32 benefits of team building backed by statistics

Looking for facts and statistics that prove the benefits of team building?

Whether you’re a team assistant, department lead, or part of the C-suite, you already know how valuable an engaged and motivated team is to business success.

But even if you’ve heard about the value of team building, it can still be hard to pin down exactly why it works — or how to choose an activity that truly drives positive outcomes. Worse still, without the right approach, you might unknowingly select a team-building activity that doesn't move the needle.

That’s why in this post, we’re sharing 32 key facts and statistics taken from the 7 most influential studies on team building and employee engagement.

You’ll come away with a clearer understanding of what team building is designed to achieve — and how to identify the kinds of activities that lead to the outcomes you care about most.

Keep reading to discover the data behind the impact.

Madrid Adventure is a corporate events company in Madrid specialised in team building. Since 1999, we’ve helped bring corporate teams together with fun & well-organised team-building activities.

Harvard Business Review: 5 proven impacts of team building

Most studies on team building reference soft outcomes like morale, trust or engagement.

But The New Science of Building Great Teams, published by Harvard Business Review, was one of the first to connect team dynamics and measurable business performance.

To measure this, the researchers at MIT’s Human Dynamics Lab developed electronic badges capable of tracking over 100 data points per minute, including:

• tone of voice

• body language

• speaking time

• interaction patterns

The badges were tested in 21 organizations over seven years and across 2,500 people.

The study was among the first to gather evidence on the benefits of activities that promote strong and engaged workforces. It found that communication patterns — not individual intelligence or personality — emerged as the strongest predictor of team success, with more influence than all other factors combined.

The main findings include:

1. Socialising greatest driver of positive communication: Informal social time accounts for over 50% of positive changes in team communication patterns –even in highly efficiency-driven environments like call centres.

2. Energy and engagement predict productivity: A team’s energy and engagement outside formal meetings explained one-third of the variation in dollar productivity among different groups.

3. Coordinated coffee breaks improve efficiency: Introducing routine social situations for teams, such as regular coffee breaks, led to a 20% drop in AHT (Average Handling Time) for low-performing teams and an 8% improvement overall.

4. Team-wide schedule change boosts performance: Changing break schedules across 10 call centres was projected to generate $15 million in annual productivity gains and 10%+ increases in employee satisfaction.

5. Communication patterns trump individual talent: The study found that how team members communicate is a better predictor of business success than individual intelligence, talent or past achievements.

Gallup: 8 findings on employee engagement and performance

While not focused specifically on team building, Gallup’s State of the American Workplace is probably the most widely cited report when discussing the benefits of team building activities.

Why?

Because it presents overwhelming evidence that employee engagement is one of the strongest predictors of business success — and engagement is exactly what effective team building helps to foster.

Published by Gallup, a global analytics and advisory firm known for its rigorous workplace and public opinion research, the report compiles data from over 195,600 U.S. employees surveyed between 2015 and 2016.

In addition, it incorporates interviews with 31 million employees across 195 countries and decades of workplace analytics.

The main findings include:

6. Engagement drives profitability: Organisations with engaged employees are 21% more profitable than those with lower engagement.

7. Disengagement fuels job-hopping: While 37% of engaged employees are watching for new opportunities, that number rises to 56% among the not engaged and 73% among the actively disengaged.

8. Absenteeism and productivity: Highly engaged teams see a 41% reduction in absenteeism and a 17% boost in productivity.

9. Turnover reduction: In high-turnover companies, engagement cuts turnover by 24%. In low-turnover firms, it drops by an impressive 59%.

10. Engagement improves quality and security: Engaged teams report 28% less shrinkage, 40% fewer quality defects, and a 70% reduction in employee safety incidents.

11. Sales and customer growth: Highly engaged teams see a 10% increase in customer metrics and a 20% rise in sales.

12. Disengagement is expensive: Actively disengaged employees cost the U.S. economy between $483 billion and $605 billion annually in lost productivity.

13. Higher earnings per share (EPS): Public companies that practice employee engagement best practices consistently outperform competitors in EPS over multi-year periods.

14. Engagement levels remain low overall: Despite being the highest recorded to date, only 33% of U.S. employees were engaged in 2016 — while 51% were not engaged, showing a persistent challenge for most organisations.

