6th October 2025

How to Give Your Team the Benefits of a Holiday – Without Leaving the Office

What If You Could Give Your Team the Benefits of a Holiday – Without Anyone Leaving the Office?

How short, novel experiences inside the workday can reset the brain, boost performance, and build a culture that doesn’t burn out.

For decades, we’ve looked at annual leave, retreats, and overseas escapes as the gold standard for rest and rejuvenation.

Need a reset? Book a trip.
Burnt out? Take a week off.
Need to reconnect with your creativity or clarity? Get away from work – literally.

But what if we’ve been missing something?
What if the reset we’re chasing doesn’t have to wait for a big trip or a break?
What if you could create the benefits of travel inside the workplace?

The science says: you can.

The Human Brain Doesn’t Need a Holiday. It Needs an Interruption.

We tend to think rest = absence.
Absence of deadlines. Absence of pressure. Absence of people.

But neurologically speaking, what the brain craves most isn’t absence.
It’s novelty.

 When we encounter something new – a shift in environment, scenery, or rhythm – the brain releases dopamine, a chemical tied to motivation, learning, and emotional regulation.

These “novelty hits”:

• Wake up the prefrontal cortex (boosting decision-making and problem solving)

• Improve memory, attention, and mood

• Reduce cortisol (your body’s primary stress hormone)

And, crucially, they don’t require you to be on a beach in Bali.

In fact, some of the most effective resets can happen in under 60 minutes…
…with your team still technically “at work.”

Why Big Escapes Aren’t Always the Answer

Let’s be clear: holidays have value.
But they also come with barriers:

• Hard to coordinate

• Expensive

• Often loaded with family obligations or pressure to be productive

• Only happen once or twice a year

And when your team is stuck in chronic overwhelm or creative fatigue, waiting for the next annual leave cycle isn’t a strategy.

That’s where micro-adventures come in.

Introducing the Micro-Adventure Mindset (at Work)

Coined by British adventurer Alastair Humphreys, a micro-adventure is a short, simple, local experience that captures the essence of a big adventure, without the cost, logistics, or time commitment.

At The Hike Collective, we’ve spent years guiding corporate teams on nature-based experiences designed to deliver these exact benefits:

✔ Increased energy and morale
✔ Renewed focus and collaboration
✔ A deeper sense of presence and perspective
✔ Stronger connection between colleagues

But here’s what I want more leaders to know:

You don’t always need to outsource this.
You can create travel-like experiences inside your workplace culture.

5 Ways to Create a Travel Experience Without Leaving Work

Here are five simple, science-backed ways to build novelty and restoration into the rhythm of your workday or team culture:

1. Rewild Your Meetings

Try a walking meeting in a nearby park, laneway, or unfamiliar location.
Movement + novelty = better ideas, deeper conversations, and fewer distractions.

2. Design a “Wild Hour”

Block out one hour per week for unstructured, screen-free time.
Let your team step away, go outside, walk a new route, or do something non-outcome-driven.
It resets the nervous system, reduces decision fatigue, and sparks insight.

3. Host a Micro-Retreat

Book a half-day outdoor experience – a guided hike, scavenger hunt on Rottnest Island, or simply a coastal net-walk.
No flipcharts. No KPIs. Just reconnection.
This can be a powerful addition to your wellness calendar or quarterly strategy days.

4. Create a Novelty Challenge

Invite your team to take a different route to work, eat lunch somewhere new, or explore a local green space – once a week, for 4 weeks.
Share reflections on how it shifted their thinking or energy.

5. Partner With Nature-Based Facilitators (Like Us)

At The Hike Collective, we offer curated team hikes and outdoor wellness experiences across Western Australia, designed to reset, restore, and reconnect.
From guided reflection prompts to play-based rituals, we turn short trails into powerful team moments.

Why This Works: The Neuroscience of Novelty

It’s not just feel-good fluff.
Here’s what studies show:

University of Chicago research (Dr. Marc Berman):
People who spent time in natural environments performed 20% better on cognitive tests than those in urban environments.

University of Utah study (Dr. David Strayer):
Time in nature improves creative problem-solving and reduces mental fatigue, especially when devices are removed.

Journal of Environmental Psychology:
Even a brief walk in natural surroundings can lower anxiety and improve mood within minutes.

This is why we say:

You don’t always need a week off. You just need a shift in scenery.

Culture Is Built on Rhythm, Not Perks

Too often, workplace wellness is treated as a once-a-year initiative:
“Let’s do something big.”
“Let’s go all-out for this offsite.”
“Let’s throw money at a solution.”

But real, lasting capacity comes from what’s integrated, not what’s added on.

Creating moments of wonder, novelty and movement inside the week,  even for 30 minutes, is one of the most underestimated tools you have as a leader.

And yes,  a great hike can help. But so can a small ritual. A short walk. A culture that values presence as much as productivity.

Travel Isn’t Always About Distance. It’s About Perspective.

You can give your team a “holiday effect”
– the clarity, the uplift, the energy –
without the flights, forms, or time away.

It starts with a simple mindset shift:

What if we could bring the benefits of travel into our everyday environments?
What if work wasn’t the place we recover from, but the place we restore within?

📥 Looking to co-create micro-adventures with your team?

We’d love to guide you.

Explore team experiences →https://www.hikecollective.com.au/corporate/
Or connect with me directly for tailored workshop, keynote,  or offsite planning at [email protected]

About the Author
Kate Gibson is the founder of The Hike Collective, a keynote speaker, and a leader in the nature-wellness travel space. She helps individuals and teams reconnect with clarity, calm, and creativity through science-backed outdoor experiences across Western Australia.