Keep Employees Engaged (A Big List of Ideas)
Employee turnover is estimated to reach 25 percent by 2018 according to HR research group Hay Group Atrium.
This stat is of concern to many business owners because employee turnover causes disruptions in the office and is expensive. Not only do businesses have to put resources (both time and money) into finding a replacement for the employee that is leaving, but they also have to put resources into training the new recruit.
To avoid this process, employers should focus on doing everything they can to keep their workforce motivated and engaged with daily duties. For some inspiration, take a look at Website Magazine's big list of employee engagement ideas below:
Gamification
Just like how adding gamification elements to your website can increase visitor engagement, adding gamification elements to the office can engage employees too. Bunchball, for example, offers gamification solutions to help businesses motivate the sales team, boost employee collaboration and engage service and support teams. The company's sales team solution enables managers to create, deploy and measure challenges, as well as assign challenges based on a group, role, geography and more. Public leaderboards can also be leveraged to amp up the competition. Plus managers can make it easy or challenging for associates to acquire badges, level up or earn points. Bunchball also provides managers with valuable insights into what motivates their team, as the solution offers both analytics and reports. Regular Reviews
Most companies have some sort of yearly review policy, but a year may be too long to motivate some employees. Rather than waiting 12 months, consider adopting a quarterly or semi-annual review. Not only will this better keep employees engaged with their job throughout the year, but it also enables employers to address any policy updates and/or performance concerns in a timely manner. Celebrations
Did Jim from accounting just celebrate his 15-year anniversary? Is it Sara from sales 30th birthday? One way to foster a better work environment is to celebrate employee accomplishments and special days across the office - regardless of department. Doing so brings everyone together and gives offices a family-like vibe that will make employees think twice before leaving the company. Continued Education
When employees no longer feel challenged they may look to find a new company where they can grow. To avoid this, businesses can make investments in their employees by setting up trainings and workshops often, such as once a quarter. Not only does this keep employees engaged in their jobs and careers, but it also helps businesses grow a more skillful workforce. Collect Feedback
A surefire way to gauge employee engagement is by asking them through surveys. Businesses can leverage solutions like Culture Amp, for example, to create surveys that ensure everyone is on the same page. The surveys also give employees the ability to share their ideas and opinions. What's more, Culture Amp offers a variety of survey options, including performance surveys to get feedback on a manager, as well as pulse surveys that enable users to track trends between more major surveys.
Set Aside Time to Bond
Most companies celebrate employees with an annual appreciation day, which can include anything from playing games outdoors to visiting a ballpark with the office crew. To keep your employees even more engaged, however, companies can throw these celebrations more than just once a year. What's more, companies can give each department their own day to bond with team-building activities such as an egg toss competition or scavenger hunt. Contests
While gamification can be used to drive performance-based competitions, businesses can implement different types of contests to foster a more engaging and friendly work environment. At the beginning of the New Year, for instance, a business could launch a "Healthy New Year Challenge." Employees that want to participate can compete against their colleagues to get in better shape and lose weight, with the winning person in each category earning a prize once the competition is over. This is just one contest idea, however, as businesses can also do things like a "get-to-know the office" crossword puzzle in which they create a crossword puzzle based on employee facts. Then, the first employee to get the puzzle correct can be awarded with something like a Starbuck's gift card or a casual-dress pass. Attendance Bonus
Some employees can get discouraged because they aren't given enough vacation and or sick days, but businesses can change this attitude by setting up a program that enables employees to earn days off. For example, businesses can reward employees with a day off for every 20 days they arrive to work on time and stay their entire scheduled time. Businesses can also cap the number of attendance days employees can earn, and offer a different perk for employees that exceed that number - such as an extra day of pay on their check. Perks
Last but certainly not least, company perks can definitely keep employees engaged for the long term. While most think of health insurance and retirement plans as basic perks, many companies are going beyond traditional benefits nowadays. For example, some offices are pet-friendly, while others have a "summer hour" schedule, where employees have the option to work an extra hour Monday - Thursday, and take a half day on Fridays in the month of July. Other perks include gym memberships, catered lunches, the option to work from home, parental leave (for both new mothers and fathers) and more.
