Celebrate Cinco De Mayo in the Office

As companies shrink their budgets and work their "remaining" staff like slave labor, morale is often an afterthought. Company executives and managers are so focused on the bottom line, they are not paying enough attention to the employees that they depend on everyday to keep the doors open. Well, neglect no more managers. Here is a cheap and easy team building exercise that is fun and festive.

Celebrate Cinco De Mayo on a shoe-string budget and refocus your team at the same time in 5 easy steps.

Step 1: Announce the celebration and "Dress Down Day" for all participants

Step 2: Have contests for best drawings, best poems, best songs, best recipe, etc - prizes can vary (maybe 1 or 2 hrs comp time)

Step 3: Have a potluck lunch where everyone brings in a dish. You can also order dishes from a local Mexican restaurant and everyone can chip in or buy their own meals straight from the take-out menu.

Step 4: Provide some music and/or decoration that capture the fun of the moment and takes away the monotony of the daily routine

Step 5: Set aside enough time for everyone to enjoy the festivities without having to watch the clock

By the time you are done, everyone will have had a great time and it would have been done without a major investment by the company or management. Additionally, and more importantly, the employees would be very appreciative. It would re-instill the knowledge that the company and it's management is struggling through some hard times, but has not forgotten the people that make it possible.