The history of the company picnic

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Lea Williams asks: 

What started company picnics? A lot got axed a decade ago. Have they come back? If so, have they changed?

To boost employee morale, businesses have often relied on a tradition dating back to the 19th century: the company picnic.

After the 2008 financial crisis, businesses scaled back on picnics, while some companies planned other events to encourage worker camaraderie, like escape rooms and miniature golfing, experts told Marketplace. 

But the picnic still persists, allowing employees to get to socialize with one another and participate in team-building activities. 

Businesses took inspiration for picnics from the political arena — candidates would host them because they were an easy way to get people to listen to your speech and enjoy food and drinks, said Jay Zagorsky, a professor at Boston University's Questrom School of Business.

Back in the late 1790s and early 1800s, companies were tiny, so there wasn’t really a need for company picnics, Zagorsky said. But once companies became bigger, work became more specialized and as a result, workers became siloed, Zagorsky said. 

This hurts companies in the long-term when they need knowledge to be shared, Zagorsky.

One easy way for people to get to know each other? Partake in activities like Christmas parties and summer picnics, Zagorsky explained. 

In the 1880s, trade unionists had one of the first worker picnics, Zagorsky said. The organizers of the first Labor Day wanted to create an event that would bring small unions together. They declared a one-day strike in New York City, where workers would march in a parade and then partake in a giant picnic.

In modern corporate settings, businesses see picnics as a way for employees to talk with one another and as a strategy to avoid turnover, Zagorsky said. 

If you think a company cares about you by providing recreational activities like picnics, then you might be more likely to stay, Zagorsky said. 

Company picnics aren’t just for employees — many of them have served as family-oriented events, where workers could bring their children and spouses. 

Karen Lightner, a Philadelphia resident, said she attended her dad’s company picnics back in the 1960s when he worked for the advertising agency N. W. Ayer & Son.

“It was a happy time,” Lightner said. “My memory is that it was exciting, because there was a lot of stuff for kids to do.” Lightner recalls that there were drawing contests that kids could partake in, complete with an art show afterwards. 

Prior to the pandemic, there had been a decline in company picnics. After the 2008 financial crisis, companies started being less liberal with their spending, said Kyle M.K., the senior talent advisor at Indeed, a job search site.

“Unless you were in the startup world. Then it was parties every weekend,” M.K. said. 

But company picnics have bounced back after the pandemic, M.K. said. 

However, companies are being more intentional about hosting them, and not just throwing them because they’ve always done it, M.K. noted. 

Companies are doing them when their workers are remote, hybrid, or spread across the country, and they want them to get the chance to see each other in person, M.K. said. 

There isn’t one type of industry that’s more prone to doing company picnics than others, experts and company picnic planners told Marketplace.

It’s those that care about building a sense of culture and community among their employees, M.K. said. 

Zagorsky said he’s worked in manufacturing, education and tech, which have all had company picnics. 

Event Solutions, a national event planning and production company, helps plan at least 50 company picnics a year throughout the country, said Nikki Yep, the co-owner and COO. The company will take care of everything, which includes catering the event and hosting different activities, like team-building races and scavenger hunts, Yep said. 

The popularity of company picnics will fluctuate based on how the economy is doing, Yep said. 

At Event Solutions, the cost per picnic can be around $40 to $300 per person, depending on the types of activities a company wants to include in the event, although the cost can go down the more employees there are, Yep said.

“We’re like Costco,” Yep said. 

Like all businesses, Yep said her company has had to deal with rising costs following the COVID-19 pandemic. “We have seen the cost of beef going up or eggs. All of our catering costs have gone up, including labor,” Yep said. 

But despite these rising costs, picnics are still profitable. 

“Company picnics have always been one of our biggest sources of income, just because it is year-round and we have a lot of return clients,” Yep said.