I spent 163,000 euros on a team event – and don’t regret a cent

The 27-year-old founder Jason Modemann has 150 employees and is investing 163,000 euros in a team event – why?

Jason Modemann is the founder and managing director of the social media agency Mawave Marketing. At 27, he manages 150 employees. Mawave's clients include Red Bull, Nike, and Lidl.

Two weeks after our annual team offsite, I'm still exhausted. In the best possible way. For two days, three-quarters of the company treated ourselves to a break. Away from everyday life, into an idyllic setting. This included workshops, drinks in the sun, a campfire with guitar and stick bread, team Olympics, and dips in the swimming lake.

Afterwards, I was often asked: Why are you doing this? Why are you taking the entire team completely out of operations for two days – and investing in an event that, on paper, has no direct ROI? After all, we spent €38,000 just on the location and other costs. And if we had sold the same amount of time to our clients, we would have probably generated revenue of €125,000.

I'm more likely to ask myself: Why don't more companies do this? For me, it's the best thing we can do for our team. For three reasons:

Admittedly, team building always sounds a bit like a climbing wall or a trust-building exercise – but it's absolutely essential for our growth. When 109 people sit together in the evening, chat privately, or meet for the first time while swimming outside of calls – something happens that hardly has room in the hectic pace of everyday life. Trust grows. Closeness develops.

And this is precisely what's changing collaboration in daily business: Teams that know each other personally can resolve conflicts more quickly and interact more openly. They have a better understanding of their colleagues' individual strengths and weaknesses and know how to communicate with each other. This is a game changer, especially for companies like ours, where many employees also work remotely or can't be in the office regularly.

We measure our eNPS, or team satisfaction, every two weeks. One of the questions we ask in this survey is: "Would you recommend Mawave as a place to work?" What we consistently find is that this score improves significantly after an event like our retreat—this year, for example, by almost 15 percentage points, from 35.2 to 50. On a scale of 1 to 10, we currently have an average response of 8.38.

This is because employees get the feeling that they are truly part of something bigger. That they belong. This experience gives them a motivational boost and strengthens their commitment to contributing to the company long-term. And best of all, they take this positive feeling back with them into their everyday lives, which immediately impacts the company culture and the overall vibe.

That sounds paradoxical at first – we take the team away for two full days so they can be more productive later? Yes. Because that's exactly what happens. People who respect each other and know each other better work together more smoothly and in a more solution-oriented way – across departments, locations, and roles.

Long story short: As a founder, you sometimes have to invest in sustainable things that don't immediately generate revenue or reduce costs. And for those still looking for tangible figures: Studies show that a new hire costs an average of €10,000. So a low churn rate—as a result of team spirit, satisfaction, and increased effectiveness—pays off in the long run, right?