Employee Engagement Ideas To Keep Your Staff Happy
Workplace engagement is essentially how employees feel about their company and their job role. It’s the emotional commitment and connection they have which goes above just job satisfaction. Employee engagement directly impacts staff wellbeing and business performance. When employees are engaged and happy, they take greater pride in their work and achieve more – engaged employees are 13% more productive!
Oh, and you know what they say… happy employees, happy customers. But really, you should be trying to keep your team happy and engaged regardless of the fact it benefits your business. So, join us as we explore twenty creative employee engagement ideas to help you connect with your people and lift them up.
What is team engagement in the workplace?
Staff engagement refers to the emotional connection employees have with their work, business and its goals. Companies with high team engagement levels benefit from increased productivity, lower staff turnover, better quality work and much more.
There are many factors that positively impact engagement in the workplace, including:
- Good leadership: Honest communication, trust and understanding from managers all strengthen relationships with employees.
- Meaningful work: Ensuring employees understand their company’s mission and goals will increase engagement.
- Recognition: 51% of employees state that recognition from managers positively impacts their morale and engagement!
- Good relationships: Positive connections between teams and individuals helps create a healthy, uplifting work environment.
- Development opportunities: Providing opportunities for employees to grow and learn helps foster long-term commitment and satisfaction.
These collectively contribute to higher workplace engagement and business success, which benefits everyone!
Why is employee engagement important?
Staff engagement is fundamental to business performance because it encourages positive connections between employees and their company. By investing in engagement initiatives, you’ll naturally boost employee wellbeing, productivity, growth and job satisfaction, which will result in better overall business performance. Really, it’s a no-brainer.
But if you’re not convinced yet, here are some more benefits of elevating your employee engagement strategy:
- Increased happiness and satisfaction: Engaged employees experience greater satisfaction from their work, therefore they’re more fulfilled and have a strong sense of purpose – pretty uplifting, right?
- Opportunities for growth: Engagement initiatives provide opportunities for people to upskill and advance their careers.
- Improved motivation and morale: Engaged individuals are more motivated and committed to contribute to their roles which helps them progress and feel energised by their work.
Benefits for employees
- Higher productivity: Highly engaged teams are 21% more productive than those with low engagement, with employees often going above and beyond.
- Improved retention rates: Companies with high workplace engagement experience a 43% reduction in turnover rates, which helps them hold on to top talent while also reducing recruitment costs.
- Strong workplace culture: Engaged staff help foster a positive and collaborative workplace culture which boosts morale and productivity.
- Better business performance: High engagement positively impacts employee performance, quality of work and morale, therefore, overall business success.
- Happier customers: Engaged team members consistently deliver better service, resulting in happier, more satisfied customers. Hooray!
Benefits for employers
20 unbeatable staff engagement ideas
Now you know why employee engagement matters, it’s time to focus on ways to improve it. Below we’ve shared our top engagement ideas to give you plenty of inspiration for developing your engagement strategy. Take a look!
1. Offer an employee benefits package
Give your people a real boost with a tailored employee benefits scheme that supports their emotional, physical and financial wellbeing. Perks like corporate gym memberships, mental health resources, paid time off and flexible working hours will help your team feel their best and reach their full potential. In turn, this will increase morale and performance, while reducing employee burnout and staff turnover.
So, get to know your team and deliver the perks that they feel are valuable. By demonstrating that you understand your employees’ needs and offering meaningful benefits, you’ll increase engagement and drive business performance.
More Employee Benefits2. Organise team bonding days
With the rise of hybrid and remote working, it’s easy for employees to feel isolated or disconnected at work. Regularly bringing your team together for events like team-building workshops, volunteer days and unique activities (in case you’re interested, we did The Crystal Maze a while back!) helps break down communication barriers and encourages people to get to know each other better. This positively impacts team engagement by creating an uplifting, inclusive culture that your people want to be part of.
3. Create mentorship programmes
Drive engagement by pairing your employees with experienced mentors who can offer valuable support and guidance for career growth. For example, create a mentorship program where junior staff members are paired with senior leaders who have experience in a field that aligns with their aspirations. This will give your employees a sense of belonging and reassurance that you’re invested in their future, while also promoting career development. In turn, you’ll boost job satisfaction engagement, retention, and overall company success.
4. Offer a better work-life balance
Encourage healthy working habits and support your team’s wellbeing by offering initiatives like holiday trading, a cycle to work scheme, flexible hours and remote work options. Even smaller changes make a difference. For example, allowing your team to work from home when they need to can improve focus, resulting in better productivity and higher quality work.