15. Engagement improves across all economic conditions: Gallup’s meta-analysis shows that engaged employees outperform others regardless of industry, company size, or economic climate, proving that engagement is a universal performance driver.

16. Engagement as a business strategy: Companies that strategically invest in engagement (rather than treating it as a side initiative) see consistently better profitability, retention and customer perception — based on nine iterations of Gallup’s meta-analysis.

BCN Adventure: 5 insights from 73 corporate team building clients

It’s rare to find studies that focus on actual team-building activities — like a MasterChef-style cooking challenge, a graffiti workshop, or a city-wide treasure hunt. Most research looks at broader themes such as employee engagement, communication, or emotional connection.

But what about the immediate impact of the activity itself?

Can that be measured?

That’s exactly what our sister company, BCN Adventure, set out to explore.

They surveyed 73 past clients to find out what corporate teams value most after completing a team-building activity. Each of these clients had booked an event with BCN Adventure or Madrid Adventure and were asked for feedback after the experience was complete.

Here’s what the results showed:

17. Enjoyment ranked #1 outcome: 77% of teams (56 out of 73 respondents) said that "enjoyment" was the most valuable aspect of their team-building activity. Clients used terms like “amazing time,” “fun,” “laughter and smiles,” and “very positive feedback” to describe the primary impact of the event.

18. Organisation matters: 23% of respondents cited organisation — such as staying on schedule or adapting to last-minute changes — as the most important factor.

19. Guides make a difference: 14% of clients highlighted the guides' knowledge, energy, and enthusiasm as the standout aspect of the experience.

20. Memorability valued%: A smaller segment said the lasting memories — like reviewing photos or videos — were what made the event most valuable.

21. Price is rarely the priority: Only 1% of respondents said cost or value for money was the most important aspect of their team-building experience.

Many studies highlight the benefits of team building in terms of improved collaboration, communication, and employee engagement. Yet in the survey, not a single respondent explicitly cited these as the most valuable outcomes.

It may be that “enjoyment” is the best way to understand the immediate impact of a positive social experience — which will lead to desired outcomes such as better communication, productivity and collaboration when back at work.

YouGov: 4 ways that team building can go wrong

Not all team-building activities are a hit with employees.

In fact, some can do more harm than good if they’re not chosen with care. That’s the key takeaway from a widely cited YouGov survey, which offers a more critical view of team building.

It's a valuable reminder for team assistants and HR professionals: if you want the activity to boost morale, it needs to suit your team.

YouGov, one of the UK’s leading public opinion research firms, conducted the survey with a representative sample of 1,703 adults across Great Britain. The fieldwork was carried out over two days, from September 16 to 17 in 2021, to assess attitudes toward workplace team building.

Now let’s look at the most revealing findings from the report:

22. Dread is the dominant reaction: 40% of Britons associate “dread” with the idea of participating in a team-building exercise. Women are especially affected (48% vs 31% of men).

23. Most find team building embarrassing: 60% of respondents who had participated in a team-building activity said it was “embarrassing or cringeworthy”. Women were more likely to feel this way (64% vs 56%).

24. Effectiveness is questioned: Only 44% agreed that the exercise helped their team work together more effectively — while 50% disagreed.

25. Few prefer it over regular work: Just 40% said they preferred the activity to their usual work. A majority (54%) would rather work than do the exercise.

26. Excitement is rare: Only 12% felt excited about the prospect of a team building exercise, and 13% approved. Negative reactions like annoyance (28%) and indifference (22%) were far more common.

27. White-collar workers more likely to do team-building: While 42% of Britons have participated in a workplace team building event, this figure jumps to 52% among ABC1 households (white-collar workers) and drops to 29% in C2DE households (blue-collar workers).

28. Some activities are truly bizarre: Respondents shared some of the strangest activities they’d been made to do — like passing an imaginary baby bird, building a tower out of shoes, feeding a boss chocolate on the floor, or even tidying a cemetery.

This survey is insightful because it shows that a majority of UK workers have had at least one bad experience with team building.

It’s a useful reminder that while team building has the potential to improve collaboration, morale, and communication, not every activity automatically delivers those outcomes.

The activity itself still needs to be relevant, enjoyable, and well-executed.

