Organizations that focus on employee engagement typically experience greater profitability, enhanced customer satisfaction, and an improved reputation within their industry.
Engaged employees demonstrate higher levels of commitment, productivity, and motivation to reach the organization’s objectives. Additionally, they are more inclined to remain with the company, which helps lower turnover rates and recruitment expenses.
However, according to Gallup’s recent State of the Workplace report, 85% of employees are not engaged at work.
Employee engagement drivers include effective communication, recognition, career development opportunities, and a positive work environment. Here’s how to build it.
Employee Engagement Ideas for Online Teams
When working remotely, employees can often feel isolated and detached from their coworkers and the organization as a whole. This shift can complicate communication, resulting in ambiguity, miscommunication, and misunderstandings. Consequently, this can lead to confusion, frustration, and decreased engagement.
To address these challenges, organizations should promote opportunities for their distributed teams to connect on a personal level and encourage them to spend more time together outside of work.
1. Hi-tech drawing competition
Engaging in a drawing competition using neural networks can stimulate creativity and foster a sense of camaraderie among colleagues. It allows employees to explore technology while expressing their artistic side.
What’s the plan?
- Preparation: Research and select a user-friendly neural network that generates images based on text descriptions. Provide employees with guidelines on how to create effective image prompts.
- Execution: Employees will describe an image they want to create, input it into the neural network, and generate their artwork. Afterward, they can showcase their creations in a virtual gallery setting, perhaps using a shared platform like Google Slides or a dedicated channel in Slack.
Estimated time: 30 minutes
Time slot: coffee break
Resources: Access to a free or paid neural network
Neural networks to try:
- Stable Diffusion Online
- Artbreeder
- Lens (for mobile devices)
- Midjourney
Pro tip: Use photos to help produce high-quality results even with the basic prompts.
2. Multiplayer game night
An online game night is an excellent way to build team spirit and alleviate stress. It provides an informal setting for colleagues to connect and collaborate outside of work tasks.
What’s the plan?
- Game Selection: Choose games that are popular and accessible to everyone. Ensure they are easy to install and have cross-platform capabilities.
- Setup: Organize teams in advance and set up voice or video chat channels for communication during gameplay.
- Event Management: Consider hosting a tournament format with brackets for competitive games or simply a casual play session for cooperative games.
Estimated time: 4+ hours
Time slot: time after work
Resources: A mobile or desktop game installed on all the participants’ devices
Games to try:
Some of your team members can’t make it – no problem at all! Replace the night with a continuous puzzle games championship and share your results on Facebook.
Pro tip: Games make time fly like an arrow, so it’s advisable to plan the event the event beforehand and make sure there will be enough people to form teams.
If you use some scheduling software, it won’t be too difficult. If not, try actiPLANS! actiPLANS will not just let you plan team-building or any other corporate activity but will become an indispensable helper in leave management, project planning, shift assignment, and work status tracking.
3. Show-and-tell
The show-and-tell activity encourages employees to share personal stories and interests, fostering deeper connections and understanding among team members.
What’s the plan?
- Preparation: Inform employees in advance about the activity and encourage them to think of something meaningful to share—be it a hobby, a unique item, or a personal story.
- Execution: Allocate time during a regular meeting for each participant to present their item and explain its significance.
- Communication: Allow time for questions and interactions after each presentation to enhance engagement.
Estimated time: 5+ minutes per employee
Time slot: meeting
Pro tip: Prepare your story in advance and be the first one to get open.
4. Themed day
Themed days can inject fun into the workweek and encourage creativity while helping employees feel more connected through shared experiences.
What’s the plan?
Select a theme, e.g., Star Wars or Harry Potter, and offer your colleagues to dress up as their favorite movie or game characters and spend the whole day this way.
Time slot: meeting
Pro tip: Not all may be ready for such a radical change. So you may start with themed Zoom and Google Meet backgrounds.
5. Micro Hakathon
Hackathons can spark innovation and collaboration by allowing employees to step outside their usual roles and work together on creative solutions.
What’s the plan?
- Problem Identification: Select a challenge relevant to your business that teams can address creatively. This could be improving internal processes or brainstorming new product ideas.
- Team Formation: Organize cross-functional teams to encourage diverse perspectives.
- Execution: Provide teams with the necessary tools (like virtual whiteboards) and set clear guidelines for presenting their solutions.
- Presentation: Conclude with presentations where each team shares their ideas, fostering an environment of constructive feedback.
Estimated time: 1.5 hours
Time slot: lunch break/time after work
Resources: online workspace, a virtual whiteboard, or any other tool that lets people collect ideas quickly and easily.
Pro tip: Invite a facilitator or a coach when working with big teams.
6. Virtual escape room
Virtual escape rooms are not too different from physical ones. They offer immersive and challenging experiences which promote teamwork and boost your employees’ problem-solving skills.
What’s the plan?
There’s none, actually. You just reserve the time, join the virtual space and work hard altogether to find the way out.
Estimated time: 2+ hours
Time slot: after work
Resources: Access to a free or paid virtual escape room
Escape rooms to try (all free):
Pro tip: This idea doesn’t fit the teams noted for lack of cooperation, as the unexpected challenges will only increase tension.
