We’ve heard this saying before: “Happy wife, happy life.” This statement also applies in the workplace. When your employees are happy and engaged, they are more likely to do quality work. And when you receive quality work, your company gets more successful.
As Harvard Business Review has found, engaged organizations are more likely to succeed than less involved companies. When we talk about employee engagement activities, we’re going beyond the Christmas parties every last month of the year and dress codes every Friday. Instead, we are talking about employee engagement contest ideas, recognition ideas and more.
However, the pandemic has pushed us all back in our home offices and locked us out from taking biometrics in the office every morning. Many changes were made — adjusting employees’ work schedules, creating a work-from-home structure and weekly announcements through infographics.
So, to brighten up the digital workplace, you need to redesign strategies to maintain employee engagement. From sharing creative infographics to making Zoom alternatives fun and engaging, we have three employee engagement ideas in this article that can help you stir up a more productive atmosphere.
But before we go over the tips, let’s understand why we need to engage with our employees, especially during a pandemic.
Why is employee engagement critical during a pandemic?
Staying at home and working in your pajamas might sound fun, but the reality is quite different for most. Many employees have claimed that the new work setup has brought various challenges caused by the pandemic. The list includes overworking, working in isolation and the fears of losing their jobs in the nearest future.
Those challenges are just some of the reasons why maintaining open communication channels are essential in the work-from-home structure. Employers need to pay attention to the little details involving their employees.
For example, employees struggling with remote work should be provided with the required assistance, equipment or mentoring. Not only that, employers need to be flexible with work as one of the keys to maintaining employee engagement.
Do you have an employee who needs to care for a loved one battling a sickness? Then, you should let them take frequent off days.
Another thing you should note if you want to maintain employee engagement is to boost their motivation by offering rewards. One great employee engagement award idea is to conduct an “Employee of the Month” activity. You could do this easily by getting everyone’s votes and announcing every month’s winner through your communication channel.
As an employer, addressing the problems brought by the pandemic should help you see growth and productivity among their subordinates.
Employee Engagement Contest Ideas That You Can Do Online
To build an emotional connection with your employees and coworkers while working remotely, here are the activities and ideas you can bring into play:
Use infographics for reports.
When something is interesting in the organization, it is best to design and use an infographic. Since team communication and project sharing revolve around the digital platform, you might as well take advantage of the benefits of using infographics.
Infographics are a great and practical medium to share information and increase possible contextual backlinks. They simplify data and help your readers comprehend your message quickly.
So, if you have a qualitative report on the team’s weekly progress, make use of our platform’s infographic templates.
Hold teleconference meetings in Zoom.
Teleconferencing is great for remote workers. Instead of traveling to the office for a meeting, you just have to log in to your Zoom account and join the conference.
With this in mind, you can hold weekly Zoom meetings to check in with your team, see how they’re doing, do some ice breakers for newbies or have a quick “Never Have I Ever” game.
In other words, frequently connect with the people you work with through virtual conferencing. The fun here is seeing your coworkers’ faces and expressions; we know you miss each other a lot.
Send newsletters every once in a while.
One of the most effective communication tools for remote workers is email employee newsletters. Since you cannot send printed newsletters to everyone’s desk or leave them at the office lounge, you can take advantage of the email client platform Mailbird.
For example, you want to announce this month’s top performer or send a relevant article about increasing work productivity while working at home.
Emails don’t have to be boring; You can shake it up by adding fun facts, puns and more.
Conclusion
Just because you don’t come to the office every day doesn’t mean everyone in the company has to feel isolated. Organize a remote yoga session through zoom, announce dress-up Fridays and let them send a selfie or celebrate birthdays virtually to make everyone connected. Now is a great time to be engaged more with your employees.
