Trying to build a stellar company?
Then, for sure, you know that after clients, employees are your foot soldiers.
They’re the ones with new ideas, constantly interacting with your customer base.
Always ready to help take your company to the next level.
But here’s a quick reality check: A
side from their salary, what’s in it for them?
What’s the “thing” that motivates them so they’re constantly excited about your company?
That’s why employee engagement is paramount; setting up systems that can make your company a happy place to work.
Not sure how to do that?
We have some great ideas for you.
In this guide, you’ll find 30 ideas that can help you transform into better engaging employees.
You know, get them from just “your workers” to advocates.
So without further ado, let’s get the ball rolling.
Table of Contents
Professional Growth and Development
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Work-Life Balance
Everyone remembers the COVID era. A period that redefined the work culture as we know it.
Then came the great resignation where employees in the U.S. voluntarily resigned from their workplaces.
One of the reasons?
People began to reconsider their work-life balance.
Weighing what was more important to them. Work or living their best life?
Many went on living their best life.
Anyway, new reports show that the great resignation is over.
But work-life balance is still a thing for many people. So if you want to have a workplace employees would like to be a part of, you need to consider it.
And here are some ideas to set you on track.
1. Provide customizable benefits packages
You’re a kind boss, you want to give employees benefits they’d enjoy, right?
Then, you should consider providing customizable benefit plans for them.
This kind takes employee differences into account.
For instance, the benefit a mother would value will be quite different from a Baby Boomer employee. Or a Gen-Z worker who’s single.
The point is, personalized perks allow employees to use their benefits the way they like.
Instead of being “coerced” into enjoying a one-size-fits-all package.
Customizable benefits can include things like:
- Flexible spending accounts, where employees can get things they’d like.
- Personalized wellness benefits, so everyone goes for a wellness plan that works for them.
- Remote work stipends for the OGs working from home.
- Personalized insurance plans, to allow workers to pick what they want to insure.
2. Allow flexible work schedules or remote work options
As you know, a lot of things changed after the pandemic.
People left offices to work at home. And that trend doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.
First, it was fully remote employees. But for some people, it’s now a hybrid arrangement.
According to a report by McKinsey, 56% of employees in major global cities are hybrid workers, while 37% go to the office every day.
So if you want to attract and retain top talents, it’s an idea you should consider.
Give employees the choice to work remotely or schedule when they want to work.
3. Provide flexible paid time-off policies
What does your current PTO policy look like?
Is it so complex that employees are scared to approach HR to ask for time off?
You see, paid time off is beneficial to everyone, including you as an employer.
Sure, it might be great to see staff putting in long work hours. But that wouldn’t benefit you in the long run.
Those hard-working employees might experience burnout at any time. And that could make you lose lots of profit.
Best way to avoid scenarios like that?
Give workers flexible paid time off. This means giving them more freedom around their schedules. You allow them to do their thing. And you judge them based on their performance, not attendance.
4. Establish a choose-your-own lunch break
Gone are the days of setting lunch hours for employees.
Not because there’s anything wrong with that. But because the way people work is different. Especially in the creative space.
Some people prefer to take their lunch break at 3 p.m. because they’ll probably be wrapping up work at that time.
If they took it earlier, chances are they won’t be as productive.
Others don’t mind taking their break earlier.
So, to ensure everyone is satisfied, a better option is to introduce flexible lunch breaks.
5. Offer paid time off for volunteering activities
Do your employees have a social cause they’re into?
Or perhaps it’s even within your company.
Encourage them to go for it. And support them by offering paid time off during the day-to-day activities.
It tells them you’re concerned about their passion. In turn, they’ll be more committed to your company.
But then supporting your staff’s work-life balance is just one of the many ways to engaging employees.
Another alternative is to get involved in their career growth. Let’s see how.
Professional Growth and Development
According to a 2023 Workplace Learning Report by LinkedIn, three of the top five factors people consider when pursuing new jobs are development opportunities to stretch, grow, and develop new skills.
It went on to say that people who aren’t learning will leave.
Also, when asked which factors are most important when considering a new job opportunity, 60% of employees aged 18-49 mentioned opportunities to learn new skills.
So if you want to improve employee engagement in your office, think professional growth.
It’s a big deal to your workers. Here are some thoughts to help you get started.
6. Provide training programs, workshops, and mentorship opportunities
Create opportunities for employees to develop their skills through workshops.
It doesn’t have to be a regular training program setup.
You can go with employees…
- Attending conferences.
- Hanging out with an industry leader.
- Hackathons.
- Boot camps.
