Top 20 employee engagement ideas for a Happy Workplace

In any organization, employees are the backbone. Their performance and contributions make or break a company's reputation. To ensure your employees are giving their best, it is your responsibility to motivate and recognize them.

A motivated employee takes an interest in taking up new responsibilities and addressing the complex challenges. By doing so, they can meet an organization's long-term goals while also focusing on self-growth.

But when a company lacks appropriate tools to gauge employee motivation and satisfaction, it can affect retention. Likely, they may also switch to another company.

To ensure you create a positive work environment, you should develop employee engagement ideas.

It is an effort to bring employees closer to the organization. That way, they not only passively perform their roles and responsibilities but also play a core role in the decision-making process.

This blog will give you an understanding of employee engagement and its importance. Furthermore, you will learn about the different ideas for employee engagement that can contribute to your company's success.

What is employee engagement?

Employee engagement is an organization's effort to connect employees with their work, colleagues, and organizational values. The connection that the company establishes with employees is not a work relationship. Rather, it is an emotional and psychological bond that creates a positive working environment.

Organizations use various strategies to boost employee engagement and commitment. As they gain enthusiasm, employees in companies perform their roles and responsibilities better. It creates a sense of willingness in them to go the extra mile that can make the company a success.

Why Does Employee Engagement Look Different for Each Organization?

Ensuring employee engagement is critical for every company. Inexpensive employee engagement ideas increase productivity, foster a better work culture, and reduce turnover. Though the goal of employee engagement is the same across organizations, the process looks different in each.

The design of employee engagement ideas will depend on the industry your company serves, communication style, culture, and leadership.

For instance, you have a flexible work culture that thrives on collaboration. With various team-bonding activities, you can engage employees who will radiate a positive workforce.

Some companies focus on employees' expectations to boost engagement. In your company, for example, the employees may seek opportunities for growth and development. To ensure they are on the right track, you can incorporate advanced skill development strategies in your long-term company goals.

Key benefits of employee engagement

Employee engagement impacts all aspects of work. Through employee engagement ideas, you can create a happy work environment where employees thrive individually and as teams.

When employees collaborate in a thriving work environment, they are encouraged to push their limits and work better. And as a result, it allows the organization to flourish.

Moreover, employee engagement has certain key benefits, which are as follows:

• By incorporating the best employee engagement ideas, companies improve employee efficiency. When employees are invested in their jobs, they can provide high-quality work.
• Employee engagement is valuable for both employees and teams. The ideas that you create to foster engagement will produce a team of competent professionals. As they work together, it will naturally bring out the best in their team performance.
• Using effective employee engagement ideas can help you meet your company's objectives. As an employer, your core responsibility is to meet targets, whether sales or project completion. When you let employees participate in goal-setting, it gives them a sense of autonomy, which, in turn, helps them perform better.
• A demotivating work environment with an immense workload causes employee burnout. To ensure employees are happy with their work, you can use employee engagement tools to manage stress levels.
• Employee engagement also plays a significant role in retention. When you create initiatives to recognize their work, it motivates them to stay in the company for longer.

Top 20 employee engagement ideas

Since every organization is different, employee engagement ideas should be unique as well. Something that may work for you might not work for your competitors or organizations from other industries.

To unlock your employees' full potential, we've gathered some employee engagement ideas that work.

Let's check them out!

1. Engage employees through gamification ideas

Gamification or game-based learning can foster a productive working environment. It creates a friendly atmosphere and encourages employees to perform better.

When onboarding new employees to the teams, you can make them feel included by adding a trivia contest. Such a contest will foster an inclusive environment for new members, enabling them to learn about the organization's mission and values.

2. Introduce employee recognition

Every employee works hard in their own way. To ensure they are excited about their work, you can publicly recognize their contributions. When other employees see that their team members' work is not going unnoticed, it motivates them to work better as well.

To engage employees, you can give shoutouts to them regularly. Furthermore, you can send them newsletters or offer gifts to show your appreciation for their hard work.

3. Make use of embedded videos to bring the teams closer together

One of the best ways to improve employee engagement is to experiment with video options. Embedded videos are a dynamic way to grab employees' attention.

Rather than sending a text message to join a meeting, you can send a video to your employees' email addresses so they can participate. To connect employees across teams, the video systems can also feature GIFs and stickers that employees can send to each other to keep the conversation flowing. For employees who are working from different locations, embedded videos can be ideal remote employee engagement ideas.

4. Incorporate employee engagement surveys to understand their demands

Adding surveys is one of the key ways to engage employees. Not only does it encourage them to put their best work, but it also allows them to be part of the decision-making process.

Most organizations include anonymous surveys. It allows employees to express their thoughts more openly. And they expect that the organization will work on them. When they complete the surveys, it is your responsibility to monitor them and implement the necessary changes within the organization.

5. Work on internal communication campaigns

Employee engagement is possible when you create proper internal communication campaigns. It is essential to align the company's values with employees' objectives to create effective communication campaigns.

Suppose you want to send an invite to the remote workers to join the virtual office party, you need to filter out the other employee groups. Ensure that the communication that you establish with the teams is relevant to them.

