Employee engagement is one of the most critical elements HR departments need to think about. If you’ve worked hard to attract the right talent to your business, you want to retain the talent for as long as possible. How?
What is Employee Engagement and Why Does it Matter?
For many, employee retention is all about competitive pay and additional perks. But the employee experience is much more than that. Consider that only a measly 15% of employees worldwide are engaged!
But why should employees feel engaged? Studies have repeatedly shown that engaged employees are a massive 20% more productive. The more productive your employees are, the more your business benefits.
Employee engagement can help your organization to:
- Boost productivity
- Improve employee well-being and satisfaction
- Save money
- Retain top talent
So, the benefits are tangible for any office. But what can you do?
20 Fun Activities for Employee Engagement
Now that you know the value of employee engagement, you can start boosting the employee experience with these fun activities. They are perfect for a monthly catchup that keeps employees motivated and interested.
1. Regular Team Surveys
You want to let your team have a say in how things are ran. An online survey is a great way to get better insight into your team, and you’ll probably get lots of tips on how to improve.
2. Incentives for Hitting Targets
Engage your employees with different incentives for hitting specific goals. Performance-based rewards can boost your employees’ motivation, especially if you have a big ongoing project.
3. Hold Themed Days
Workdays don’t have to be boring. You can make coming to the office fun with themed days. For example, ask employees to show up dressed as superheroes for some fun. Add a few themed surprises and play superhero songs during lunch break.
4. Virtual Game Nights
Employee engagement is possible even if your team is fully remote. You can host virtual game nights with your team. There are fun online quizzes or even murder mysteries you can solve. It’s a fun activity that’ll help employees unwind after a busy period at work.
5. Consider Flexible Work Hours
Studies are beginning to show the substantial benefits of flexible work. You can boost employee engagement by allowing your team to work flexible hours. Don’t make flexibility a problem but see how you can fit it into your schedule.
6. Learn a New Skill
Learning and developing skills are crucial for the employee experience. But your team can learn a craft together, and it could be fun, like learning a new language or taking photography classes.
7. Let Your Team Mentor
Mentoring can be good for the mind and soul. Your team could start mentoring local students or kids, for instance. These opportunities can bring out the best in your employees and help your organization become a generation of future leaders.
8. Health and Wellness Days
Host health and wellness days on a regular. You can have free gym days, participate in organized yoga lessons or have a nutritionist talk about healthy eating. If your employees look after their health, they are also bound to be better workers.
9. Design Corporate Clothing & Accessories
What better way to make people feel part of a team than having company swag? You can get the team involved and hold competitions for the best t-shirt design! It’ll be fun to do, and everyone will receive limited-edition gear.
10. Side Project Hustles
Get your employees excited by coming to work by allowing them to do side hustles. You can allocate a bit of time each month for the employee to use on a non-work related project – at work! You encourage positive thinking by giving them time and resources to do this.
11. Ask for Feedback
You should regularly engage your employees with feedback surveys. You can do anonymous surveys online and get a feel of your employees’ thinking. Surveys and feedback sessions are the best way to ensure employees can voice their opinions. And you’ll learn exciting and valuable things in the meantime!
12. Showcase Successes
It’s vital to let employees know how much they are benefitting your organization. Paycheck is not the only way to do it, and you should give concrete examples of their value. Show what finishing projects have done, share good customer feedback and make sure the employee understands their importance.
13. Introduce New Team Members
If you are adding new team members or switching employees around the office, make sure to introduce everyone to the team. Your onboarding process should include a fun day just to hang out and get to know everyone. You can play icebreaker games and let people introduce themselves.
14. Motivation Mondays
Monday is a notoriously annoying workday for many. Monday blues can keep people away from the office or result in moody workers. But what if people actually looked forward to coming to work on Mondays? Organize different events right at the start of the week. These can be quizzes, unique lunches, motivational speaking events and so on. Keep it fun and light!
15. Professional Roadmaps
You want employees who are engaged and growing. By building a professional roadmap together with them, you can ensure they develop and grow with your organization. Having a roadmap can boost employee loyalty and help with productivity and talent retention.
16. Start a Bookclub
As mentioned, not everything has to be about work and productivity. A book club can create a stronger sense of community – and just be a bit of fun! You can select books that are professional, about self-help or just really interesting fictional books.
17. Ban emails
This might sound a bit drastic, but it can be a lot of fun. You can ban internal emails for a single day of the month. On this day, if people have a question, they need to go and talk to their colleague in person!
18. Swap roles
It’s also a good idea to do a monthly ‘swap roles’ day. This means that each employee needs to experience a day in the life of another person. You ensure people get a better sense of what happens in different departments, and you build team spirit and empathy.
19. Host Team Lunches
Don’t let your team always just wander off during lunch. Gather everything together and enjoy a hearty lunch together. This can help build team spirit. Just ensure you don’t talk about work!
20. Keep Employees on the Loop
Finally, you want to ensure employees have a say in things like payroll information, health insurance benefits, and holiday planning. If you allow employees to feel like they are part of the process and not just passengers on a journey, you can keep them happier and more involved.
Get the Right Tools for Employee Engagement
Make sure you have the right tools at your disposal. Bayzat is built on this type of thinking – making employee engagement the core focus of everything we do. We want your employees to have power and you to have the power to provide the best benefits for your employees!
So make sure you add the above things to your workplace to boost employee engagement. And contact us if you want to know more about what we can do for you!
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