You found our list of the best employee engagement ideas.
Employee engagement ideas are activities that organizations can use to increase workers’ enthusiasm and commitment to their work, team, or job role. Examples include team building activities, investing in employees’ interests outside work, and open brainstorming sessions. The purpose of these activities is to foster a positive work environment and align workers’ attitudes with organizational values.
You can keep staff invested in the workplace by offering employee care kits, delicious snack boxes, and employee gifts.
This list includes:
- fun employee engagement activities for the office
- employee engagement games
- employee engagement strategies
- employee engagement initiatives
- inexpensive employee engagement ideas
Let’s get started!
List of employee engagement ideas
As business owners, you are responsible for creating and maintaining an environment that promotes employees’ dedication to company values and goals. From value-based employee recognition to celebrating milestones, here is a list of activities and strategies to boost workers’ engagement.
1. Focus on Engaging Onboarding Experiences
The key to having an engaged team starts at the onboarding stage. Organizations can create a positive work culture and form a positive perception of the company from day one.
Examples of ways to foster engagement during onboarding:
- Encourage existing teams to help new workers feel welcome and get access to resources.
- Have a buddy system where existing workers help the new hires settle in for a month or two.
- HR professionals or departmental managers could take time to introduce new employees to other workers and also communicate the company culture early on.
Rather than leaving hiring managers to foster employee engagement, all stakeholders should play their part.
For more ideas, check out this list of onboarding ideas for employees.
2. Host Regular Team Building Activities
Team building activities top the list of fun employee engagement activities for the office. Regular team building activities provide an avenue for employees to interact and relax in a lighthearted way. Through these bonding experiences, workers can release professional and personal stress and enhance peer relationships. Employees also get an avenue to solve strife without engaging senior leaders.
Examples:
- Team breakfast or lunch
- Scavenger hunts
- Bring your pet or child to work
- Sporting events
- Escape rooms
- Lunch-and-learn sessions
- Picnics
Rather than hosting a team building event once a year, we advise you to focus on incorporating team building into your regular activities. For instance, you can host brief activities promoting employee engagement before work meetings.
3. Have Value-Based Employee Recognition Programs
Value-based employee recognition refers to programs that tie workers’ appreciation to organizational core values. For instance, if the core value for a company is top customer service, then the organization may reward employees based on interactions with customers. We advise that you offer diverse programs to ensure you reward as many workers as possible. Value-based recognition programs do not have to be costly. Even a simple gesture like getting appreciation cards or a rotating trophy will increase employee engagement. However, ensure that every employee knows the company’s core values by giving examples of behaviors you want teams to emulate. An employee value-based reward program will create a culture of reward, respect, and recognition for workers of all levels.
For inspiration, check out this list of corporate gift bag ideas.
4. Hold Employee Engagement Surveys
Getting employee feedback is one of the most important employee engagement initiatives. These surveys are also the first step that companies can take to understand and improve workers’ engagement. Employee surveys can provide valuable data for organizations wanting a happier and more productive workforce.
Examples of employee engagement survey questions:
- How do you feel about your work days?
- How likely are you to recommend (company name) as a place to work?
- Do you think (company name) values employees?
- On a scale of one to ten, how excited do you get when coming to work?
- Do you communicate well with your manager?
- Do you have all the tools and support to carry out your duties?
If you want an effective employee engagement survey, then be sure to opt for simple and open-ended questions. Another tip is having a sliding scale from strongly agree to strongly disagree on a scale from one to ten. For maximum participation from your workforce, we advise using anonymous surveys, even on topics that do not seem sensitive. One way that companies can increase employees’ response rates is by using a third-party survey provider.
5. Focus on Having Engaged Organizational Leaders
The first step to having an engaged team of subordinates is through organizational leaders. As such, companies must set up measures to ensure that company executives align with corporate values and goals. Other than starting during the onboarding process, you could ensure that you promote deserving employees. Existing workers have a grasp of the company’s values, goals, and culture. You could also focus on training sessions for executives and develop strategies to promote workforce engagement.
6. Tie Company Vision to Individual Tasks
Tying workers’ tasks with the company vision is one of the most effective employee engagement initiatives that organizations can apply. Businesses could make the company vision part of the day-to-day employee experiences and duties. Another idea is hosting activities that will reinforce the importance of individual duties to the company’s success. For instance, you could hold an employee duty flowchart activity where employees will list their daily tasks. Then, let the managerial team explain to each worker how their work fulfills the organizational vision. You can also print out postcards detailing how each employee directly impacts the company’s success. Relating the team’s work with the company vision, even the simplest duties, will boost employees’ investment in the organization’s success.
7. Invest in Employees’ Interests Outside of Work
If you are looking for inexpensive employee engagement ideas, then investing in workers’ interests is a good bet. Supporting your workforce in nonwork-related interests is an effective communicator that you care about your team. As a result, your team’s engagement and motivation for work will be higher.
