What Bill 27 changes for employers
Since October 6, 2025, the occupational health and safety prevention regime has explicitly included psychosocial risks. Like other risks present in a workplace, they must be identified and managed.
The CNESST recognizes several work-related psychosocial risk factors, five of which come up in almost every discussion:
- decision-making autonomy;
- workload;
- organizational justice;
- recognition at work;
- support from colleagues and managers.
Depending on the size of the establishment, this process is part of a prevention program or an occupational health and safety action plan. For workplaces with 20 or more employees, a health and safety committee is also required.
Prevention is therefore a structured process. It cannot be bought with a three-hour activity.
Where can a team-building activity actually contribute?
Not all factors can be addressed in the same way.
Chronic overload does not disappear after a team day. A problem with fairness in decision-making cannot be fixed with a fun activity. A lack of autonomy is not resolved because people completed a challenge together. These issues require management decisions and, at times, changes to how work is organized.
Two factors, however, have a direct link to the team experience: recognition and support.
The CNESST specifies that recognition can come from colleagues as well as managers, in the form of positive feedback, respect, or appreciation for efforts. workplace support is built through the quality of relationships with colleagues and managers.
This is where a well-designed collective experience can play a role.
What a team activity does not do
A team-building activity:
- does not automatically put you in compliance with Bill 27;
- does not replace your prevention program or action plan;
- does not fix an excessive workload;
- does not replace management practices;
- does not, on its own, transform your organizational culture.
Team building becomes more credible when we stop asking it to fix what it cannot fix.
What a team activity can do
It creates what the daily grind rarely leaves room to build: different types of interactions between people.
Two colleagues who have been passing each other for three years finally work together. A manager discovers a strength in someone they didn't know well. A more reserved person steps up. A colleague spontaneously highlights another's contribution.
These moments do not constitute a prevention strategy. But they can reinforce behaviors of recognition, support, and collaboration that an organization then wants to bring to life on a daily basis.
Why this question is relevant today
According to the State of the Global Workplace 2026 report by Gallup, only 20% of employees worldwide said they were engaged in 2025, the lowest level since 2020, following a peak of 23% in 2022 and 2023. In North America, the rate reached 31%, the highest of any region. That still leaves nearly seven out of ten employees disengaged.
A team activity does not solve this problem. But it serves as a reminder that the quality of the human experience at work is worth working on intentionally.
What makes the difference: starting with a goal
Let’s look at two teams.
The first team organizes an activity in June. Everyone laughs, the photos look great. Come Monday morning, everyone is back to their old habits.
The second team organizes the same activity with a specific goal: to foster the integration of new employees who are still working in silos. The teams are intentionally mixed, and the challenges force them to collaborate with new people. Two weeks later, the manager follows up on the process with their team.
Same activity, same budget. But not the same intention, and likely not the same results.
Two questions to ask after your next activity
- What did we discover today about how we work together?
- What would we like to carry over from this experience to Monday morning?
The second one is the most important. Impact isn't measured by the number of smiles in the photos, but by what remains once the activity is over.
Five questions to check in on your team
While not a substitute for a formal psychosocial risk assessment, here are five questions to spark reflection:
- Do our team members know who to turn to when they need support?
- Do we provide regular and specific recognition for a job well done?
- Do our managers create enough opportunities for listening and dialogue?
- Do we talk openly about workload and the challenges we face?
- Do our employees have opportunities to build connections beyond their usual roles?
This isn't a diagnosis. It’s a way to open up the conversation, and that is often where change begins.
An activity, yes. But not on its own.
This is the approach we favor at Latulippe.
We don't start by asking, "What activity do you want to do?" We start with: "What would you like to see evolve within your team?" More collaboration, better integration, increased trust, smoother communication, and greater recognition among colleagues?
From there, the activity becomes a means rather than an end. The logic is simple: understand → intervene → apply → measure → adjust.
A law changes an organization's obligations on a specific date. A team's habits, however, change over time.
Are you considering the role of a team activity in your approach?
Let's start by talking about your team, your goals, and what you would like to see evolve. Contact us
