Management Professors Advise Caution Before Skipping This Year’s Work Offsite

What’s your typical reaction when a work event announcement lands in your inbox? You might, with a sigh, reluctantly add it to your calendar.

These events, also known as retreats, bring colleagues together for a blend of planned activities and unstructured time, offering a break from their usual work responsibilities. For a day or two, employees step away from their normal routines at work and home. Participants often spend significant time interacting informally with colleagues, alongside engaging in structured activities that might include .

While networking is a primary objective of these events, some individuals find professional networking can feel forced and uncomfortable. Wondering if the time and effort will be worthwhile, you might ask yourself: “What’s in it for me?”

We are who facilitate the flow of information and resources within organizations, fostering new opportunities. participating in an offsite could indeed be a valuable use of your time and effort.

Furthermore, these events can subtly transform your professional relationships in unforeseen ways.

Time Investment and Financial Cost

Although these gatherings have become quite common, we were surprised by the limited research available on their actual effectiveness. Specifically, few studies have deeply examined their success in helping individuals build new connections.

Offsites can be beneficial for strategic planning, team building, and setting objectives. They are often . The timing of these events varies by employer, but the period between December and March is .

These retreats typically bring together individuals who don’t frequently interact in their daily work, especially in large organizations with dispersed offices or those with a remote-first operational model.

Retreats facilitate getting to know colleagues better through various informal means, such as sharing meals, exchanging ideas, or casual hallway conversations. These interactions, along with more structured activities like brainstorming sessions conducted in pre-assigned groups, make it easier to connect with coworkers.

Following years of remote work where gatherings primarily occurred via , employers are actively seeking ways to re-establish connections and .

Professional retreats appear to have gained popularity post-COVID-19, as part of a broader . A across various sectors indicated that the proportion of companies holding no offsites decreased from 16% in 2019 to just 4% in 2024.

Moreover, the same survey revealed that many companies are increasing their budgets for offsites and allocating more time for social activities during these retreats.

Analyzing Networking Patterns in a Law Firm

When we discussed offsite practices with managers from several large firms, we were struck by their assumption that collaboration was an automatic outcome.

To investigate this, we of over 700 partners at a major U.S. law firm, whose identity we agreed to keep confidential to access their data. Over an eight-year period, from 2005 to 2012, these partners either attended or skipped the firm’s annual retreats.

We monitored partners’ attendance and their collaborative work on client projects both before and after the offsites. Given that lawyers, at this firm and others, meticulously record their work in six-minute increments, it was possible to analyze billing records for partner collaboration on client matters.

The findings from this analysis were surprising and may influence your perspective on the value of retreats.

Enhancing Partner Visibility

Our research showed that after attending an offsite, partners were more inclined to initiate contact with other partners they hadn’t previously collaborated with.

Surprisingly, we also observed that even employees who did not attend an offsite demonstrated increased collaborative behavior afterward. Having received the message that collaboration is valued by the firm, they compensated for their absence by seeking alternative ways to engage with more colleagues.

However, career advancement also depends on factors beyond your control, such as whether colleagues think of you when opportunities arise. Participating in offsites can increase this likelihood.

A 24% Increase in Collaboration Requests

We noted a rise in newly formed connections across the law firm following these events. New collaborations on billable work increased, leading to greater revenue for the firm. Notably, the recipients of these new collaborations were predominantly those who had participated in the offsite.

Partners who attended the offsite gained greater visibility and received 24% more new requests to collaborate on client projects in the two months following the retreat compared to those who did not attend. Crucially, these relationships were not fleeting; approximately 17% of these new working relationships persisted for over two years.

While our analysis focused on connections made immediately after the offsite, it’s probable that colleagues remember those they meet at these events. Attendees continue to benefit from these network connections beyond the period captured in our data.

We also discovered that offsites helped attorneys build connections with lawyers in different practice groups within the firm more so than with those in their own immediate team.

In summary, lawyers who attended an offsite formed more new connections—approximately one per month—after the event compared to those who did not attend.

Breaking Down Workplace Silos

In the course of daily work, individuals tend to .

This tendency appears to be . Offsites helped to disrupt this pattern by providing professionals with opportunities to interact with colleagues they wouldn’t normally encounter. In some cases, these interactions lead to a desire to collaborate with newfound acquaintances.

These more distant connections can resources and perspectives, and foster productive brainstorming sessions.

For employees in large organizations, meeting colleagues from other teams can be challenging. Offsites can offer a significant avenue for building networks and distinguishing oneself among peers.

While offsites may not be your preferred way to spend a few days, our research indicates they serve a valuable purpose for both employers and employees.

, Assistant Professor of Management, and , Professor of Leadership and Organizations,

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