- Shadowing a team member.
- Getting trained on other roles in your organization.
- Learning about how the company works.
In the words of Rajnish Borah, career development should be a part of your employee development value proposition.
So let it reflect in how you organize training programs.
7. Implement a robust onboarding program
Your onboarding program is the first impression new hires have of your brand.
It’s one of the best places to let employees know they’re in the right place.
As such, it needs to be “fire.”
Your onboarding culture should help new hires…
- Feel welcome.
- Get access to everything they need.
- Become familiar with their teammates.
So, how do you pull that off? Here are some steps you can take.
- Outline everything your new guys should know. Company culture. Policies. Team process. Who’s responsible for what? Tools needed. Skills. Expectations.
- List logistical needs for new hires. Tech and workspace setup. Office access. Etc.
- Who should they meet? Trainers? Co-workers? Mentors? Teammates?
- Set up a timeline for the process. When should it start? What training should come first? Which skills, too? How long would it take?
Feel free to throw in a fun event to get new hires settled in quickly.
The bottom line is: don’t sleep on your onboarding process.
8. Allocate a learning and development budget for employees
So we’ve mentioned organizing training programs. That’s learning.
But, you see, there are times an employee sees a course they’d like to take.
And it’s maybe pretty expensive.
Sometimes, courses like that are even beneficial for their department. But because they don’t have the funds for it, it gets swept under the bus.
Wait, how does this concern me?
Well, you’d agree that whatever they learn while working for you will be applied in your company.
So it’s your employees’ way of developing themselves to move the company forward.
How can you help?
Set a budget aside for things like this. And let them know it’s available.
9. Enable employees to shadow leaders in different departments
Another way to enable professional development in the workplace is to allow workers to mirror department leads.
You can start from their department and branch into others.
It’s a good opportunity to broaden their knowledge base, and get you potential leaders ready.
10. Encourage employees to pursue innovative projects or ideas
Let your workplace be a safe space for employees.
Motivate everyone to pursue “passion” projects within and outside the organization.
This can be them writing on the company’s blog, or creating a portfolio for clients.
Older employees organizing training sessions for the newbies.
Planning to host interdepartmental competitions. You know, stuff like that.
But just ensure you allocate some time for projects like this so your workers aren’t overstretched.
11. Create platforms for employees to share industry insights and knowledge
This can be in the form of a monthly catch up.
Where everyone comes to share ideas or new insights they’ve learned.
You can use that opportunity to bring in thought leaders. Organize Q&A sessions.
And just make it a tradition so everyone knows that time of the month is about sharing knowledge.
All right, so career development…
On to the next.
Social and Team-building
You want your workplace to become a fun center that everyone is excited to come to?
Then, you need to take the social life of your company to a whole new level.
It should become a hub.
A center of attraction where both work and fun are taken seriously.
If you catch my drift.
How do you pull that off?
Check out some ideas that can help you.
12. Organize team-building events or retreats
If you’ve been waiting for a sign to start hosting team-building events for your employees, this is it.
A sign from the digital skies.
Events like this are usually a great way to enable a sense of camaraderie within the team. Improve team communication.
According to a 2022 survey by Team Building Hub, 63% of leaders confirmed that their team’s communication improved after a team-building activity.
And 61% confirmed they experienced high employee morale.
Now, you’re probably wondering what kind of activities you can organize.
Don’t worry, we got you.
You can check out this article we wrote on team-building activities. You’ll have over 30 ideas there for you.
13. Host social gatherings
Here’s something else that can spice up your office’s social life.
You can organize:
- Movie outings or outdoor moving screenings.
- Happy hours on Fridays after office hours.
- Game night. Could be trivia, board games, or whatever you decide.
- Salsa night.
- Themed potluck.
The list is endless. You just need to find something that works for your team.
14. Encourage employees to participate in community service or volunteering
If you run a small team, getting everyone involved in volunteer service would be a great way to foster communication.
You all could volunteer at a shelter. Clean up the neighborhood. Spend some hours at an animal shelter. Plant trees in your community. Donate books to a school library. Mentor kids on career day.
Set up a committee and assign roles to everybody so they’re all involved.
15. Allow employees to take the lead on organizing events
Ah yes, just what we were talking about.
Get everyone to participate and lead different aspects of all company events.
Planning an awards night?
Appoint an employee to take the lead role. Let them select their teammates and trust they’re going to deliver a remarkable event.
This way, you’ll be building one big team where everyone has a sense of work and social responsibility.
We’re now halfway through this idea hub on employee engagement.
Let’s dive into the other half.
