18 Fun Online Team Challenges to Energize Your Workforce

Here is our list of fun online team challenges.

Online team challenges are exciting team building activities with set timelines for teammates to achieve specific goals. Examples include team shopping challenge, crazy debate, healthy eating challenge, and online fitness challenge. The purpose of these activities is to promote good team relationships and help colleagues achieve set goals.

These challenges are similar to online team building games, Microsoft Teams games, and games to play on Zoom.

This list includes:

• online team competition games
• online group challenges
• remote team challenge ideas

List of online team challenges

From online board game tournaments to virtual cook along to team design challenges, here is our list of some fun challenges your team can play online.

1. LinkedIn Learning Marathon

Organizing a LinkedIn learning marathon is a fantastic way to boost team skills.

To organize this activity:

1. Choose a set of relevant courses on LinkedIn Learning.
2. Team members can choose which course they are most interested in.
3. Give participants a deadline to complete their classes.
4. Have regular check-ins so teams can share what they are learning.
5. Optionally, give awards based on class scores or other metrics.

Once members complete their coursework, have a virtual party to celebrate! Then, you can debrief to see how you can apply the team’s new knowledge to their current projects.

Check out LinkedIn Learning courses.

2. Online Charity Challenge

Running an online charity challenge brings your team together for a good cause!

To organize this activity:

1. Choose a charity that resonates with your team’s values.
2. Create a fundraising goal and choose a duration for the challenge.
3. Team members can host virtual events, network for support, and collect donations.
4. Use online platforms to track progress.
5. Encourage friendly competition by setting individual or team fundraising targets.

Throughout the challenge, share updates on your progress and celebrate milestones. At the end, consider hosting a virtual event to show gratitude, share experiences, and give the funds raised to the chosen charity.

Here are some great charities to choose from.

3. Online Coffee Olympics

Coffee is one of the essential parts of a good virtual workday, so consider adding a coffee Olympics challenge to your team building activities!

To organize this activity:

1. Select a few fun and easy coffee-themed challenges, such as a coffee bean balancing race, a timed coffee cup stacking challenge, or even a creative coffee filter tossing game.
2. Give each challenge a point value based on difficulty.
3. Invite team members to join a virtual meeting to compete in the various coffee challenges.
4. Teams or individuals can take turns attempting each challenge to earn points.
5. The player or team with the most points wins!

Optionally, consider giving the winner or winners a coffee-themed prize, like a gift card. This light-hearted and engaging activity is sure to bring some coffee-flavored joy to your virtual team gathering.

4. Office Unit Challenge

Office unit challenges are perfect activities for companies with large numbers of employees. In this activity, each department will create a presentation highlighting its role and importance. Each division will explain why the company cannot function without its active performance. This presentation must include visual representations as well as fun and engaging content that will share important points and entertain other employees.

The purpose of this challenge is to teach teammates that they are units of a whole, and without their active roles, the business cannot function. In addition, this activity teaches colleagues the value of teamwork and helps remote teams appreciate all efforts involved in achieving company goals. Be sure that each department gets a couple of days to prepare for this challenge, then the groups will meet via video call and present using the slideshow feature. The department with the best presentation wins the challenge and gets a prize.

5. Team Shopping Challenge

Team Shopping Challenge is a budget game that evaluates teamwork. Teams of four to five must buy work-related items using a real or imaginary budget.

To organize this activity:

1. Assign each team a budget and a shopping list.
2. Teams have 30 minutes to find every item on the list.
3. Players add listed items to an Amazon or eBay cart and share the link with the host.
4. The total cost, including shipping, must not exceed the budget.
5. The first team to find all items within budget before time runs out wins.

This activity is an excellent online group challenge, imparting financial management skills and fostering financial accountability among team members.

6. Team Design Challenge

Team design challenge is a great way to test teammates’ creativity or taste in fashion. In this activity, contestants will work together to create statement fashion pieces with limited materials.

To organize this activity:

1. Split the players into groups of three to four.
2. Teammates will decide who wants to be the designer, pattern maker, and sample maker.
3. Send sample makers mini sewing packages containing fabric, threads, needles, buttons, and tape.
4. The designer will create a fashion piece with the pattern maker.
5. The sample maker will follow the teammates’ ideas and bring them to life using the provided tools.
6. The team with the best fashion piece wins the challenge.

