By Mashum Mollah
You can increase profitability by 21 percent by focusing on employee engagement. Happier, more satisfied employees are more productive and creative.
You get better work from employees who enjoy being there.
Boosting employee engagement is possible in hundreds of ways. From small changes in management to new committees created. Your business will see the benefits of implanting just a handful of new activities.
Employee engagement activities help yield the results you want. Keep reading for 10 of the most effective engagement activities.
Here are Employee Engagement Activities That Makes Your Team strong:
1. Create a Job Shadow Program:
Mentoring is an awesome new activity to start in your business. Newer employees get matched with a more senior employee. They build bonds with employees who know the ropes.
Within the mentoring program, create a job-shadowing program. Have newer employees job shadow older employees in different departments. This shows them the different career opportunities that exist within the company.
It also shows them some of the responsibilities higher roles have. They can see what skills or training they need to get there.
2. Be Flexible with Office Hours:
If you’ve ever commuted to work in 8 am traffic, you know what real stress is. Knowing that being 10 minutes late results in repercussions is scary. It makes employees dread morning time and coming to work.
Get rid of this stress for your employees.
Give employees the option for half days or full days to work from home. Or, to work remotely. This allows them to skip the morning commute but still be productive.
Be flexible with having employees leave early when they need to. Be more focused on the quality of work they produce than the hours spent in the office.
3. Start a Culture Committee:
To empower your employees, start a Culture Committee. Employees who want to improve their workplace can join the committee. Enable them to have weekly meetings, in-office, or remote.
Their job is to foster friendships and fun within the company. People enjoy their jobs more when they have friends and authentic bonds with their peers.
Consider planning a monthly book club, weekly potluck lunches, and holiday parties. You could even have a yoga instructor come in on Friday afternoons for a quick yoga session.
4. Peer to Peer Recognition Awards:
We all need more appreciation in our lives. Compliments make you feel valued and recognized. It gives you more motivation to work hard because you know it’ll get noticed.
Create a way for employees to recognize each other’s work. It could be through internal e-cards, physical notes, or quarterly awards.
Send each employee and anonymous survey to vote on different superlatives. They could include the most helpful, most fun to work with, best leader, etc. At your quarterly town hall meetings (see below) you give a bonus or prize to the winners.
5. Get Charitable:
Show your employees and consumers that your business isn’t all about the money. Show them that there are people behind the logo who care about helping others.
There are a couple of ways to get charitable. Pick a quarterly charity your employees like and match all their donations. Run a fundraiser in the community, don’t just sponsor someone else’s.
Or, give your employees a paid volunteer day once a quarter. They can volunteer with an organization together and still get paid.
6. Plan a Team-Building Event:
With the Culture Committee, plan an epic team-building event. It could be a two-day conference or a day out of the office.
Think of fun things your employees will like, outside the work setting. Summer camps are great for team-building because of all the games and activities.
Escape rooms are also great for working on communication and teamwork. You can read more here about the benefits of escape rooms for team-building.
7. Connect the Top to the Bottom:
Is the CEO of your company a mythical figurehead that most people have never met? This doesn’t make employees in the bottom tiers feel connected to your company.
The person at the top doesn’t care enough to interact with them, so why should the employees?
Avoid this mindset by having senior leaders make weekly rounds. Each leader should take one morning to visit each department and chat with employees. They can ask about what each employee does, what their interests are, and if they’re happy.
8. Provide Vertical Growth to Employees:
When new roles open up within the company, always promote them internally first. Give your current employees a chance to move up or over in the company.
This is beneficial because existing employees already understand the business. They’re committed to sticking around, which is why they’re applying to another role.
You can also offer cross-training programs regularly throughout the year. Give employees a chance to get trained in other departments. When you need to hire someone, existing employees will already have some of the skills.
9. Encourage Their Uniqueness:
You value each of your employees because of what they bring to the table, right? It’s their unique skillsets, personalities, and training that you rely on.
Continue to encourage their uniqueness by allowing them to personalize their workspace. Let them dress casually at least once a week.
Say yes to piercings and tattoos because it’s 2019 and 35 percent of the workforce are millennials.
10. Town Hall Meetings:
Once a month or quarter, have a town hall meeting. This is an open forum discussion with all team members.
Talk about achievements from that quarter and plans for the future. Allow employees to contribute ideas for future plans.
Create an open-door policy and genuinely ask for their input. Value what they have to say because you appreciate their dedication to your company.
Want to Know More About Employee Engagement Activities?
Engagement doesn’t have to be a stressful buzzword for small businesses. As you can see from this list, most employee engagement activities are fun for all.
Besides adding some fun to the workplace, these activities also increase your profitability.
Health insurance is a huge desire for most American employees. Showing you care about your employees’ health makes them feel valued. Read here about four small business health insurance options for 2019.
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