The top five employee engagement activities you can plan today 

Running a business can come with its fair share of challenges and difficulties. But business owners and managers around the world agree that managing people is certainly one of the top challenges of running a business. 

Disengaged and unmotivated employees are not only tough to manage and communicate with, but they can also be a huge drain on the business, impact productivity and impact the bottom line. Poor employee engagement could have an impact on your customer experience activities and turnover of the company. Statistics show that disengaged employees can cost you up to 34% of their salaries, which is a huge drain on your company. 

We took a look at the five things you can start doing today to vastly improve your employee engagement activities in your company. 

Host a virtual event

Lockdowns and restrictions in 2020 meant that employees were forced to work from home and companies had to pivot their operations completely. Employee engagement activities and personalization became more and more difficult, and managers found it tricky to engage new hires for the company. 

A great way to keep your employees connected and engaged with your company and each other is to host a virtual event. Platforms like Zoom and Teams have made it possible to create and run these kinds of events. 

And, luckily for you, there are so many virtual event ideas that you can consider for your employees. In order to encourage your employees to join the event, make sure the event runs during, or as close to the end of working hours as possible. Choose a great theme and even consider rewarding attendance and participation with prizes. You can also choose to send the employees event-related hampers like snacks, drinks or even game-related accessories. 

Recognition and award month-ends

Recognition and appreciation is the number one driver of employee engagement and satisfaction in the workplace. Once an employee starts feeling like their hard work is being noted and appreciated, they will not only continue reaching targets but will most likely set higher personal targets. 

Regular awards and recognition are critical to keeping your staff motivated to reaching and exceeding the targets and goals set. Month-end events are a great way to set aside time in or out of the office to provide your staff with a bit of a break and to thank them for the hard work in the month. 

You will create a healthy environment of competition between team members and provide a safe space for your staff to blow off some steam and interact with each other. Consider providing snacks and drinks as a general thank you to the whole team. 

Training and learning lunches

In order to keep your employees motivated and on top of things, you will need to keep teaching and educating them. With relevant, updated knowledge, your employees will be equipped to perform optimally within their roles. This, in turn, will motivate them to continue the acceleration of their growth trajectory in your organization. 

Group coaching programs and learning lunches can be held in or out the office, or now, even virtually. Not only does this provide a chance for networking, especially with external training, but your employees will feel like you are investing in them. 

External training and conferences encourage networking and engagement with peers in the same field or position. This could result in sharing of best practices, new ideas and new learnings that they can bring back into the business. 

Team building

Team building has had a solid foundation within organizations for decades, and there is a very good reason why. It encourages individuals from various teams to work together and collaborate to achieve certain results. In many cases, team buildings are made up of a variety of exercises that call on different individuals to make use of their different strengths and abilities.

Teams need to use critical skills like communication, planning, problem-solving and conflict resolution to achieve their results. They are usually competing against other teams with a reward at the end of the activity, which heightens the motivation to succeed. Healthy competition is also important to push your employees to succeed at various tasks. 

These kinds of activities are a great way to split up teams that usually work together. This allows employees to engage with employees they might not work with and communicate with on a regular basis. Not only will team members be seen in a different light, but employees will be able to fully grasp the strengths and abilities as well as roles of each team member.

Transform your communication channels

Last, but not least, communication. Communication is vital to the success of any company globally. With COVID-19, companies have had to scramble to bring in new methods of communication to keep employees engaged at all times. Business leaders and managers have reported that they have struggled with employees not being available during working hours and a drop in engagement during the pandemic. 

Luckily, there are a number of platforms that you can use to effectively manage your team. Real-time communication and chats can be done through platforms like Slack or Chanty. Projects and progress management is possible through platforms like Trello or Monday.com. Here, you are able to set projects and goals, assign them to teams and individuals and monitor and manage their progress. 

Lastly, you can track timing and employee hours through platforms like Toggl or Hubstaff. Virtual employee management might be a bit more tricky than in-person management, but it certainly is possible with the available platforms.

Last thoughts

The key way to keep your employees engaged and satisfied is to keep those communication channels open, provide them with feedback, reward, and recognition and allow them to provide feedback to you. Your employees should be comfortable communicating and discuss ideas and concerns freely with you to improve the running of your company.