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How does a group of colleagues transform from strangers into a cohesive team?
Some might point to a strong vision or shared goals. Others will point to some of the incredible communication and collaboration tools that have become normalized. And of course, there’s always the role leaders play in creating a high-performing team.
There’s also a less obvious force at play: workplace rituals.
No, we're not talking about cults, candles and chanting. Instead, we are focused on rituals imbued with meaning that foster belonging, build trust and strengthen culture. From onboarding ceremonies to team breakfasts, rituals are the subtle glue holding workplaces together.
In a complex web of on-premises, hybrid and remote work arrangements, where working together more often means sharing a calendar invitation instead of a water cooler, rituals need a rethink. Done right, rituals energize and unite teams, whether they’re sharing office space or working across time zones. Done poorly, they alienate, exhaust or backfire, creating the disconnection they’re meant to prevent.
The Universality of Rituals
Rituals have been at the heart of human connection for thousands of years. Sociologist Émile Durkheim called them the backbone of social solidarity, helping individuals feel part of something greater. In early societies, they marked roles, created belonging and codified shared values.
Like medieval guilds, which used rituals to foster loyalty and shared identity, they strived to create and reinforce a shared sense of purpose and belonging.
Fast-forward to the 20th century, and offices brimmed with ritual. Some of them seem so ordinary that you might not think of them as rituals. Standing up when a new person enters a conference room, shaking hands as an introduction, group lunches and annual parties are all part of the ritual of work that we take for granted.
Despite changing forms, rituals always served the goal of cohesion amid workplace chaos. And as the workplace fractures into in-person, virtual and hybrid environments, how can these ancient practices adapt?
New research challenges the feel-good narrative surrounding existing workplace rituals and guides us on how to evolve them. While simple traditions like a morning cheer often boost morale, complex rituals can just as easily backfire.
In a multi-country study, researchers found that when employees felt excluded, unrecognized or pressured to attend, intended benefits of these events disappeared. Rituals, it turns out, are only as effective as the experiences they create.
To drive engagement and get the most from rituals, organizations must design them with as much attention to emotional impact as logistical detail.
What Rituals Work in Today’s Work Environment?
Rituals thrive when tied to context and meaning. Today’s hybrid and remote teams are a case in point. Where traditional office life made spontaneous interactions easy, such as hallway chats or office birthday cakes, distributed teams miss out on ambient culture.
The fix? Deliberately designed rituals that restore connective tissue across distances.
Onboarding sets the tone early, regardless of where a new employee is physically located. Joining a company should feel like entering an established and unique culture. For some companies, the onboarding playbook includes a peer buddy and manager checklists that help root new employees in the community from the start. Others might do a fun care package that goes beyond a work laptop and paperwork. Regardless, it should reflect your organization.
Remote teams have adapted simple, meaningful rituals. For example, Microsoft Teams or Slack channels encourage expressions of gratitude. Virtual daily check-ins with async updates on achievements, blockers and mood are crucial cultural rituals, replacing the informal “how’s it going?” at the water cooler. A day without my morning standup meeting with our team doesn’t feel like a work day at all.
Celebrating work anniversaries or big wins doesn’t require a physical cake (although cake is my preference). Some teams host virtual ceremonies or maintain an online “wall of milestones” to recognize promotions or cross-team projects. These reminders of shared progress help reinforce a sense of community, regardless of location.
The upshot? Rituals don’t need to be lavish. Intention and execution matter most. The goal is to shape practices supporting the values and people who make up the organization’s core.
When Rituals Backfire
Not every work ritual lands well. Poorly designed or enforced rituals run the risk of turning people off or outright harm.
When employees are forced into team-building games that feel inauthentic or into after-hours happy hours, the intended connection can turn to resentment. Rituals rife with alcohol, physical demands or cultural bias (think: only celebrating select holidays) risk leaving some on the outside.
Rigid expectations drain psychological safety, rather than fueling it. If a ritual feels “for them, not for me,” that undercuts its purpose. And if a particular ritual is the only way to experience your culture and integrate with the team, it can even lead to legal risks.
Surface-level or routine recognition, even if it is ritual, erodes trust. Repeatedly spotlighting the same people without attention to others makes employees feel invisible. A celebration that feels tokenized or forced can also harm rather than just a benignly miss an opportunity. The research is clear: Poorly executed rituals reduce engagement, boost turnover and corrode culture.
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A Skeptic’s Guide to Better Rituals
If you are like me, a person who flinches at forced fun or group bonding, there’s hope. Rituals don’t have to mean discomfort. Effective ritual design meets the needs of skeptics and enthusiasts alike.
First of all, the best rituals grow from genuine, employee-driven practices, not top-down mandates. Start small and organic. If your team naturally swaps peer shoutouts on Slack, amplify and encourage that. Share the practice with other teams. Let authentic rituals emerge and evolve.
Talk with your employees to co-create team traditions as well. Survey them about what rituals resonate, and make space for suggestions that reflect the team’s actual culture. New team members bring new ideas that worked elsewhere. It’s easy to dismiss outside ideas but they have advantages as well.
The easiest mistake to avoid is making a ritual mandatory. You’re creating a healthy workplace, not a cult. On-premises rituals should offer variety and voluntary participation. Hybrid or distributed rituals benefit from async participation, so no one feels compelled or left out.
Finally, let rituals demonstrate your company’s core beliefs. If innovation matters, create quarterly “idea days” instead of retrofitted happy hours. If recognition for good work is a key value, make sure you have rituals that bring it to the forefront.
Rituals Don’t Need to be Ritualistic
Rituals create meaning at work and aren’t going away. They answer unspoken questions: Why am I working here, why does this matter, how do we show it? They are one of the most human ways we connect with one another, whether it’s in-person or on a distributed team.
For work leaders, the research is clear: Refrain from abandoning rituals or clinging to outdated formats. Instead, approach ritual-building with intentionality, inclusion and a human touch.
Done well, rituals bridge gaps and add purpose to both everyday and episodic moments, transforming disconnected workers into committed contributors.
And for the skeptics like me, rituals shouldn’t be about forced fun or awkward cheers. At their best, they’re about creating space for people to take center stage and connect with one another. Regardless of how you feel about rituals, that’s an outcome we can all get behind.
Editor's Note: Read more about how and why to build connections in the workplace:
- Your Corporate Retreat Needs a Roadmap for Success — Using a corporate retreat to do strategic team-building activities boosts connection, communication and creativity. Experts share best practices.
- Teams Can't Exist Without Connection. Build It Through Rituals — Despite their reputation, team-building rituals are an important way to foster connection and drive better collaboration.
- Workers Are Lonely: Here's What Leaders Can Do — There's a rise in remote workers reporting they feel "lonely." But a return to the office is not the panacea some would claim it to be. Four experts weigh in.
