Lunch Roulette is a creative way to break up the monotony of your workday, get more acquainted with your co-workers, and meet new joiners.
According to various studies, Lunch Roulettes and similar initiatives are proven to break down department silos and improve human dynamics. Especially now that we are all working remotely ('hybrid work' or 'remote work'), lunchtime interactions like these, can be essential for team morale, and a motivator for employees to come to the office and have real human interactions.
So how do you start a Lunch Roulette at your company for free? Here's everything you need, to get started:
1 - Decide on a budget for lunch
If you are going to have the lunch paid for by the employees themselves, no budget is necessary. But having the company pay might increase the participation rate.
If you want the company to reimburse employees, decide on a budget per person. It can be anything from 5€ to 20€ per person. This will help employees know how much they should expect to spend. This can be done by looking at the average cost of lunch in your area and deciding on an amount that you are comfortable with.
One way to trim the cost down is to limit the number of participants, though it also diminishes the potential impact. If the Lunch Roulette repeats weekly, those who are left out can be chosen in the next one, and the wait might raise interest and make the event more unique and appreciated.
2 - Brand it
Your Lunch Roulette Initiative can have any name you want. Some common names are:
"Mystery Lunch", "Random Lunch", "Lunch Date", "Secret Lunch", "Stranger Lunch", "Surprise Lunch", or even "Blind Lunch". Internally, we call it the Wellbeing Lunch. You should find a name that matches the culture of your company.
On top of that, you can make all the communication adapted and captivating for your employees. Each company has its own language and inside jokes.
3 - Announce it to your employees
Now that you have a budget, it's time to announce the lunch roulette to your employees!
You can do this by sending out an email, or if you have a company chat tool like Slack, post in there.
Hey there! 👋
We’d like to challenge you all to join our LUNCH ROULETTE!
We hope that as simple and straightforward an activity like lunch roulette might seem, it can be a lot of fun. Randomly chosen colleagues will get to know each other better by having their own special in groups of 4!
Add your name to the spreadsheet below if you're interested in participating;
We hope you’ll join us, we’re starting next week!
Make sure to include all the details such as:
-When it will take place
-How often it will happen
-What the budget is per person
-If sign-ups are required and how to do so
The important thing is to make it as easy as possible for employees to sign up. You want to make sure people are actually going to participate, so making it mandatory might not be the best solution as it will lower effective participation.
You can achieve this by sharing a spreadsheet where employees can write their names.
4 - Set up the Lunch Roulette
Now that you have announced the Lunch Roulette and people have signed up, it's time to set it up!
You can do this in a few ways, such as: hand-picking the best people for each group or, randomly shuffling the rows of your spreadsheet.
If you're using Google Sheets, select all rows, go to the data menu, and press "Randomize Range."
Regardless of which software you are using, a simple google search for "spreadsheet shuffle data" will give you tailored instructions.
You are now ready to announce the first Lunch Roulette Matched Groups!
If you're using Google Sheets, select all rows, go to the data menu, and press "Randomize Range."
Regardless of which software you are using, a simple google search for "spreadsheet shuffle data" will give you tailored instructions.
You are now ready to announce the first Lunch Roulette Matched Groups!
5 - Announce the groups and get feedback
You can then either send an individual message to each group letting them know who their lunch buddies are, or you can post it in the company chat for everyone to see.
If you want to increase transparency and decrease any feelings of elitism, we recommend the latter (it also gives you less work).
You can also give employees the option to provide feedback on the event so that you can improve it for next time.
In a nutshell
The Lunch Roulette is a fun way to get to know your colleagues better, and it's easy to set up. All you need is to define a budget, some communication tools, and a willingness to try something new. Our team at the Wellbeing Warrior can help automate the process for you and make sure that everyone has an enjoyable experience.
Wellbeing Warrior Manager
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