Employee Engagement Ideas
The steps towards creating a company with high employee and client satisfaction are not easy: engagement strategies that work for some may not work for others, and HR managers struggle to come up with new ways to keep their team happy and focused.
Failing to focus on your internal work environment can have disastrous consequences. your team will not want to work somewhere where they feel neglected or as though the efforts go unnoticed. In turn, this hugely decreases engagement and increases employee attrition.
That is why we have put together a definitive list of the top employee engagement ideas, from introducing flexible work hours to encouraging regular cross-team communication. No matter your company or employee composition, we can help you come up with ideas for staff engagement - keep reading to find out more!
The top 10 HR employee engagement ideas
1. Foster a transparent and approachable company culture
Your company should have a clear mission and values that make people want to work there. This means that your employees will feel comfortable speaking to their senior colleagues and voicing any thoughts or concerns they may have. A closed-off work atmosphere will decrease job satisfaction and will not make your staff feel valued or empowered.
Anxiety or concerns about doing something wrong will also decrease a lot if your employees feel like the company is approachable. This is beneficial for the entire company, as studies have shown that productivity and quality of work actually increase with an open work environment.
2. Have a visible chain of command
Having an accessible chain of command follows on naturally from having a transparent business culture, as both will encourage an engaged and receptive staff body. Not knowing anyone besides immediate colleagues and a line manager can make employees very detached from the company, and therefore feel no commitment to its success and progression.
To avoid this, make sure that each member of staff knows who their managers are, who the CEO is, and who they can go to with a problem. Introducing company-wide meetings or newsletters are also a great way of displaying visibility and increase engagement.
3. Introduce job perks
To improve employee engagement and performance, make sure that the job is worth doing. There are many benefits you can include in an employment package besides salary. These include regular dinner or drinks trips, gym memberships or exercise classes, discounts at certain shops or restaurants, sick pay, and much more.
Job perks will ensure employee retention and create a happy and positive working environment, which is vital to the success of any business.
4. Make your employees feel appreciated and valued
Making employees feel valued is key to both engagement and company integrity. If you want to instil trust and value in your team, you could try allowing them to set their location and hours. Letting them choose between remote work and flexible hours will place responsibility on their shoulders and let them know that you have confidence in them.
Companies with unhappy employees tend to have a high turnover of staff, which leads to low levels of productivity, poor quality work, and an atmosphere of disunity. All of these things will give the business a reputation for treating its staff poorly, which is the opposite of what you want to do.
5. Encourage personal projects
Employee engagement will increase when they are not being pressured to focus on work for 40 hours a week. Allowing your employees some time each day to breathe some fresh air and get their creative juices flowing and pursue a personal project will do wonders.
Regardless of what this project is, it will boost happiness and energy, which can only ever be beneficial in the workplace, right? What's more, your employees will return to work commitments after this time window with fresh eyes, rather than working through a task with little effort or inspiration.
6. Implement a reward or bonus scheme
The best employee engagement ideas revolve around letting your staff know that they are doing well and aiding the company, as this encourages them to carry on and feel like their efforts are worthwhile.
One great way to do this is to reward employees when they produce exceptional work. Positive reinforcement will make your team feel as though their work is being recognised, which in turn will keep them performing to a high standard.
Another popular type of bonus scheme is to incentivize employees by offering them rewards if they complete a certain amount of work. The reward could be something as simple as a day off work, or tickets to a show.
7. Set up regular meetings for employee feedback
To increase employee engagement and performance management, look into scheduling one-on-one meetings between team members and managers, and monthly meetings with all staff. Meetings are especially important for new hires in order to show them the ropes and teach them the core business values.
These meetings are crucial to establishing and building strong work relationships and provide an opportunity for employees to voice their opinions or apprehension about their job role. They also bridge the gap between employee, manager, and CEO, which can be a huge obstacle in promoting employee performance.
8. Host fun activities
Placing too much pressure on employees will lead to burnout, worry, and unhappiness. To prevent this from happening, keep a healthy balance of work and play. There are many events that you can put on, both remotely and in person.
Some examples of activities that have been proven to develop employees' engagement levels include cinema trips, themed office days, virtual escape rooms, and overnight stays. Each of these will solidify workplace relationships and help your employees to feel valued.
If you are not sure what kind of well-being activities to host, all you have to do is ask your employees. This is a much better option than taking a guess and spending money on something that no one is interested in.
9. Reinforce company values
Company core values let your employees and the outside world know what you deem important. Make sure that you practice what you preach and boost engagement by celebrating your team when they work in line with their job description and these values.
Reinforcing values and acting accordingly will also assure any new employees that your company is honest and respectable, which will inadvertently increase engagement. It also lets your staff know that your company is open about business decisions, why certain work is prioritised, and how their jobs contribute to this.
10. Ask your employees what they want
Every company is unique, and the simplest way of keeping a team engaged is by asking different employees how they would like to be rewarded and recognised.
For some, this may be salary bonuses when a work project is completed, for others, this may be a private email thanking them for displaying emotional intelligence. Even the act of speaking to your staff about this will boost morale by enabling you to provide meaningful employee recognition.
Taking the time to receive feedback from and listen to your team will help your company to grow and is the most effective way to increase engagement.
Final thoughts
There are so many HR employee engagement ideas out there, all you need to do is find the ones that will work best for your team and company. Even implementing one employee engagement idea from the list will boost participation inexplicably and help to make disengaged employees re-energized and committed.
Figuring out the perfect employee engagement strategy will take some time, and do not rush the process. To make sure you get it right, we recommend assigning someone the role of increasing and tracking engagement levels.
If you take one thing away from this, it is to never underestimate the importance of staff engagement to a company's progression.