A good working environment that helps maximize the productivity of your employees can lead your company to the realms of growth. Apart from demanding the set targets, there’s a need to introduce other activities both in and out of the office to increase the level of your employees’ engagement.
Your employees, if understood and treated in a personal way, can be very resourceful by bringing new ideas into your company. Besides, maximum employee engagement can increase profitability, customer satisfaction, health and safety, innovation, well-being, turnover, and reduction of absenteeism.
To help aid in employee retention and happiness, consider using performance management software.
This article outlines ten employee engagement activities that you can leverage in your company to level up the engagement of your employees. These include:
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1. Give Away Awards
This is an excellent strategy to create an outstanding company culture if you’ve not been doing it. Everyone loves to have their efforts recognized and appreciated. Once an individual or a team has achieved a certain company goal, you need to award them for a job well done.
You may try to ask your employees the sort of awards they would prefer during such events so that you give them what they love. Nobody can refuse an award, but not every kind of award makes people happy.
Some of the generally accepted awards are personalized award plaques. The beauty of them is that they capture your name and type of merit. It can be given to the manager of the year, an employee of the year, or even the most improved sales representative.
2. Employee Tournaments And Competitions
These are fun-filled activities that are good at breaking the monotony of the office. Everyone would be ready to go out and compete against their friends. You can hold a football tournament between departments or seniors against the juniors.
You may also host a pool tournament or have your employees challenge one another in a bake-off. Races and indoor games are also important for those who have no interest in field and track activities.
At the end of the day, you may consider giving crystal trophies and awards, especially to a team or departments that emerge as winners. Trophies find great use in sports where you can give to the man of the match and football manager of the month.
3. Nap Times
Not many companies practice this strategy. After a busy morning and after having your lunch oftentimes, you may start feeling sleepy. In some cultures, like in Japan, nap time is widely practiced.
You can consider giving your employees a 20-minute break after lunch to sleep on their desks or in the staff lounge. Companies that do this say that it has helped improve the productivity of their employees after lunch.
4. Involve Employees In Planning
Occasionally, probably, quarterly or after six months, you need to bring critical business processes to the employees for deliberation. You might be amazed how the junior employees may have brilliant ideas, which the managers can use in solving your challenges.
You may also involve employees in areas that directly affect their welfare. Such practices develop a culture of transparency, instill loyalty into your workers, and devolve leadership skills for each employee.
5. Have A Good Knowledge Sharing System
Important information that can benefit someone at work should be leveraged. Essential information has the potential to increase employee turnover. Knowledge dissemination ensures that there’s no knowledge gap, which quickens how fast processes are done.
You may have a mentoring program for your new hires or pair them with top-notch employees for one-to-one mentoring. You can also use communication software for passing on all relevant information.
You may also consider drafting a training curriculum that you can follow. Give learning objectives and a timeframe on when every person needs to be through with the learning.
6. Promote From Within
Leadership strategies should be an ongoing process in your company. Employees are motivated when they see their colleagues rise the ladder of leadership. This gives them the hope of becoming a leader later in the future. It also shows them that you recognize internal talents.
It’s good for managers to identify talents within their departments who can be groomed for future promotions. Even with the topmost managerial skills, before you get someone from outside, you need to consider those who were working with the manager you are seeking to replace.
If the manager was successful, then it means that there is a high probability that they had a good team from whom you can select someone.
7. Giving Gifts To New Hires / First-Day Welcome Cards
Make the first day of your employees feel welcomed and accepted into the team. One of the effective ways of doing so is by presenting them with a welcome card or email, or a gift. Be creative in bringing out the best traits of the company. More ideas include:
- Introducing them to the rest of the team
- Letting them have a choice of their first project
- Reaching out to new employees with an email before joining, with information about what’s expected of them
- Giving them a branded company item as a welcome gift, such as a t-shirt, mug, or stationary
- Handing them over to a mentor, if you have such a program
8. A Work-From-Home Policy
Working from home with your easy-to-go outfits can be a good feeling. You can have a day in the week wherein you allow your employees to work from home, such as a work-from-home Thursday.
This creates a balance in life, such that it helps in strengthening your employees’ families, as parents can interact with their kids as they work from home.
9. Schedule A Hack Night
Push the excitement of your employees to the limits with a break from office monotony activity, such as a sleepover. Put clear objectives and draft the necessary rules, like breaks, snacks, and music, and keep them engaged as much as possible throughout the night.
10. Make Onboarding Fun
Transform activities that are regarded as boring during onboarding into trivia. Be creative in how you train new hires to use systems and tools. You can bring in the old staff to give answers when they’re defeated and also interact with the new hires.
Final Thoughts
Teamwork in your organization can’t be overemphasized. Having one team united in goals and ambitions can transform your business into an undefeatable organization.
Apart from focusing on the team’s productivity, have ideas that can boost their morale so that you can increase their engagement with the activities and employee engagement ideas listed in this article.
When your employees are fully engaged, their productivity increases your revenues, as well as boosts customer satisfaction.
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