140 Icebreaker Questions for Work That'll Make the Office Way More Fun
These icebreaker questions will help understand your co-workers on a whole other level.
The workplace is many things—but fun, easy, and organic are not always adjectives we'd used to describe it. Even if you like the people you work with, there's often some sense of obligation when it comes to being social. Now, this may sound like a bit from HR, but believe us when we tell you that a few fun icebreaker questions can actually help these exchanges go down just a bit easier. They're even more useful when it comes to more mandatory engagements, like a team meeting, or—for those who are still working remotely—a virtual team-building activity.
Below, we've collected a varied list of questions you can use to help get that ball rolling. We've even thrown in a few informal prompts you can use at home or out with your friends.
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Easy Icebreaker Questions for Work
- Are you more of a dog person or a cat person?
- Do you have a go-to karaoke song?
- What is your favorite cereal?
- What is the most amazing fact you know?
- What is your favorite movie and why?
- What's your favorite holiday?
- Are you a morning person or a night person?
- What's your favorite season?
- How did you meet your best friend?
- What is the funniest thing you've ever seen your pet do?
- What was your least favorite food as a child? Do you still hate it or do you love it now?
- What's the best concert you've been to lately?
- What's your favorite emoji?
- What was the last thing you binged on Netflix?
- What's your favorite movie genre?
- What do you most enjoy about your job?
- What's your favorite ice cream flavor?
- What's your favorite song at the moment?
- Do you watch any late-night talk shows?
- Do you play any musical instruments?
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Virtual Icebreaker Questions for Team Building
- What's one productivity tool you couldn't live without, and what makes it so important for your day-to-day?
- Would you rather get free plane tickets or free accommodations for the rest of your life?
- Who is the most famous person you've ever met? Where did it happen?
- What's the best thing about working from home?
- What is the most unusual job you have ever worked?
- Would you rather receive a shoutout from the CEO at a company-wide meeting or a private word of thanks from them?
- What advice would you give a new hire at the company?
- If the company had a mascot, what would it be and why?
- If you could change the company's name, what would it be?
- Did you like team projects in school?
- What's one of your greatest work-related achievements as of late?
- Which two companies would you like to be sponsored by?
- What's one work-related skill that you'd like to develop, especially if you could do it easily?
- What's one thing you are unbeatable at?
- If you could swap roles with anyone at the company for one day, who would it be?
- What's the most embarrassing moment you ever experienced at school?
- Can you live without your smartphone or any other gadget for 48 hours?
- What's one interaction you had with a stranger that you still think about now and then?
- At what time of day do you feel most productive?
- Are you an early bird or a night owl?
Weird Icebreaker Questions to Use
- What fictional world would you want to live in?
- What famous animal movie character do you like the most?
- What's the weirdest food you've ever tried?
- If you get super-rich, would you still like to work?
- What's the weirdest thing in your fridge right now?
- What's the last text you sent?
- What do you wish was illegal?
- What is the most clever or funniest use of advertising that you can recall?
- What would you title your biography?
- What's your favorite breakfast food?
- Did you have a nickname in high school?
- If your aura had a color, what color would it be?
- If you could set up a teleporter in your house that could send you to one location, where would it be?
- Does your name create any interesting anagrams?
- Would you voluntarily board the mothership if aliens landed on Earth tomorrow?
- What's the most annoying part of your morning routine?
- If you didn't have to sleep, what would you do with the extra time?
- Do you still think about the worst haircut you've ever had?
- What's the worst advice you've ever been given when it comes to skincare?
- What entrance theme song would you want to play every time you walked into a room?
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Icebreakers for Office Friends
- If you could be any fictional character, who would you be?
- Who has been your favorite teacher and why?
- What's the worst job you ever worked?
- What's your favorite holiday tradition?
- What was your first concert?
- What's your favorite food combination?
- How do you feel about clowns?
- What's your favorite Halloween costume to dress up in?
- Who is the Michael Scott of the workplace?
- What's the best prank you've ever played on someone?
- What's the best thing you've got going on in your life at the moment?
- What's the story behind the longest time you've gone without sleep?
- If you could go back in time, what is one thing you would change?
- What's the best professional development book you've read?
- What simple thing still blows your mind?
- If you could have any view out your office window, what would you choose?
- What topic could you give a 20-minute presentation on without any preparation?
- If you were featured on the local news, what would you most likely be on there for?
- If you could give a million dollars to any of your colleagues, who would you pick?