Participants do not need to create clothes that are big enough to wear. Sample makers may craft items to display on a doll and share pictures with colleagues. This activity promotes teamwork and is a great way for employees to learn the value of each colleague’s contribution.

7. Social Challenge

Social challenge is one of the best competitions for remote workers because it encourages them to focus on their social lives. In this activity, teammates will share locations or venues they have been meaning to visit but have been unable to because of work. Participants will then set a specific timeline to visit the chosen sites.

As the employees visit these spots, they can share pictures and videos with teammates as evidence that they each visited their location before the given timeline. This activity is a great way to ensure remote employees have fun and interact outside work. You can also encourage remote teammates who live in the same city to meet, have lunch or dinner, and have fun. It is easy for remote workers to get lost in work as time flies, so this challenge encourages teammates to enjoy a social life as they work.

Here are some other team social ideas.

8. Language Challenge

Language challenge is a great activity for employees because it teaches them new languages and cultures. In this activity, teammates meet via video call and discuss languages that they have always wanted to learn with each other. The teammates will download applications like Duolingo and dedicate several hours a week to learning their chosen language. You can also pair employees with similar language interests as accountability partners.

Workers will meet via video call at the end of each week and share their progress. Colleagues may even ask participants to translate short sentences to test their progress. Teammates can also share facts about the country’s culture, foods, and style. This activity helps learners appreciate new cultures and allows employees to build skills that may help them relate with international clients.

9. Origami Challenge

An origami challenge is a fun and creative activity that remote teams can enjoy. In this challenge, teammates will face off against each other in a battle of creativity, wits, and speed.

To organize this activity:

1. Send tools such as colored paper, scissors, and glue to employees’ doorsteps.
2. Split participants into groups of three to four, and send teams to breakout rooms.
3. Each group has thirty minutes to use the given tools to make an origami animal.
4. Judge each team in terms of visual presentation, teamwork, and group results.
5. The best team wins the challenge.

This activity is a great way to promote teamwork and collaborative effort among remote employees. The origami challenge is also relaxing and is an excellent way to make workers comfortable in each other’s company.

Check out this origami guide.

10. Healthy Eating Challenge

Healthy eating challenge is a great way to promote physical and mental well-being among employees. In addition, this activity helps teammates achieve healthier eating habits and goals.

To organize this challenge:

1. Meet via video call to discuss healthy eating goals.
2. Share a file where employees can include their goals for a week, a month, or the entire year.
3. Participants will cross items off their list as they achieve them.
4. At the end of the challenge, teammates will celebrate their achievements together.

It is important to ensure that employees set realistic goals and work toward achieving them. Team members will serve as accountability partners for each other. Also, it is important to ensure that the goals set do not include restrictive diets, as they may trigger poor eating habits. These activities promote a healthier lifestyle for employees and help teammates engage and interact with each other.

11. Crazy Debate

Crazy debate is a great game for small teams. This activity is one of the best remote team challenge ideas because it promotes healthy competition and helps employees develop good presentation skills.

To organize this activity:

1. Split employees into two groups. Each team must argue “for” or “against” the chosen topic.
2. Choose a fun and crazy topic for the debate. The sillier the subject, the better. For example, should carpenters carry hammers? Must cars have horns?
3. Send each team to separate breakout rooms to prepare their arguments for the debate.
4. The teams will take turns presenting their debate.
5. ​The best team wins the challenge.

This game is a great way to build team relations and encourage teammates to brainstorm ideas. This challenge also promotes laughter among employees and creates a healthy and fun remote work environment.

Here is a list of funny debate topics to get you started.

12. Online Fitness Challenge

Online fitness challenges are great ways for teammates to align their fitness goals. In this activity, colleagues will serve as accountability partners and celebrate fitness milestones together.

To organize this activity:

1. Share a file where teammates can write down their fitness goals for the next month or the entire year.
2. Participants can break their goals into small and realistic milestones.
3. Teammates can meet weekly to share their progress and check items off their lists as they hit their milestones.
4. Employees can celebrate their achievements and share pictures of their progress.