Communication and Feedback
Communication is like the foundation of employee engagement.
You want to build relationships with your workers such that they can freely share their thoughts with you.
Communication defines how the whole team relates to each other.
So, here are some thoughts on how to improve communication in your office.
16. Regularly gather feedback through employee surveys
You need to have a system for gathering surveys occasionally.
It can be through surveys. Physical or digital.
Or small talks during company events.
You can even build a feedback box where workers can just drop their thoughts whenever.
But the point is employee feedback needs to be a part of your company culture.
Oh, and when you do get it, do your best to address any pending concerns.
That’s the only way to ensure people are going to keep responding.
17. Encourage open communication
The concept of open communication in a work environment usually refers to the ability of employees to talk.
Talk about new ideas. Share and receive feedback.
And just generally speak like they’re an important part of the team.
Now, one of the best ways to encourage open communication is to take the first step.
Come down from your high horse and let workers get to know you as a person. Talk about your weaknesses if you can. And be 100% honest. If you make a mistake, don’t play the boss card. Admit it and take steps to resolve it.
In doing that, it becomes easy for them to trust you.
And engage in open dialogues.
Here are some other tips to help you promote transparent communication:
- Show respect and empathy.
- Appreciate efforts and be understanding of shortcomings.
- Resolve conflicts diplomatically.
- Be transparent as much as possible.
18. Have shorter meetings
Everyone knows meetings are important, yeah.
You want to do a follow-up on the team’s progress. Strategize on how you’re going to pitch your next client.
They’re a must-have. We know.
But the truth is, webinars or meetings can be boooooring and draining, too.
So except it’s an essential meeting, try to keep it short.
And if it’s going to be long, make sure to schedule short breaks.
19. Make employees feel better about feedback
Feedback can be great sometimes. Other times it sucks.
And if you could become Casper the ghost in those instances, you probably would. As such, you want to be gentle when giving feedback.
It should be constructive and in a way that shows employees you’re concerned about their development. Here are some tips for delivering constructive feedback:
- Start with the positive takes.
- Be direct and not vague about what needs changing.
- Ask questions for clarity.
- Offer possible solutions.
- Be 100% supportive of that employee.
- Use the appropriate engagement tool, like Slack.
20. Allow employees to contribute to a blog or newsletter
Does your company have a resource section?
A blog, newsletter or podcast?
Then, let employees know they’re free to contribute if they want.
And encourage them to chip in, too.
However, make sure to assign them a task in the resource section like it’s their regular work.
You can’t say they’re free to contribute and bombard them with tasks back-to-back.
That’s also a way to show you’re concerned about their development.
21. Implement a digital platform for anonymous feedback
In the spirit of open communication, it’ll be a great idea if you can create an anon feedback system for your company.
Just something anyone can log in to share something they notice but couldn’t say.
You’ll be surprised at the solid ideas you’d get from there.
***
Communication is no doubt a great tool for boosting employee experience.
But there are other tools you can explore. And one of them is employee recognition and rewards.
Recognition and Rewards
Have you ever received an award before?
Maybe you were the best athlete in high school and got a plaque. How did that make you feel?
Happy? Proud?
And that was what? Perhaps 10 or 15 years ago. Even now as you think of it, you’re probably beaming with smiles.
That’s the effect recognition and rewards have on people.
Now, imagine how that would make your employees feel.
If you’d like to recreate the scenario, we have some ideas for you.
22. Implement a recognition program
You need to set up a system for appreciating hard work. That’s the first thing you want to do.
Why?
It’ll help you create a culture where everyone recognizes hard work and effort.
And how do you pull that off?
Here’s how:
- Set criteria for recognition. What kind of behavior or achievement do you want to reward?
- Determine the kind of recognition you want to give. Shoutouts? Verbal praise? Fun experience? Gift cards?
- Make it easy, transparent, fair, and accessible to everyone.
- Mention the employees’ feats during in-person meetings.
- Monitor the program engagement and people’s participation.
- Collect feedback and evolve.
23. Introduce employee awards
Most punctual employee of the year. Best employee of the month.
Employee with the most professional courses.
Those are examples of awards you can give employees at different points.
Awards are a good way to create a positive work environment. Show employees that you see their hard work and you appreciate their efforts.
Brainstorming new ideas for your employee awards?
Don’t worry, check out this article. You’ll find about 17 ideas there.
24. Acknowledge work anniversaries and milestones
It’s your employee’s one-year work anniversary?
They deserve to be celebrated.
That’s one way you can show they’re an important part of your team.
Someone just completed their master’s degree? PhD?
