The Scattered Office: 5 Event Ideas To Reunite Your Hybrid Teams
Your colleagues might pass each other on Slack, say "hello" on Teams... but when was the last time they really shared a laugh over coffee? Since the fragmented office has become the norm, recreating that tribal spirit is challenging. Good news: a well-chosen physical event still acts as a catalyst for connection (and performance).
Why do we talk about a "splintered office"?
Flex-office, remote work, digital nomadism... by 2025, only 7% of French employees still work 100% at the office, while 26% navigate between home and open space, otherwise known as hybrid mode. This dispersion blurs the lines: no more coffee breaks, discussions piling up in chat threads, and ultimately a feeling of isolation. According to Owl Labs, 41% of remote employees struggle to feel truly integrated into their company's culture.
The term "fragmented office" aptly summarizes this shift: the team no longer has a single geographical anchor, but a mosaic of posts (home, coworking, third places). Practical on paper, fragile on the human side if the connection is not maintained.
Hybrid Work: Very Concrete Challenges for Cohesion
It's not just a matter of morals: commitment is on the same downward slope. Gallup notes that the rate of "actively engaged" employees has fallen to 21% in 2024, a ten-year low. Conversely, the ADP Research Institute shows that hybrid workers who feel they are part of a real team are 2.8 times more likely to be highly engaged.
In other words: no sense of belonging --> no sustainable performance.
Three rituals suffer particularly from distance: onboarding (welcoming new hires), informal feedback (the "well done!" thrown in passing), and the celebration of successes. When these real moments disappear, loyalty erodes, turnover increases... and the company loses momentum.
Physical events, the antidote to all-remote
We're not just talking about the traditional end-of-year party! Intimate afterworks, creative workshops, community service days, off-site seminars... these collective breathers trigger the micro-interactions that are impossible over video conference (the famous small talks). The market has understood this well: the rental of festive and professional venues is expected to exceed €5.75 billion by 2025, up 4.5% year on year.
- Resetting relationships: a lunch break disrupts silos, reignites ideas, and defuses tensions.
- Stimulating creativity: proximity facilitates improvisation, sketching on a napkin, impossible through screens.
- Capturing weak signals: fatigue, enthusiasm, frustrations... all micro-expressions that are invisible through a webcam.
Privateaser, the ally of busy HR professionals
Searching for a venue can quickly become a headache: scattered addresses, lengthy quotes, unresponsive emails... This is the very knot that Privateaser has been untying since 2014. The platform lists over 1,500 partner bars, restaurants, and venues throughout France, offering 100% free reservation with no commission.
It has already won over more than one million users and 7,000 companies. In one year, its revenue has jumped by 70% to reach €10.4 million.
On the product side, the search engine matches budget, location, capacity, and facilities in real time.
As for the experience, you can really visualize yourself in the space before booking, thanks to photos and videos of the venue, floor plans, and menus, with availability and practical information updated in real time for all establishments.
5 Event Ideas to Rebuild Connections
- Project Breakfast: every six weeks on a Monday morning, pastries + roadmap, perfect to kick off the sprint.
- Discovery Afterwork: each month, change neighborhoods, retro speakeasy, rooftop, barge... curiosity is social fuel.
- CSR Workshop: build birdhouses, collect waste on the beach, cook for an association: utility + memories.
- 24-hour Hackathon: off-site with bonus high-speed wifi. Mixed teams pitch their prototypes in front of the COMEX (thrills guaranteed).
- Quarterly Strategic Seminar: two days in a country house near a TGV station. Workshops, hiking, quiz night: you return exhausted but aligned.
HR Checklist Before Booking
- Clarify the objective (onboarding, retention, innovation)
- Number of participants & accessibility for people with reduced mobility
- Dietary restrictions (vegetarian, gluten-free, halal, etc.)
- Overall budget + no-show policy
- Required equipment: 4K video projector, hybrid kit, fiber wifi
- Access: subway, parking, shuttles
- Plan B for weather if outdoor
- Success indicators (immediate survey, NPS, participation rate)
How to measure the return on experience?
Emotions can also be measured. After each event, send out a mini-survey (max 10 questions, 2 mins). Track the following:
- Mood rating (out of 10)
- Active participation rate (speeches, games, Q&A)
- Perceived impact on collaboration
Cross-reference this data with your HR KPIs (eNPS, turnover, absences). Most importantly, share the results and adjust the following format: otherwise, enthusiasm will wane.
N.B. (Nota Bene)
Off-site: a seminar organized outside of company premises. Not to be confused with simple team building, which is usually shorter and more playful. As for the "bureau éclaté," it is not an XXL open space: it's a network of scattered workstations (home, coworking, third places) that requires the creation of common rituals.
Conclusion: The return of the shared moment
Hybrid work is not just a logistical organization; it's a cultural shift. For the magic of teamwork to still happen, there needs to be a minimum of physical contact: a coffee, a game, a discussion without a muted mic. Corporate events are these anchors. By leveraging tools like Privateaser, you save time and, above all, turn every reunion into a collective memory.
To learn more, also discover our complete file on employment and internships: all our articles "employment and internships".
