Employee Engagement Activities That Your Employees Will Love

Employee engagement is essential for every organisation. Now that employees are returning to the office after a long gap of two years, they are certainly going to experience some hiccups in settling down.

But as a manager, you can help them get past the initial inhibitions to get connected with their team members and try to enhance their engagement in the workplace culture. You can try out some employee engagement activities that will motivate employees and push them to take more ownership and responsibilities.

We all know how important employee engagement is. But only a handful of organisations have been able to understand that it is a continuous and on-going process. To reap the benefits of a highly engaged workforce, leaders need to keep working on some strategies to make employees feel more involved and valuable in the workplace.

To help you get started with employee bond building, we have come up with a list of 10 out-of-the-box employee engagement activities that you can carry out on a budget! If the budget is not a constraint, take a look at 6 creative ideas for employee engagement!

Employee engagement survey can help you get the pulse of your workforce. Understanding their concerns and problems should be your first priority. Check out our step-by-step guide on how to create and utilise an employee engagement survey in your organisation.

Take a look here.  ““Your Ultimate Guide To Employee Engagement Survey And Templates”.”

Fun Employee Engagement Activities

While there are multiple ways to engage employees, it is important to use activities that put them at the centre. Here are the ten amazing employee engagement activities for 2022.

1. Movie Marathon

This employee engagement event is simple and self-explanatory. On a Friday evening or any day really, ask your employees to come armed with a mat and a snack of their choice, queue up a list of movies, and get to watching!

Employee engagement is not just about how invested an employee is in the organization. Employees also need to know and experience that is okay to relax and have fun in the workplace. Engagement is not about work only!

2. Breaking Bread (Potluck Lunch)

You can divide this activity into teams and groups based on the number of people in your organization. All that needs to happen is that each person needs to bring in one dish that they want to share with everybody. Food breaks many barriers and will give your employees a chance to relate to each other on a level that is not work-related. You can also incorporate knowledge sharing sessions to foster learning and bond building.

Also Read: 6 Tools to measure employee engagement

3. Recognition Programs

Saying a few kind/good words about a colleague and their accomplishments (weekly or bi-monthly, that’s up to you) takes next to no effort and definitely does not cost any money at all. Maybe every Friday, you could set aside an hour in the evening, where colleagues and managers can praise a fellow employee.

4. Hosting Contests

A contest that has a reasonable objective that can be met and an adequate reward for meeting the objective is a surefire way to give your employees adequate cause to be engaged.

Incentives have always been a great way to motivate and engage employees. You just need to figure out what objective needs to be met and which reward should be offered. These contests need not be a big office-wide contests. Rather, it can be specific to each team and the manager of the team will be the one who decides the objective and the reward.

Also Read: Smart goals for employee engagement

5. Do-Nothing Day

Before you scoff, hear us out. The ideal employee should be engaged. However, they shouldn’t be so engaged either that they actually burn out because of all the hard work they are putting in. A do-nothing day is exactly what it means, a day where you do absolutely nothing. Let your employees come to the office, chill out, hang out, talk to colleagues, talk to people other than their team members, and basically view the office as a place where they can also relax and have fun, besides working hard!

6. Allow Pets In Office 

Employees love it when they can just walk into the office with their pets and watch them while working. You can also create some special events in which employees can dress up their pets and get themselves clicked in the office. Gifting them a loveable picture of their pets will surely make them happy. Moreover, such events will help employees break barriers and connect with each other.

7. Sports Events 

Sports bring people together. There is no doubt that people love to be involved in sports activities, and offering them that right in the office will cheer them up. It also leads to team building, ideation, and brainstorming. Just book a basketball, baseball, or cricket field and invite employees to let their inner sportsmen shine. Furthermore, for employees who are interested in some indoor activities, you can utilise some office space for organising events.

8. Celebrate Special Events Like Birthdays And Work Anniversaries 

You definitely want to see your employees happy on their special days. Singing happy birthday for them and gifting them a personalised card will break shackles and help them connect better within teams. You can also go a step ahead can decorate their cubicle or the whole bay to make them feel special.

9. Welcoming New Hires 

Your employee engagement activities should not be restricted to only tenured employees. It must encompass new hires right from their very first day in the office. Gifting them a welcome card or some nice gadgets that they can use to increase their productivity and understand their work will make them feel included and part of the company from the first day.

10. A Healthy Nap Time

Well, this might sound a bit odd, but it works wonders for employees. Our biological clocks work differently, and many people find it difficult to stay productive for the whole day without taking some time out for rest. Offering your employees some nap time in the office will enhance their productivity and keep them focused on work.

Engaged employees are the most valuable resources for an organisation. And it is the responsibility of leaders to focus on creating a healthy, happy, and productive environment where engagement can be cultivated.

We hope the employee engagement activities discussed in this article will be helpful to you.

To know how Engagdly’s E10: Employee Engagement Module can help your organization boost engagement, click on the demo button below!

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Aaron Adams

Aaron Adams is the VP of Professional Services for Engagedly, where he develops and implements strategic talent solutions that help support and drive the organization’s talent and business strategies. He holds a Master’s Degree in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Wayne State University and has worked as a Right Management consultant and an OD consultant for a Fortune 20 Company. Currently, he leads Engagedly Teams responsible for onboarding, training, and consulting services.