How will you celebrate your team during Staff Spirit Week?

With a week’s worth of virtual activities lined up for all staff members to take advantage of, as a supervisor we encourage you to select one or more to bring your team together for a unique celebration experience. Create your own novel ways to celebrate the theme of the day or try a few of the following:

Music Monday/Staff Appreciation Day. Start off the week by sending your staff members a Y-card to thank them for their hard work and accomplishments. Invite them to virtually eat lunch together while listening to a live musical performance arranged by the university (check the SSW web page for time and performance log-in link). Ask your team to submit their favorite songs and put them into a Spotify or Apple Music list—then turn up the volume and have an impromptu dance party. You get the idea!

Homes and Gardens Tuesday is a celebration of where many of us have spent most of our recent days working or find our refuge when we’re not. Gather your team for our video spotlight–“Gallery of Gardens”–on Yale’s master gardeners answering tough gardening questions previously posed by Yale staff members. Then, head outside to take a virtual walk together to show off everyone’s own gardening projects or their favorites around the neighborhood. Find out who has grown the biggest zucchini or where the fairy gardens may be hiding. Don’t forget to invite the kids and furry friends to join in, too!

Staff Spirit Day is Wednesday so break out the Yale gear and take those team photos! We’ve created a knock-out trivia contest for staff members to play against their colleagues from across the university that day, but maybe that’s just the start of your department’s fun. Ask your team members for more virtual game ideas and then appoint a small group to organize it. This is a great way to start or end a team meeting so think about working it into an otherwise routine gathering. (Our team highly recommends online BINGO!) And, don’t forget to toss in a few prizes.

On Cultural Thursday, gather your team to learn how to draw our favorite canine, Handsome Dan. Moms and dads can download coloring pages from the Yale Art Gallery for the little ones to work on while adults and older kids enjoy a free art class together with a Yale artist. (We’ve got you covered on this one so be on the look-out for details to appear closer to the day of the event on the Staff Spirit Day website.) Encourage everyone to send in photos sharing their creations. TIP: Try using a Teams or Zoom private chat channel (a.k.a. “water cooler” feature) to encourage casual conversation amongst your team, post images, etc. even when you’re not on a Teams or Zoom call.

Foodie Friday will be the cherry on top of the sundae. We’ll be serving up cooking demos with Yale chefs and downloadable recipe cards to try out in your own kitchen. Consider inviting your team to cook a dish together online or asking everyone to share and vote for their favorite in-team recipe. This is also a great day to send your staff a treat at home. Maybe it’s a delivered lunch via Uber Eats, GrubHub, or DoorDash or a personal delivery of a home-baked item. For small groups on campus, you might consider a socially distanced outing for coffee or ice cream.

Get creative! We can’t wait to hear how it goes and send us your pictures here.

And, if it’s not possible for you to host team activities during Staff Spirit Week, please encourage your staff members to take advantage of the opportunities to participate. Most events will be recorded for viewing at leisure after they release.