Tabletop team building at Publisher Collective

If you’ve had a nosey around our website, you’ll know that nerdiness is a quality we pride ourselves on. Whether it’s books or movies, crafting or cooking, planting or photography, we’ve got passionate people in the office who can relate. But the great equalizer among the majority of our Publisher Collective peers is gaming.

What could be a better way to work as a team than in a rousing one-shot campaign, or get to know our co-workers with animated party games? This is why once a month, the Publisher Collective office hosts a board game night. It often features pizza and drinks, and always features a good laugh and great company. As we share our office with sister companies Project N and Network N, it’s a great way to connect the different teams between the three businesses and creates a cohesion that carries on into the workday.

Turn-based teamwork

Because these monthly game nights are open to all of the Network N Limited staff, players come from all over the three businesses. Depending on the game of the evening, players might be put into teams with colleagues they’ve never interacted with. A crowd favorite of late has been the much-requested Blood on the Clocktower, a role-playing game that sets a troupe of villagers on the hunt for a few murderous demons before the entire village is wiped out.

Coworkers become allies and enemies, and before the game’s end, friendships are formed. One attendee, Jack Ridsdale, Deputy Editor at Project N, found it easy to get stuck into his role in the game.

“Game nights definitely help put faces to names that you don’t know well, and the framework of playing games gives everyone a common interest to share,” Ridsdale said. He found he got to know colleagues he wouldn’t normally work with on a regular basis, leading to a more cohesive work environment overall.

Meet and greet mechanics

When hybrid work means that more employees aren’t in the office on a regular basis, it can be difficult to keep up the personal connections and friendships formed in the workplace. Hybrid work can be isolating for some, as workplaces were once one of the top social hubs for an individual’s community. The game nights at Publisher Collective serve to connect colleagues on a deeper level, sneakily veiling team-building opportunities within high-concept strategy RPGs.

This camaraderie can influence the daily work environment for hybrid workers, making them feel more connected to their colleagues even though most interaction takes place virtually. Timothy Parry of Network N has felt that game nights have made him more confident when it comes to approaching his colleagues.

“It feels much easier to approach people once you’ve played a game or two together,” Parry said. “I tend to spend more lunches at the office talking to people or playing short games rather than sitting at my desk. I feel like I’m much closer with everyone because we all had a good laugh.”

A great work environment means great work gets done. Want to read about other ways we foster a creative, cooperative workplace? Read our blog about Pride here.