Got published on a prominent website?
Celebrating their birthday?
You want to acknowledge feats like that.
It’s probably not going to be so easy. But you can try.
Maybe just diarize important dates like birthdays or wedding anniversaries so you don’t forget.
And for other events, you plan to celebrate them as they come.
25. Partner with local businesses for employee discounts
Another thing you can do to reward employees is to collaborate with local stores.
A grocery store. Bar. Restaurant.
Negotiate a discount for your employees. Perhaps say they’re going to be your go-to store for the company. And so they should give anyone buying something from them a 10% discount on all purchases.
Just saying.
It might be a good practical way to incentivize employees for their efforts.
***
All right, we’re heading into the last lap of our employee engagement tour.
Shall we?
Wellness and Health
According to a 2023 Deloitte report, 8-in-10 employees struggle to improve their well-being.
And 60% of employees and 64% of managers say they’re willing to quit their jobs for one that supports their well-being.
That tells you one thing: wellness is a big deal to employees.
If you want to attract and retain workers who’ll be committed to your company, this is something to take seriously.
Like always, we have some ideas that can help you.
26. Organize wellness initiatives
The world is literally your oyster for initiatives like this.
You can organize:
- Fitness challenges.
- Mental health workshops.
- Nutrition programs where everyone shares healthy snacks and recipes.
- Stress management workshops.
Set up meditation rooms for relaxation. Perhaps a gaming room, too. Offer gym memberships.
Provide counseling and support services.
But here’s the kicker. If you want something employees would really appreciate, your best bet is to ask them. Put out a survey to gather feedback so you’re sure the initiative is what they want.
27. Offer counseling services
You should probably consider hiring a therapist or counselor for your team.
Someone employees can talk to when they’re feeling down.
You’re a great boss …
But the truth is you may not have the time to listen to things with which they’re dealing.
However, someone who’s a professional won’t only listen. They can also offer solid solutions for whatever they’re dealing with.
28. Offer ergonomic assessments
This is probably a fancy way of saying to evaluate your employee’s work environment so they can work safely.
It’s a good way to help improve productivity. Reduce discomfort and fatigue.
Minimize workplace injuries.
There are different ways to perform an ergonomic assessment.
You can get an expert to watch the employees while they work and note possible risks.
Workers fill out a survey about their work environment.
The goal? To identify risks with the employees’ workspace and help them set up changes.
29. Offer a range of health insurance plans
Oh, there are quite a number of plans for this list.
You have health maintenance organization plans (HMO).
Exclusive provider organization.
Catastrophic health insurance.
Health savings accounts.
The bottom line is to give employees different choices from which to pick.
Using a one-fit-all approach isn’t advisable in this case.
30. Allow employees to take a wellness day
Your workers have been performing beyond expectations? Smashed their deliverables back-to-back?
Encourage them to take a day off to relax and keep the juices flowing.
Don’t let them wait for day-offs alone. Especially if you see they’ve been putting in extra hours without you asking.
***
Okay, people!!!
It’s a wrap.
Tips, tricks, and inspiration delivered straight to your inbox.
Start Building a More Engaged Workforce
And so we’ve come to the end of this guide.
You now know what it takes to boost employee engagement, and take it from good to great.
But why stop there?
Won’t it be nice to have an excellent description when people are talking about your organization?
One way to get that will be to throw gifts into the mix.
Personalized gifts of which employees can’t get enough.
Wondering where to get stuff like that?
Not a problem.
Explore SwagDrop’s shop and you’ll find all kinds of gifts that improve employee engagement.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q1. How can a company improve employee engagement in a remote team?
Here are some ideas to consider:
- Host virtual social events.
- Check in regularly with them.
- Celebrate milestones and achievements.
- Include them in important conversations.
- Offer customized benefit packages for them.
- Ensure you have a gift-packed onboarding experience.
Q2. How can companies measure the effectiveness of their employee engagement strategies?
To measure the effectiveness of your employee engagement strategy, you want to…
- Put out employee engagement surveys.
- Schedule one-on-one meetings.
- Calculate employee net promoter score.
- Monitor your employee retention rate.
- Measure productivity rate.
- Calculate employee absenteeism rate.
- Measure employee job satisfaction rate.
- Calculate employee turnover rate.
Q3. How can small businesses improve employee engagement activities on a budget?
You might want to go for cost-effective engagement initiatives, such as:
- Offering flexible schedules.
- Offering mentorship to new hires.
- Allowing shorter meeting times.
- Showing appreciation.
- Encourage open communication.
- Give a shout-out to employees on their memorable days.
