Five Company Events a Year: How Full Scale Brings a Remote Team Together
In this article
Full Scale’s team is spread across cities, provinces, and islands all over the Philippines. Most of the work happens over chat, video calls, and project meetings, and honestly, it works well.
Five times a year, we also get everyone in the same place: the Year-End Party, the Cebu Marathon, Wellness Day, Summer Party & Family Day, and Sports Fest. None of them are mandatory. They exist because we think some things only happen in person, no matter how good the video call is.
Not every event looks the same, on purpose. Some people want competition. Some want a quiet day to recharge. Some want to bring their kids. So instead of one event repeated five times, we built five different ones.
Year-End Party
The Year-End Party is the biggest night of the year, and every year gets its own theme: Neon Nights one year, a White Party the next, a Filipino Fiesta after that. People dress up, we look back on what the year actually was, and then there’s the raffle.
Last year’s raffle gave away more than ₱1 million in prizes, including a brand-new Honda ADV motorcycle and a trip to Hong Kong. I have personally never given away a motorcycle at a company party before this, and I would like that to remain on my resume.
Cebu Marathon
One of our most anticipated traditions is running the Cebu Marathon, the largest running event in the city. Full Scale sponsors registration across every category, from a first 5K to the full distance, and teammates show up to cheer each other across the finish line regardless of pace.
Wellness Day
Not every gathering needs music and a stage. Wellness Day is the opposite of the rest of this list on purpose: massages, haircuts, yoga, art activities, swimming, and everyone goes home with fresh vegetables, which is either the most wholesome or the strangest party favor we hand out all year.
The point isn’t a single relaxing day. It’s a reminder that wellness is not something you schedule once a year and call it handled.
Summer Party & Family Day
Our biggest gathering of the year is hosted at resorts like Plantation Bay and Dusit Thani Mactan, and it isn’t just for employees. Full Scale’s people bring their families, because those families are part of the job too, even if they never sit in on a standup.
Kids get playgrounds. Parents get the pool. Everyone gets good food, and by the end of the day the party is running on music and games rather than anyone’s job title.
Sports Fest
Sports Fest is the one day a year Full Scale splits into two competing Houses, and thanks to our growing employee clubs, more people show up to compete every year than the year before. Basketball, pickleball, volleyball, badminton, or cheering from the sidelines, everyone ends up part of it.
Winning is fun. House pride is the thing people actually talk about the next morning.
Not everyone lives in Cebu, so we cover the flight
Most of these events happen in or around Cebu, and a lot of our team does not live in Cebu. That is not a reason to leave anyone out.
We cover travel for employees flying in from Luzon, Visayas, or Mindanao, so somebody working three islands away gets the same invitation as somebody who can walk there. We are one company whether or not we work in the same building.
The ones that did not make the cut
Not everything we try becomes a tradition. We used to run a Halloween party and a couple of online team-bonding formats organized by individual managers, and neither one stuck around. Five events a year is already a lot to ask of a team spread across an entire country, so we would rather run five well than eight halfheartedly.
Frequently asked questions
How many company events does Full Scale run each year?
Five: the Year-End Party, the Cebu Marathon, Wellness Day, Summer Party & Family Day, and Sports Fest.
Are employees required to attend these events?
No. All five are optional. They exist so people who want to connect outside of work have the chance to, not as a mandatory obligation.
Does Full Scale help employees who do not live in Cebu attend?
Yes. Employees flying in from Luzon, Visayas, or Mindanao get travel support so where someone lives does not decide whether they get to be part of these events.
What happens at the Year-End Party raffle?
Full Scale gives away company-funded prizes each year. The most recent raffle included more than ₱1 million in prizes, including a Honda ADV motorcycle and a trip to Hong Kong.
Ask what your team gets to look forward to
Ask whoever staffs your offshore team what happens when the work stops for a day. If the honest answer is nothing, that tells you something about what kind of team you are actually renting.
We have been building engineering teams in the Philippines since 2018, and these five days a year are part of why the same people keep showing up the other 361. If you want to see what the model looks like end to end, schedule a call and we will walk through it.