6. Encourage Innovation

Employees are the primary source of innovation as they are familiar with their work. Allowing employees to experiment with work can bring innovation. It also gives them the authority and confidence to think out of the box.

Innovation also allows teams and organizations as a whole to improve. Employees can use new technologies to speed up their work processes, enabling them to meet both individual and company goals.

7. Allow Employees to Work in a Different Role

Sometimes performing the same role can become monotonous, which is why employees often lose interest. To ensure employee engagement, you can motivate them by assigning them to a different team. That way, they can learn how the other teams work in an organization.

Every department has its own challenges. Employees in these departments know the challenges they face. With others helping them, the pressure is taken off, and the organization can function better.

8. Host Events to Promote Team Unity

Events bring a touch of liveliness to the workplace. It helps build connections among team members and promotes collaboration. You can introduce employee engagement event ideas in your company to make the workers feel appreciated.

As they take part in these activities, employees feel motivated to work. Additionally, it increases their chances of staying in the organization in the long run. Some events that you can host as an employer include trivia night, bowling, and karaoke.

9. Encourage Workers to Participate in Workshops

You can add employee engagement activity ideas to keep them hooked to their work, culture, and values. A productive idea would be to encourage them to participate in workshops.

By participating in workshops, they will gather industry insights. Also, they can learn to brainstorm new work strategies to improve their workflow.

10. Provide remote work opportunities

The work landscape has become more flexible. Organizations are no longer following the traditional in-office work culture. Employees often look for companies that offer flexible work environments.

Workers with impairments or those who are homebound with other responsibilities can benefit from employee engagement ideas for remote workers. It will reduce their stress and allow them to work in peace, thus encouraging them to engage in their work.

11. Include casual dress days in the office

Organizations expect their employees to wear formal attire every day. How they dress can also impact their attitude to work. It becomes a boring routine, and that can make them feel distant from the workplace. Hence, to break free from the monotony, you can introduce casual dress on Fridays.

Of course, with casual dress, you need to set rules about what is appropriate in the workplace. The purpose of such an initiative is to create a comfortable vibe for employees to work and interact.

12. Offer incentives to high-performing employees

Employees often feel distant from their work because they don't feel sufficiently appreciated. To promote employee appreciation, incentivizing high-performing employees can be a great idea.

When other employees see their co-workers receiving rewards for performance, it motivates them to give their best.

13. Introduce them to health and wellness perks

Health and wellness perks don't directly drive employee engagement. But when an employee finds that the employer is taking an interest in their well-being, it creates a positive image about the company in their minds.

To ensure your employees are in good health and able to perform well, you can include wellness benefits such as paid time off (PTO), nutrition counseling, and fitness classes.

14. Offer team swags to promote brand excitement

Offering team swags is a gesture of showing team appreciation. It increases team members' happiness. And as they feel happy, each employee delivers their best performance.

With swag items, you are also creating brand visibility. It is a wholesome way to engage employees in understanding your brand and the culture.

15. Host team lunches

Food can bring people together. It works the same way for employees. Having a corporate luncheon can boost team engagement. You can send emails to employees about the lunch and the dress code to pique their interest.

At lunch, you can discuss work casually and ask them about areas they need improvement or resources to upskill.

16. Introduce employees to upper management

Usually, in many organizations, there is a divide between employees and upper management. To bring the employees closer to the organization, it is necessary to bridge the gap.

You can encourage the upper management to host meetings. That will allow them to know the employees better. And employees also feel valued in these meetings.

17. Promote team cohesion

Cooperation, unity, and cohesion are the core of any team in a company. When teams work together with a common goal, it increases employee engagement.

You can introduce open communication among team members. It can be related to the latest industry trends or maybe their workflow. As everyone participates in the process, they get to know each other better.

18. Use company culture as a way to hire

Besides upskilling, add strategies to fit prospective employees into your company culture. Even if employees have the skills, if their attitude doesn't align with the company culture, it may create problems in the long run.

Use your HR resources to clearly articulate the company culture to potential employees. That way, it will engage only interested workers who can bring a change to your organization.

19. Offer ongoing training

In addition to the initial training employees receive when they join an organization, you should also focus on continuous training. It will allow the employees to engage more in their work and team activities.

Ongoing training will keep employees engaged and foster a sense that they are making progress at work, rather than feeling stuck in a rut.

20. Spread holiday cheers

To build employee engagement, show them appreciation. And holidays are the best times to do that. You can throw an appropriately raging holiday party before the season starts and send warm wishes to them in advance.

With such initiatives, you can create a happy workspace. And with a positive work environment, employees can thrive better.

Boost Employee Engagement in Your Company With EmployerEmployees

Now that you know the employee engagement ideas, it's time to use them at your organization. Ensure the ideas focus on employee satisfaction, as that will keep them interested in performing better.

At EmployerEmployees, we allow companies like yours to post jobs. With our job postings, you can find suitable employees who meet your goals and drive you to the pinnacle of success!

Check out our services to get ideas on employee engagement.