Employee Engagement Ideas for Offline Teams
Despite being together 40+ hours a week, offline teams also struggle to get engaged at work. Problems may be caused by poor recognition, the inability to maintain a healthy work-life balance, or the lack of employee development opportunities.
To overcome these challenges, organizations need to increase their comfort and dissolve the tension that may arise.
7. Mystery Lunch
Mystery lunches let employees meet and connect with colleagues from different departments or teams. They promote cross-functional collaboration and build stronger relationships.
What’s the plan?
Prepare a list of questions that would help absolute strangers get to know each other over a relaxed conversation. Randomly pair your employees and ask them to have lunch together in a local cafe or canteen they both like. Offer the questionnaire you prepared to those who feel too shy.
Estimated time: 1 hour
Time slot: lunch break
Pro tip: Try to be wise when creating pairs. Ensure that their work schedules and food preferences don’t clash.
8. Desk Decoration Competition
Desk decoration competitions and office makeover challenges bring excitement and change. Apart from that can boost your employee morale and simply liven up the workspace.
What’s the plan?
Ask your employees to decorate their desks in a certain style and vote for the best idea and implementation.
Estimated time: 2+ hours
Time slot: coffee break
Pro tip: If you select Halloween, Christmas, Thanksgiving, or another popular holiday as your theme, you can buy some simple decorations and give them to those who couldn’t or didn’t want to participate to motivate them.
9. Garage Sale
A garage sale is much more than just an opportunity to declutter and find new homes for some useful but unwanted items. By organizing a garage sale at the workplace, you promote sustainability and conscious consumption.
What’s the plan?
You set the date, arrange a place, and ask your colleagues to bring their lots to work. During the lunch break, they will display them to potential buyers and sell them.
Estimated time: 3+ hours
Time slot: lunch break
Resources: a place to display the goods and sticky notes to use as price labels
Pro tip: The prices shouldn’t be high. Actually, you can completely exclude the money from the process and offer people to exchange their things for sweet treats or other goodies they like. All the staff left unsold can be donated to charity organizations.
10. Potluck lunch
Potluck lunches are a lot about diversity and inclusion. They give your employees a chance to share their cultural foods and bond over a meal.
What’s the plan?
Let your colleagues bring their favorite dishes to work to share and enjoy.
Estimated time: 1 hour
Time slot: lunch break/coffee break
Resources: A hall or a coffee point where everyone can gather, plates and cutlery
Pro tip: If you don’t have the capacity for a big gathering, opt for a cook-off competition where people present their signature receipts.
Employee Engagement Tips and Tricks for HRs
Businesses need to be proactive in identifying and addressing potential issues that may impact employee engagement, such as communication breakdowns, lack of collaboration, or burnout. And this is where HRs come into play.
HRs are responsible for creating and implementing strategies to promote employee engagement and retention. They play a key role in understanding the needs and motivations of employees and designing policies and programs that meet those needs.
So our last but not least section is devoted to how an HR should act to make the company staff members motivated, productive, and committed to the organization’s success.
11. Acts of Appreciation
Rewarding employees and celebrating their accomplishments is a simple and effective way to engage employees and increase employee morale. However, we often celebrate work instead of celebrating people, and this should definitely change.
- Showcase your employees’ personal achievements and important moments along with their hard work;
- Build a strong acknowledgment culture by letting people reward each other through tools like Giftigram or Fond;
- Offer extra personalized bonuses such as tickets to local events to the winners of exciting titles like “Sales Rep of the Month” or “The Most Productive QA.”
12. Training and mentorship
New hires are not the only ones in need of your care and attention. All staff members equally want to develop new skills and advance in their careers. By investing in employee development, you can increase employee efficiency and retention.
- Make sure new employees can reach out to their more experienced peers and get the knowledge and support they are looking for;
- Make a list of the renowned industry conferences and events available across the company and allocate be ready to purchase access to the most popular ones;
- Don’t hesitate to invite coaches, influencers, and representatives of similar companies for networking and experience exchange.
13. Wellness programs
Offering access to online or offline wellness courses shows your employees you prioritize their health and well-being over your revenue.
- Find a program that offers maximum flexibility in terms of time and choice of courses;
- Encourage whole teams to join together;
- Adapt your office cafe menu to the needs of those who train or just want to eat healthily.
14. Merchandise givaways
Branded apparel constantly reminds your colleagues of the company’s values and goals. By offering merchandise as a reward or incentive, you can provide a sense of belonging and increase retention.
- Create a kit to equip a comfortable working environment;
- Send out branded birthday gifts and appreciation trinkets;
- Make your merchandise sustainable and helpful.
15. Surveys
By listening to employee feedback and taking action to address their concerns, you maintain transparency and trust and make your staff feel valued.
- Poll your teams on a regular basis to ensure they are satisfied with their work;
- Create a messaging channel to collect suggestions on how you can make the working environment better;
- Be transparent and regularly report about the implemented and planned improvements.
The Final Word
By investing in employee engagement, you invest in the long-term success of your business. To make sure your investment pays off, you just need to find the activities and measures that resonate with your company culture and plan them the right way.