Examples:
- Purchase equipment that supports the team’s activities. For instance, you could get musical instruments for employees who love music.
- Share employees’ nonwork-related wins across the company. For instance, you can congratulate an employee who gains countrywide recognition for their poetry performances.
- Create time for employees to pursue their nonwork-related interests. A great example is giving teams the autonomy to select their working hours.
- Encourage workers to share their passions and even pair up with peers with common interests.
- Integrate workers’ interests in the workplace. For instance, an employee who has an interest in photography could shadow a worker in the creative department.
- Offer learning stipends that workers can use to develop their interests.
Giving employees the space to pursue personal interests through social or financial support will increase engagement. As a result, your employees will have a better work-life balance and also more mental freedom to focus on work.
8. Invest in Employees’ Professional Development
Employee development is a sure strategy that will grow your business, drive innovation, and boost workers’ engagement. Companies can use a combination of formal training, coaching, and professional and informal relationship-building experiences to foster employee learning. Professional development enables workers to upskill, network, and improve their performance.
Examples:
- Start a company-wide or departmental learning club. You could focus on a strategy where each employee selects topic areas or books for all participants.
- Provide opportunities for employees to attend industry events.
- Provide mentorship opportunities within and outside your organization.
- Offer formal reviews to help workers improve on specific key areas.
- Host training sessions with industry experts.
- Pay for employees’ membership in learning communities and industry organizations.
Businesses that invest in their worker’s professional development retain the best employees, thus saving on hiring and training expenses. Investing in workers’ professional development also enables companies to identify candidates for career advancements and increases the chances of hiring horizontally.
9. Focus on Health and Wellness Programs
Health and wellness programs are some of the best employee engagement strategies. These programs are pivotal in keeping employees happy, decreasing turnover, and increasing productivity.
Examples:
- Company-wide fitness challenges
- Gym subscriptions
- Health fairs, classes, or screenings
- Offering diverse foods, including healthy snacks and sweet treats
- On-site yoga classes
- Healthy cooking contests
Workplace health and wellness programs will promote active participation, thus increasing employee engagement. These ideas will also encourage participants to adopt healthy habits and lower health risks.
10. Avoid Micromanagement
One of the easiest ways to disengage employees is through micromanagement. Rather than constantly checking in with your team, focus on creating a company culture based on trust. Trust teams to complete their work as per the schedule, and check in on problems that your workforce is facing. With a work culture that builds trust, your team will go above and beyond, collaborate better, and gain empowerment. Another handy employee management tip is to avoid measuring a worker’s contribution based on time spent at a desk. You can increase workforce engagement by emphasizing the output.
11. Host Team Lunches
Team lunches are an incredible choice of inexpensive employee engagement ideas. Workers get a chance to bond over their love for food amid casual and lighthearted interaction. To reduce the monotony of the team lunches, you could add other interactive activities. For instance, you can have lunch-and-learn sessions with industry leaders or company-wide potlucks. For team leaders looking for an inexpensive idea for virtual teams, a simple and effective option is letting teams converge during their lunch break, chat, and even exchange recipes. If you have a global workforce, then you can look into virtual credit cards with reputable companies like Mastercard so participants can order their food for delivery.
Check out Mastercard.
12. Have Regular Open Brainstorm Sessions
Rather than following the rule book and scheduling official meetings, you could have open brainstorming sessions with your team. These sessions will encourage employee engagement in official organization matters without fearing repercussions. Open brainstorming sessions often do not have target outcomes or agendas. However, we advise that you guide the discussion to an area of interest in the organization. These sessions will provide an avenue for workers to express their ideas freely and also promote a sense of belonging.
13. Form a Culture Committee
Forming a culture committee is one of the best employee engagement strategies for companies that want to achieve sustainable results. The culture committee’s role is to outline a company’s core values and provide strategies that a workforce can emulate. Depending on organizational goals, culture committees could focus on areas such as philanthropy, team building, and company-wide communication strategies. You could also task the committee with the role of setting up fun events that will boost employee engagement. If you have a large organization, then be sure to have departmental representatives.
14. Involve Employees in Decision-Making
If you want to create a sense of ownership among your workforce, then you need to involve your employees before making vital decisions. Organizations achieve more success by doing more than handing workers instructions and treating them like passive spectators.
Tips for involving workers in decision-making:
- Use anonymous surveys
- Give workers the freedom to set achievable targets and goals
- Host brainstorming sessions with a focus on pertinent challenges
- Use suggestion boxes, and check them often
- Have employees in leadership committees
- Focus on an open-door policy where employees can approach executives
- Employee board meeting participation
By focusing on employee involvement in decision-making, businesses can achieve a collaborative work environment easily. Organizations may also identify diverse talents and skill sets among their workforce. Involving employees in decision-making also creates a sense of purpose and responsibility among workers.