But whatever you choose, a good work-life balance will help your employees manage personal and professional responsibilities better, while giving them the freedom to do more of the things that lift them up. This helps reduce employee stress and increase engagement.
More Employee Benefits
5. Ask for feedback
Creating a safe environment and encouraging employees to voice their thoughts will show them their opinions matter. It’ll also give people a sense of belonging that means they naturally want to get involved – in other words, engage!
In terms of how to ask for feedback, regular surveys, one-to-one check-ins and town hall meetings are a good place to start. They provide a dedicated place or time for employees to share ideas, concerns, and suggestions. You can then use those insights to further develop your engagement strategy and business processes for maximum results.
6. Recognise employee achievements
In case you missed the stat, 51% of employees say that direct recognition boosts their morale and engagement. So, it’s fair to say that introducing an employee reward and recognition scheme is a brilliant way to engage your team and lift their spirits.
Whether it’s public praise, milestone awards, peer-to-peer appreciation, or bonuses, personalised recognition makes employees feel seen, while also letting them know their efforts are appreciated. When people feel their efforts are worthwhile, they’re more motivated to work harder and go the extra mile which gives them even more opportunities to get recognised – it’s a cycle fuelled by our mantra, ‘Recognise, repeat’. Try it yourself and watch as it enhances job satisfaction and strengthens loyalty, leading to increased productivity and lower turnover!
More Employee Recognition7. Set realistic objectives and goals
Giving your team clearly defined, reasonable targets to work toward will provide direction and purpose, therefore increasing motivation. You want your employees to feel challenged while also ensuring the objectives and goals you set are feasible. For example, setting a monthly sales target that is both ambitious and achievable will motivate your team to strive for more without making them feeling overwhelmed or disheartened at the prospect of an unrealistic target. Getting the balance just right will lead to higher performance, job satisfaction, and overall business growth.
Oh, and when your people hit their targets, remember to recognise and reward their efforts to make them feel valued and maintain momentum.
8. Offer professional development opportunities
It really does pay to take care of your employees and invest in their growth – if you don’t, they’ll find another company that will! Show your team members that you care about their progression by offering development opportunities such as training, workshops, or mentorship programs. By investing in employee development, you’ll build stronger relationships with your people and reduce the risk of losing your best employees. As a result, job satisfaction, loyalty and engagement will increase, while staff turnover and recruitment costs will lower.
9. Foster a diverse and inclusive workforce
Make an effort to embrace different perspectives and encourage all your team members to do the same. You can do this by implementing diversity training and diverse hiring practices to create an inclusive work environment where people can thrive and be their authentic selves. This will ultimately drive creativity and innovation, unlocking higher engagement, morale, teamwork, and overall business performance in the process.
10. Create personal growth plans
Working with employees to create personalised growth plans that focus on aspects such as skill development or helping them step into leadership roles will help them set clear career goals and identify the steps needed to achieve them. By investing in your people’s career development, you’ll help them work to their strengths and do the things they’re passionate about. Naturally, this will increase job satisfaction, foster stronger long-term relationships and boost productivity.
11. Promote happiness and wellbeing
When people feel good in themselves, and they have the support they need, they’re more likely to connect with others, be engaged at work and be able to work to their full capability. That’s why as an employer, it’s crucial that you promote happiness and wellbeing!
Show your people you care about their overall wellness by offering employee wellbeing benefits that support their mental, physical, and emotional health. These could include financial management tools, wellness programs, flexible hours, health cash plans, free eye tests and counselling. As long as you provide meaningful wellbeing support, you’ll help your people thrive.
More Employee Wellbeing12. Be open and transparent
Almost half of C-suite executives believe that the key to fostering a successful and dynamic organisational culture is for employees to fully understand and embrace the company’s purpose. Without that understanding of their company, employees are also far less likely to be engaged. The solution lies in practicing consistent, open and transparent communication to reinforce your business’ mission and values and build trust. Regularly share updates with your people through a range of comms channels such as emails, meetings and one-to-ones to make them feel informed and keen to engage with what’s going on.
13. Encourage innovation
Empower your team members to think creatively and contribute new ideas by organising events such as innovation challenges or brainstorming sessions. You’ll give them the chance to share their ideas freely, therefore, helping them feel valued and involved. This drives engagement by fostering a sense of inclusivity and collaboration, leading to improved problem-solving, productivity, and overall business growth. Hooray!
14. Internal networking events
Hosting networking events for your employees encourages them to connect with people they don’t usually work with which helps break down cross-departmental barriers and improve collaboration. Depending on the size of your company, you could arrange lunch-and-learns, cross-functional meetups or even big events at an off-site venue. The ultimate goal is to bring people together and encourage people to get to know each other better. Whether they share ideas, knowledge or simply bond over a shared love of football, these conversations increase engagement by strengthening relationships and improving communication in an inclusive environment.
