We are a firm of 10 lawyers and 7 staff. We don’t have a set budget for the year. Once a year we go on a retreat, do afternoon pitch n putt and attend an afternoon baseball game. This year we also did a team building cooking at the Dirty Apron. We also do the odd birthdays, wine and cheese and special functions like baby showers in the office. The only outing we budget for is for the retreat and the amount depends on where we are going.
The firm does not have a budget for me to take some or all assistants out for lunch to discuss work and to express appreciation, and for Christmas.