Those conversations definitely happen, but usually a knee-jerk reaction to annual employee surveys (and managers can spend a heck of a lot of time spinning resu

Those conversations definitely happen, but usually a knee-jerk reaction to annual employee surveys (and managers can spend a heck of a lot of time spinning results that look bad). An interesting alternate approach I was privy to and liked joining was a weekly 'spruce up the office meeting' where some of the management team would discuss upcoming holidays (how to best fit employee needs), decorations, budgets allocated to 'team building' events (more often than not - give the staff the money and have them provide a receipt for somewhere they've spent it), who has a birthday coming up, etc. Discussion of plants was included too. Team prizes, award certificates. I definitely recommend trying such a weekly approach and seeing if it works. We did ours on a Friday afternoon, where everyone was itching to get going as it was; pretty fun and relaxed.