At Madrid Adventure, we’re in a fortunate position. Many of our clients are visiting Madrid briefly for a conference, off-site or international summit. That means employees are already excited to explore the city — and our team building activities are specifically designed to combine sightseeing with structured, engaging experiences.

Our most popular team-building activities include:

• Wine and tapas tour

• Paella challenge

• Money Heist

• Gastronomy treasure hunt

• Madrid treasure hunt

We also help corporate teams with booking a venue for lunch or supper, and we book Real Madrid or Atlético Madrid tickets for corporate teams.

And don’t worry — we’ve never asked anyone to tidy a cemetery, feed chocolate to their boss, or build a tower out of shoes. If you’re curious what we do offer, check out our 15 best team-building activities in Madrid here!

MIT Sloan: 1 key finding on how remote teams can outperform office-based ones

One of the most surprising insights in the discussion around team building and performance comes from a study published by the MIT Sloan Management Review. The review is respected journal that explores how leadership, technology, and management practices shape the modern workplace.

This study focused on 80 software development teams across 28 labs worldwide, examininh how the level of geographic dispersion influenced team performance.

Unlike many studies that treat remote teams as inherently less cohesive, this one challenged that assumption.

It revealed a powerful and encouraging insight:

29. Remote teams can outperform colocated teams: When given the right tools, support systems, and collaborative processes, dispersed (remote) teams can significantly outperform their colocated counterparts in terms of productivity and outcomes.

The study reinforces the idea that good team-building processes create the right dynamics, communication structures, and shared goals, no matter where your colleagues are.

Gusto: 2 ways that a sense of community reduces turnover

While many studies focus on compensation or leadership style, the Gusto Report on Community at Work shines a light on something more human: the role of belonging, connection and team spirit in employee retention.

Published by Gusto, a leading HR and payroll platform for small businesses, the report explores how employees and business owners define "community" at work.

The survey was conducted online within the United States by Google Consumer Surveys on behalf of Gusto on July 21, 2016. It gathered responses from two groups:

• 618 small business owners or HR administrators, ages 18+ at companies with fewer than 100 employees

• 501 employees, also 18+, working at similarly sized companies

Key findings from the Gusto Report:

30. Strong teams retain talent: A majority 37% of employees said the reason for staying at their current company (aside from salary) was “working with a great team” — showing that positive team dynamics are more influential than job perks or prestige.

31. Community fosters commitment: Employees who feel a sense of connection and value in their workplace are significantly more likely to stay long-term, highlighting community as a key driver of retention.

Management Science: 1 discovery into team familiarity vs individual talent

Many team-building discussions focus on communication or engagement — but one of the most striking studies on performance comes from the academic journal Management Science.

The journal is known for publishing peer-reviewed research on organisational behaviour, economics, and business strategy. It offers some of the most rigorous insights into how teams and individuals function within companies.

One study called The Firm Specificity of Individual Performance: Evidence from Cardiac Surgery is widely cited for its findings into whether a person’s performance is truly portable — or if it depends on the team and environment they work in.

The researchers analyzed cardiac surgeons who operated at multiple hospitals, comparing performance metrics (specifically patient mortality) across different institutional settings.

The results challenge a common assumption:

32. Performance is environment-specific: A surgeon’s success increased with the number of recent procedures performed at a specific hospital, but did not improve with experience at other hospitals — showing that individual performance is tied to team familiarity and system knowledge, not just skill.

Can team building improve business success?

The research is clear: collaboration, communication, familiarity, and a shared sense of purpose are all strong predictors of business success.

From Harvard to Gallup, MIT Sloan to Management Science, the studies we’ve explored show direct links to productivity, retention, safety and even profit and revenue growth.

What’s less clear is how to build these outcomes into everyday work life.

Many of the most successful case studies focus on routine social processes like shared coffee breaks, structured team communication, or even how team members are grouped together.

In other words, to reap the benefits you need intentional systems — not one-off events.

At Madrid Adventure, we see team-building activities as an important complement to those ongoing practices. Our corporate clients use our services to onboard new team members, strengthen remote teams during an annual meeting, or provide a refreshing break during packed conference schedules.

When done right, a team-building activity more than just fun. It’s the spark that helps strong teams perform at their best.

Madrid Adventure is a corporate events company in Madrid specialised in team building. If you're interested in organising an activity in Madrid, then please contact us for advice, recommendations and a custom proposal.