Team building ideas for software and technology companies
Software, telecom and games companies hire people who sit in front of a screen for most of the day, often from home, often across several time zones. Engineering, product, support and sales work in separate tools and separate channels, and a 40-person studio can go months without everyone in one room. Virtual happy hours get old fast. A company-wide walking challenge gives the whole team a shared goal that runs in the background of sprints, releases and on-call weeks.
Get StartedWhat shapes engagement in tech companies
- Remote and distributed. Teams span cities and time zones, so anything that needs everyone online at once excludes someone.
- Deep-work culture. Engineers and designers protect focus time, and an extra meeting is the least popular team building there is.
- Release and crunch cycles. Launches, deadlines and on-call rotations compress weeks, and movement is the first habit dropped.
- Silos by function. Engineering, product, support and sales rarely mix outside a project.
- Sedentary by default. Long screen days are the health cost of the job.
Team building ideas that do not cost focus time
- A four-week company step challenge. Asynchronous by design: people walk when it suits them, the app counts steps from their phone, and every participant can win. See how to launch one.
- Cross-functional teams. Put an engineer, a designer, a support agent and a salesperson on the same team so people meet colleagues outside their own channel.
- A post-release reset. Start a challenge the week after a big launch or crunch, when the team needs to get away from the screen.
- Walking one-on-ones and stand-ups. Take a recurring call on foot with headphones once a week; the steps count toward the team.
- A shared distance goal across offices. The whole company walks a real route together, like circling the globe, so remote staff count as much as head office.
Built for remote and hybrid teams
Steps count wherever people are, across any time zone, so a developer in another city takes part on the same terms as the office. See walking challenges for remote and hybrid teams.
Inclusive by design
A leaderboard topped by the one marathon runner turns everyone else off within a week. Reward participation and team progress instead. Read why leaderboards kill wellness challenges.
Privacy
Movemint collects activity metrics only (steps, distance, calories), stores employee data in Canada, and shows administrators aggregate engagement rather than any individual's detailed data. It never touches code, email or calendars.
Startups and scale-ups of 30 to 200 people
Most product companies in this range have no wellness team and a culture they want to keep as they grow. A team challenge works from roughly ten participants upward; see the honest floor for small teams.
Cost and setup
A flat $1.50 USD per employee per month, billed monthly, with no setup fee and no contract. Bilingual in English and French. Estimate the total for your headcount with the cost calculator.
Run your first challenge this month
Movemint runs company step challenges with team and department leaderboards, motivational push notifications and gift-card rewards, on iOS, Android and the web, in English and French. $1.50 USD per employee per month, billed monthly.
Get StartedRelated guides: Employee engagement activities · Team building activities for work · A unique employee benefit
Movemint is a new product, so this page describes capabilities and practical advice, not customer results. We do not show logos or testimonials we have not earned.
Frequently asked questions
What are good team building activities for a software company?
Activities that are asynchronous and do not eat focus time: a company step challenge with cross-functional teams, walking one-on-ones, and a shared distance goal across offices.
How do you engage remote engineers across time zones?
Give everyone the same shared goal that nobody has to be online for. Steps count in any city and any time zone, so nobody is left out of the schedule.
Does a step challenge take time away from work?
No. People walk as part of their normal day, and the app tracks progress automatically from their phone. There is nothing to attend.
Will it work for a 40-person startup?
Yes. A team challenge works well from roughly ten participants upward.
What data does Movemint collect?
Activity metrics only: steps, distance and calories. Data is stored in Canada and administrators see aggregate engagement, not individual detail.
How much does Movemint cost?
A flat $1.50 USD per employee per month, billed monthly.