out. There is always someone who cannot or will not take part. With no alternative planned, that person spends the day apart and the effect reverses.
- Air in the day. Three activities in one day are not triple the team building: they are a tired group that spoke to nobody.
- Repetition. The evidence is clear here: something done once every three years leaves no mark. Once or twice a year does.
What a company should ask first
Not "which activity shall we do", but:
- What specific problem does this team have today?
- Is it a relationship problem or a structural one?
- How will I know, in three months, whether it worked?
If the answer to the second question is "structural", fix that first. Team building works on a team that is doing fine and wants to do better, or on one that is just forming.
And only then, the where
With the objective clear, choosing the activity and the place becomes simple. For that, team building in Chile covers what sits within two hours of Santiago and which month suits what, what a team building day costs explains what moves the price, and if the group is large, team building for large groups covers what changes from eighty people up.
Frequently asked questions
Why is team building important in a company?
Because it acts on the relationships between people, which is what engagement rests on. According to Gallup's State of the Global Workplace report, employee engagement fell to 20% worldwide in 2025, its lowest level since 2020, with lost productivity estimated at $10 trillion a year.
Does team building actually work?
Yes, with moderate effects and mainly on the interpersonal side: it improves trust, communication and coordination before it improves productivity measured in numbers. What it does not do is resolve structural problems, such as contradictory objectives between departments or a manager who is not working out, where it can even be counterproductive.
How often should a company run team building?
Once or twice a year. The evidence is consistent that something done once every few years leaves no mark: the effect depends on repetition and on each occasion answering a specific objective, rather than on one very large, isolated event.
What makes a team building day work?
The design, not the activity. An objective written before quoting, an activity that forces people to depend on each other, an alternative for anyone who cannot take part, real free time within the day, and repetition over time. Without a defined objective there is no possible result, because there was nothing to achieve.
