Question of the Day for Work Examples to Spark Conversation

Take any company, and you’d be hard-pressed to find an echo chamber or people with the exact same personalities. Much to the contrary, organizations thrive when they embrace diversity, not just with race or ethnicity, but with interests, talents, and backgrounds.

However, these differences can profoundly affect camaraderie between employees, at least at first. In the spirit of team-building and employee engagement, employers and managers need to find an avenue that breaks the monotony of the average workday while also encouraging conversation among team members.

The answer just may lie in the “Question of the Day.”

The question of the day for work is a fun way to start the day and learn more about your coworkers' interesting or trivial backgrounds. It’s versatile and open-ended, sparking conversation and divulging details about each individual's background.

Perfect for onboarding new hires, kicking off team-building events, or jump-starting everyday conversation, these question of the day for work examples will surely be your employees’ favorite way to start their day.

18 Question of the Day for Work Examples

Work is one thing, but if that’s all your team discusses throughout the day, they may find themselves failing to connect with others. And that’s what these questions aim to solve. By asking lighthearted, random questions to each team member, everyone gets to know each other — effectively boosting team dynamics.

Use the following as your question of the day for work or tweak it to your liking. You may just uncover the hidden talents, interesting stories, and favorite things that make your team truly unique.

9 Get-to-Know-You Question of the Day for Work

Ask a couple that’s been married for 50 years, and they’ll tell you that they never stop learning more about each other. Employment isn’t a rest-of-your-life scenario, but if you’re going to work closely with others and build a favorable work environment, knowing your colleagues on a personal level is tantamount to success. These types of team-building questions can promote team bonding and interest in who everyone is as a person.

Take one of these get-to-know-you questions of the day for work, and well, learn more about each other almost instantly — whether you’re in person or a fully remote team in a Zoom meeting.

1. What Was Your First Job?

From cutting lawns to flipping burgers, most people seem to look back on their first job with fondness or disdain. But some people have something that’s profoundly interesting. It’s a question that doubles as a team-building activity if you turn this question into a guessing game for other team members.

2. What’s Your Favorite Food?

Some people have a mild palate, and others like it hot. No matter what your tastes, your favorite food is an interesting topic — and one that may define other personality characteristics.

3. What’s Your Favorite Movie or TV Show?

Movies and TV shows are often an insight into people’s interests. Some unwind with a comedy while others enjoy the unscripted hijinx or a reality TV show. More importantly, this question can open the door for discussions about tastes, suggestions, or the funniest movie you’ve never seen. It also doubles as a fun icebreaker question for new team members.

4. What’s Your Favorite Holiday?

A favorite holiday conjures up memories of family traditions, best friends, and fun, but in different ways. Some like the spookiness of Halloween; others favor the cheeriness of Christmas. Still, learning about people’s favorite holiday can open up an awesome discussion —  especially if you have team members overseas.

5. What’s Your Favorite Ice Cream Flavor?

Neapolitan, rocky road, chocolate, vanilla — ice cream flavors are endless. Unless someone doesn’t like ice cream. But that’s another discussion on its own.

6. What’s the Best Piece of Advice You Would Give Other People?

Great advice comes from many places. It may be from a family member, a friend, or a total stranger. A coworker? That doesn’t happen often.

Suppose one of your team members has profound knowledge that could guide the rest of the team? You’d be doing a disservice by not asking this as a question of the day for work.

7. What’s Your Guilty Pleasure?

Guilty pleasures abound, but they’re all in the eye of the beholder. Sometimes, the guilty pleasure isn’t the most interest facet — it’s why people think it’s a guilty pleasure to begin with.

8. If You Were Stranded on a Deserted Island, What Would You Bring With You?

This is the grandaddy of all icebreaker events, meetings, and working lunches. Yet how the answers change over time keeps it equally as intriguing as its ever been.