- Have you ever made an assumption that went hilariously wrong?
Travel and Holiday Ice Breaker Questions
- How many countries have you visited outside your own?
- What's one destination on your bucket list?
- If you could live in a different country for a year, which country would you choose?
- If you could organize a team retreat, where would it be?
- What's your favorite travel hack?
- Have you ever been on a cruise?
- Who is your favorite person to travel with and why?
- How do you deal with language barriers when traveling abroad?
- Have you ever been to a theme park?
- How do you feel about traveling solo?
- Do you usually procrastinate when it comes to packing or are you generally pretty organized?
- What's the best souvenir you've ever brought home?
- Do you still keep in touch with anyone you've met while traveling?
- What's one place you can't wait to return to?
- Do you prefer to travel by airplane or car?
- What's your favorite seat on an airplane?
- What's the longest trip you've ever taken?
- What are the worst travel accommodations you ever stayed in?
- What's your favorite weekend trip destination?
- Who is the most interesting person you've met while traveling?
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Funny Icebreaker Questions
- What's the most embarrassing fashion trend that you ever participated in?
- Would you rather experience a zombie apocalypse or another pandemic?
- How many Facebook friends do you have and how many of them do you actually communicate with?
- Have you been told you have a celebrity doppelganger?
- What's the weirdest social media account that you follow?
- What emoji do you use the most when texting?
- What did you want to be when you grew up?
- What after-school activity did you quit and why?
- Do you have any wild roommate or housing stories?
- If there was no dress code for work, what would be your chosen uniform?
- If you could write a tell-all book about our workplace, what would you call it?
- Would you rather be the best at everything but have everyone dislike you, or the worst at everything but have everyone like you?
- If you could pick between dating a superhero or a supervillain, who would you choose?
- Would you rather go on a date with the Tiger King or dress like him?
- What's the craziest fashion trend you've ever attempted?
- What is your guilty pleasure TV show?
- What would you consider your most embarrassing quirk to be?
- If your house were on fire, what three material items would you try to save?
- What's your favorite way to waste time online?
- What's the most stressful TV show to watch, but one you love anyways?
Deep Icebreakers for the Workplace
- Do you have an easy time asking for help?
- What do you look for in a teammate?
- Do you think anyone can be a team player if they try, or are some people just better on their own?
- What is the most challenging aspect of your job right now?
- What's the most amazing natural event you've witnessed?
- What book had the most significant impact on you?
- What's something that was once important but is now becoming less and less relevant?
- What's something you highly recommend to people you meet?
- If you could start a charity, what would it be for?
- What is your favorite time of day?
- What's one skill you think everyone should possess?
- How do you cope with stress at work?
- What are the three values you treasure the most in a friendship?
- When was the last time you tried something for the first time?
- What piece of advice would you give to your 16-year-old self?
- What subject do you wish was taught in every school?
- Are you a listener or a talker?
- What do you do when you notice someone is sad?
- Do you think team-building exercises actually work?
- Where do you find inspiration?
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Tips for Introducing Icebreakers at Work
Breaking the ice isn't exactly brain science. At the same time, it does require some careful consideration and a general awareness of what your co-workers may—and may not—want to discuss. Below, we've put together a couple of tips to keep in mind.
1. Be creative.
Small talk can be kind of unbearable. Don't double down and bring it into your icebreakers as well. Instead, try to be creative with things. Remember, these prompts are intentionally framed in ways that allow them to be a little bit random, so try to introduce something that may actually catch your co-workers by surprise.
2. Be professional.
While creativity is encouraged, there is obviously a cap on where you can go with things. There are plenty of places to ask deep, personal, and potentially PG-13 questions, but a team-building exercise is not one of them. Just because you are taking a break from business as usual doesn't mean you have the go-ahead to leave all professionalism behind.
3. Be inclusive.
Be mindful of how certain icebreakers only apply to certain people in the office. Asking specific questions about holidays or traditions may come off as exclusive to those who don't share your same background. In general, you should also steer clear of anything related to financial or marital status.
4. Be strategic.
In every icebreaker lies an opportunity. Don't just throw something out there for the sake of contributing—really think about the questions you ask and how they can help you understand your co-workers better. What you learn might just help you form a more productive working relationship.
Wrapping Up
That's it for our list of icebreaker questions, but be sure to check back with us soon for even more work hacks. You can also sign up for our newsletter so you don't miss out on what's next!