This activity is a great way to promote a healthier lifestyle among teammates. You can also contribute to teammates’ fitness goals by offering gym memberships or sending mini fitness packages like dumbbells, skipping ropes, or fitness bands.

Here are more online wellness ideas.

13. Virtual Cook Along

Virtual cook along is one of the best challenges for remote teams. In this activity, colleagues will work in teams to create outstanding meals.

​To organize this activity:

1. Send teammates cooking materials or cover the cost of ingredients for this activity.
2. ​Split players into groups of four to five.
3. Send each team to individual breakout rooms to choose a leader.
4. The leader will instruct other teammates to make meals using the ingredients.
5. Each chef has 30 minutes to leave the breakout room and cook the leader’s chosen dish.
6. If a team member’s meal is too different from others in the group, then the team loses the challenge.
7. The team with the best visual presentation and group effort wins the challenge.

This activity ensures that teammates learn and understand the need to work together and follow specific instructions. This challenge also helps colleagues achieve common goals and encourages team bonding.

14. GIF Challenge

GIF challenges are exciting activities that allow employees to express themselves using appropriate illustrations or moving images.

To organize this activity:

1. Create a Slack channel.
2. Install the Giphy extension in Slack.
3. Send links to teammates to join the Slack channel.
4. Create prompts, such as, “Me when I lose the third pen in a week” or “Me when I am trying to meet a deadline.”
5. Teammates must find appropriate GIFs for each prompt and reply within the thread.
6. The best GIF wins the challenge.

This activity is a great opportunity for teammates to engage and have fun together. This quick challenge also promotes a healthy work environment where teammates are free to share their opinions or ideas.

Check out Giphy.

15. Trivia Tournament

Trivia tournaments are one of the best online team competition games because they test employees’ knowledge on a wide range of topics, including sports, entertainment, and science. In this activity, teammates will play in groups and face off against each other to answer trivia questions.

The teams get points for each correct answer, and at the end of the game, the team with the highest score wins the tournament. This activity fosters team bonding and helps promote camaraderie among employees. This competition is also a great opportunity for teammates to learn new facts and engage with each other. Groups can play the trivia tournament on websites like Trivia Plaza for free.

Learn more about Trivia Plaza and check out more online trivia games.

16. DIY Food Show Challenge

DIY food show challenge is a fun and engaging activity for remote teams. In this challenge, teammates will show their content creation skills by replicating a recipe video from a popular food show or chef. Chefs will need at least a week to prepare, cook, and film their creations.

The participants will then meet via video call and share their videos or upload them into a drive. Employees will take a vote using the live polls feature, and the most creative video wins the challenge. This activity is an excellent way for workers who love to cook to show off their skills and culinary creativity. This challenge is also a great way for groups to bond and get to know each other better.

17. Online Office Olympics

Online office Olympics are exciting activities that boost employee engagement. In this activity, teammates will play against each other in various games, such as trivia, scavenger hunts, and dance-offs, to win prizes. The participants will play in groups using any video conferencing tool.

This activity is an excellent way to promote healthy competition among teammates. These games also improve interactions between employees and make them comfortable with each other.

Read up on online office Olympics ideas.

18. Online Board Game Tournament

Online board game tournaments allow teammates to show off their skills in classic board games like chess, Scrabble, checkers, or Monopoly. These games test teammates’ wits, promote strategic thinking, and allow players to have fun together.

To play, teammates can use any video conferencing tool and find classic board games on websites like Board Game Arena. Employees can play together virtually and view ranks in real time. You can split the players into groups and have each team face off against each other to win prizes. You can make this event even more competitive by setting a timer for each game and offering prizes to winning teams. This activity helps teammates interact and unwind.

Learn more about Board Game Arena.

Conclusion

Online team challenges are fun activities that help foster healthy competition and build good relationships among remote employees. You can organize these activities using any video conferencing tool and some third-party websites that offer free games.

Teammates can play individually or in groups during these activities, but it is important to ensure that participants understand the rules of these games before they begin.

For more online gaming inspiration, check out online games for large groups and virtual work games.