15. Host Cake Decoration Contests
As one of the best options for team leaders looking for fun employee engagement activities for the office, a cake decoration contest is a good bet. While this idea is relatively simple to execute, it requires prior preparation. You will need one cake per team and decoration essentials, such as spatulas, scrapers, nozzles, and cake boards.
Instructions:
- Select a team of judges for the contest.
- Let your workforce form groups of up to ten participants.
- Place a cake for each team on the decoration surface.
- Invite the teams to the competition table, and start the timer.
- Judges will evaluate the cakes and choose a winner.
Participants are free to get as creative as they want. To increase employee engagement across the organization, be sure to invite the company leaders to the contest. After the activity, you can provide drinks and host a cake-eating session.
16. Celebrate Worker’s Personal Milestones
Regardless of how small an accomplishment may seem, your team will appreciate even simple recognition. As opposed to focusing on work milestones, organizations have higher chances of increasing employee engagement by also celebrating personal milestones. For instance, companies could celebrate teams’ work promotions, work anniversaries, and birthdays. Businesses can choose celebration ideas like gift cards, bonuses, experiences, or care packages. Companies working with a tight budget can opt for nonmonetary ideas, like social media shootouts, handwritten notes, or access to learning platforms.
Check out this list of gift box companies to work with.
17. Have Themed Office Days
Themed office days are great ideas for organizations that want to boost workforce engagement. Through these activities, employees get to dress up, have fun, bond with their peers, and show team spirit.
Examples:
- Bad hair day
- Decade day
- Meme day
- Back to the Future day
- Hat day
- Pajama day
- Sports day
- Family fun day
- Barbeque day
Feel free to include employee engagement games such as scavenger hunts or office Olympics into your themed office days and let workers have a blast. Themed office days encourage employee interaction and also boost productivity. These activities are also easy to execute. Be sure to have a camera on hand to capture the best theme-day moments!
18. Celebrate Group Success
While celebrating personal achievements encourages healthy competition, recognizing group effort is a clever way to promote employee engagement. Celebrating group success is a great way to make your workforce feel proud of specific achievements. You could even host a team party or send out swag to all participants. Celebrating group success will also build camaraderie among your workforce.
Conclusion
With employee engagement being one of the most effective paths toward a successful business, companies should strive to put their workforce at the forefront. A disengaged team results in low morale for work, which translates into poor work performance. Businesses also risk losing valuable industry knowledge due to high turnover rates. Companies can increase employee engagement rates by investing in workers’ happiness and contentment with their work environment.
Next, check out our list of work from home care packages and luxury gift ideas.
FAQ: Employee engagement ideas
Here are answers to common questions about employee engagement ideas.
What is employee engagement?
Employee engagement is a workplace approach that describes workers’ satisfaction, connection with their work, and drive to achieve company goals. These activities focus on increasing employees’ commitment and having teams that value organizational goals. Employee engagement takes on the belief that workers who are more engaged in their workplace are more productive, less likely to leave, and better equipped to drive company success.
What are some good ideas for employee engagement?
Employers can take various measures to ensure that their workforce performs optimally and also have the drive to excel at their work. Some good ideas for employee engagement include involving employees in decision-making, themed office days, and tying company vision to individual tasks.
Why is employee engagement important?
Employee engagement offers endless opportunities for all organizational stakeholders, including customers.
Here is a list of the benefits of employee engagement:
- Increased productivity: Employee engagement activities and strategies enhance workers’ commitment to organizational goals. Thus, employees are more likely to take pride in their work and produce high-quality output.
- Higher employee retention: Since engaged workers are more satisfied with their work environment, organizations enjoy higher retention rates. Businesses can then save on hiring and training costs.
- Lower absenteeism: Organizations might witness higher absenteeism rates when employees are unhappy with their work atmosphere. Workers are more likely to call out of work even in unnecessary situations. On the contrary, an engaged team will recognize their contributions toward the success of a business. Thus, companies may not have regular absenteeism cases.
- Stronger company-wide communication: Employee engagement activities and strategies can eliminate the tension between junior workers and managers. Teams can then address issues quickly and open up to organizational leaders about potential business strategies and issues.
- Increased revenue: An engaged team is more likely to go the extra mile to produce better business results. Businesses have a higher chance of quality work that can increase revenue.
- Decrease in employee stress: With work being a major stressor to employees, regular engagement practices will break the vicious cycle of tension in the workplace.
- Decreased burnout and better mental wellness: Employee engagement activities can reduce burnout, a state where workers fail to connect with their work and lack motivation.
- Better customer service: Since engaged workers align their work to the company mission, customer interactions are more likely to be on brand. Organizations can benefit immensely from customer loyalty that can occur through positive employee interactions.
While there is no one-size-fits-all strategy for increasing employee engagement, businesses can use the listed techniques to raise their revenue and position themselves for long-term success.