9. What’s Your Dream Job?

Not to detract from your office manager’s duties or cause other people to shop around for a new gig, this question is more about the elusive dream. Not everyone can be a ballplayer or musician for a living, but it’s fun to think about it.

3 Trivia-Based Question of the Day for Work

Everyone has an interest outside of work. It’s often what drives them and gives them meaning. Sometimes, pure curiosity rules the mind. In these trivia questions of the day for work, you can see who has random knowledge, asking follow-up questions to understand why a person knows something so trivial.

Accompanying the correct answer with a Hoppier gift card is also a welcome addition to a trivial question of the day for work.

10. What’s the Capital of New Zealand?

It’s Wellington. But why a person knows this might break into a conversation about travel or bucket-list destinations.

11. How Far Is Earth From Mars?

Earth is a little over 95 million miles from Mars. That’s the same as traveling around the Earth at the equator 12,000 times.

12. What Is the First Musical Instrument Ever?

Archeologists uncovered a Neanderthal flute estimated to be around 50,000 years old. Maybe you’ll even find a floutist among your employees.

7 Quirky and Whimsical Question of the Day for Work

Sometimes, you need to throw a curveball into your question of the day for work mix. Quirky, whimsical questions require quirky, whimsical responses, so it’s only natural to include them. Intertwine them about once a week to learn about the more obscure or charmingly odd characteristics of your team.

13. What Would Be Your Theme Song?

Having your own theme song would be awesome, but so would having a superpower. This question of the day for work dives more into musical tastes while also relating to people’s inward idea of themselves. It’s super intriguing.

14. If You Were an Olympic Athlete, What Event Would You Be In?

Professional athletes aren’t always primed to make the big bucks. So it’s an intriguing question to raise. You may find that your accountant was a high school state champ in discus or a swimming phenom. Or sometimes you might discover that figure skating is more popular than you think.

15. How Would You Survive a Zombie Apocalypse?

Discussion of the apocalypse has been around for millennia, but the zombie apocalypse has only been around for a few decades. How each team member would survive the situation is another discussion altogether. Whether people hunker down or build a giant flamethrower, this question is definitely a conversation starter.

16. What’s the Best Emoji?

Nearly 3,800 emojis exist, but which one you love the most speaks volumes. If you want to break the mold of routine conversation, emoji discussions are surprisingly interesting.

17. If You Could Be a Famous Person, Fictional Character, or Historical Figure, Who Would You Choose and Why?

Some people are practical and others are dreams. Justly, how they answer this question of the day for work can be interesting. Plus, who doesn’t like debating whether being LeBron James, Superman, or Gandhi would be the most fulfilling life?

18. Would You Rather

Perhaps the most controversial in the question of the day for work mix, would you rather poses a question of whether you would do one thing or another if only allowed to choose one. It’s guaranteed to get a debate roaring.

How Is a Question of the Day Differerent from an Icebreaker Question?

Onboarding new employees comes with innumerable challenges. Icebreakers are often filled with a palpable awkwardness to even the best questions. However, even the best icebreaker question has a notable difference from question of the day for work.

Icebreaker questions for work are usually asked on a single day at the beginning of the onboarding process. Rarely do follow-up questions happen; it’s close-ended.

Questions of the day for work are part of an ongoing activity, allowing for extended conversations and intermingling that can last for days, weeks, or longer. Icebreakers are great for a one-off team meeting or virtual meeting, but once the new hire becomes part of the crew, questions of the day take precedence.

Question of the Day for You: How Are You Building a Strong Company Culture and Employee Engagement?

Building a solid company culture that focuses on employee engagement isn’t easy. Wages and benefits often influence these ideas, but taking extra initiative can pay dividends.

From spot awards to employee recognition programs, gift cards from Hoppier are the something extra you need to improve morale and keep your team performing at a high level. Choose the amount, decorate the card with your company logo, and send it to the deserving recipient.

You no longer have to ask, “What do you want for this occasion?” With a Hoppier gift card, the guessing game is a thing of the past.