15. Improve internal communication channels
We’ve already covered the importance of clear, transparent communication. But without the right communication channels in place, there’s a chance your messages just won’t get through! So, look at your current comms methods and identify which ones are the most effective and which ones need improvement.
It’s also worth remembering that there’s a huge variety of ways to communicate with your people, including via newsletters, team meetings, instant messaging platforms, email and even posters on the walls. The best approach is to use a few that work well for your business, so you stand a better chance of engaging with your people, reducing misunderstandings and enhancing transparency. The result is improved decision-making, faster problem-solving, and overall, a more efficient, unified team.
More Employee Communication16. Ensure engagement starts at the onboarding process
Find ways to integrate your engagement strategy into your onboarding process to help new team members feel welcomed, included and aligned with your company culture from the get-go. The best way to do this is to identify your current engagement challenges and focus on how to tackle them early on. So, say you struggle to engage with your team because they’re hybrid or remote workers. By organising in-person welcome sessions or regular off-site events throughout the year, you’ll make your business feel more tangible and help your team connect with it from the start.
Additionally, you could put more emphasis on introducing new hires to your team, explaining company values, and setting clear expectations. All these things will help them feel included and more engaged.
17. Offer staff discounts
Employee discounts are a brilliant way to support your team and help them do more of the things that help them feel on top of the world. By giving your employees access to perks like corporate gym memberships, shopping discounts, cinema savings and exclusive offers, you’ll empower them to make their money go further and boost their financial wellbeing while also enabling them to do more of the things that lift them up – whether it’s going out with friends, jetting off on holiday or focusing on their fitness.
Oh, and there’s more! Financial stress can have a huge negative impact on people’s overall wellbeing, but it also affects motivation, focus and job satisfaction. So by helping your employees make meaningful savings, you’ll show them you care about their wellness and that you’re actively taking steps to alleviate financial stress. This will go a long way to engaging your team and fostering long-lasting relationships that benefit both them and your business.
More Employee Discounts18. Brainstorming sessions
Organise collaborative sessions and interactive meetings where possible to encourage your team members to contribute their ideas and solutions. For example, you could set up regular sessions that focus on tackling business challenges or innovations for new products. These will empower your employees to put forward their thoughts and be creative which helps ensure they feel valued and involved in key decisions. In turn, you’ll create a better company culture where your people feel included, boosting engagement, collaboration and motivation in the process.
19. Empower your employees
Give your employees more autonomy and responsibility within their roles by allowing them to make decisions and lead initiatives where appropriate. Whether it’s giving your whole team the option to choose their working hours or individual team members more senior responsibilities, you’ll build trust and motivate your workforce by increasing their sense of ownership in their jobs. The outcome will be a happier, more innovative and productive team that better contributes to business performance. Pretty great, right?
20. Spread festive cheer
We’re not saying you have to don a red suit and shimmy your way down the office chimney but it’s definitely worth having a think about how you could spread seasonal cheer to lift your people up. Company events like parties, meals out and gift exchanges, along with putting up seasonal decorations, help create a positive and inclusive work environment. They also provide an opportunity to get everyone together so you can say thank you to your team at the end of the year and recognise their contributions.
Speaking of showing your appreciation, festive rewards are a fantastic way of giving something back to your employees and delivering a special treat they’ll remember. Whether it’s reward points that give people the freedom to choose their reward or shopping vouchers for their favourite shop, you can easily deliver boosts to all your team. It’s not a lot of effort from your side, but your team will get the appreciation they deserve and plenty of enjoyment out of receiving a personalised gift. That’s sure to raise their spirits and engage them!
More Christmas Rewards
Enhance employee engagement with Boostworks
Simply put, team engagement is fundamental for creating a thriving workplace. Highly engaged teams are more productive, motivated, and loyal, which leads to increased morale, better business performance, lower employee turnover and many other benefits. Now, how to unlock them…
The key to boosting engagement and sustaining it long-term is through a tailored benefits, reward and recognition offering that genuinely helps your people flourish. But remember that what makes one person thrive, isn’t the same for everyone.
With over 22 years of experience helping businesses boost their people, we understand that better than anyone! That’s why we’ve built flexible benefits solutions that empower businesses just like yours to ensure their employees feel truly valued, supported, and motivated.
Sound good? Why not book a chat with one of our people experts and let’s explore how we can enhance your employee engagement strategy to positively transform your business.
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