14 employee engagement ideas to motivate teams

Employee engagement is key to a company’s success. Actively engaged employees make for more motivated, productive and loyal workers, spreading their positivity in the workplace. Employees who actively engage will go above and beyond for your business. So, investing in employee engagement is essential if you want to attract and retain the best people and keep your business thriving.

Take a look at these 14 employee engagement ideas to boost your employee engagement strategy. These workplace initiatives will ensure you stay connected with your workforce, boost employee participation, strengthen relationships, and keep your employees motivated and valued.

1. Inspire engagement from the top

Employees look to the people at the “top” for cues on how to behave and interact. Be a visible, open and engaged leader and show your team how it’s done!

Why not try replacing a standard all-staff meeting with a Seenit User-Generated Video with the leadership team? It’s an excellent opportunity to communicate essential business topics: what’s the latest on company direction, growth, achievements or challenges? All while injecting a bit of personality and giving employees a chance to get to know the boss. 

Learn more on how having User-Generated Video can improve internal communication.

2. Be open to business growth and employee contribution

Employees who feel trusted and understand how they contribute toward business goals tend to feel much more engaged. Be open and honest about your vision for the business and how employees can contribute. Do you plan to expand quickly or keep the status quo? How does this filter down to employee goals? How can employees contribute their thoughts and ideas? Think about how best to engage your team on this.

Try to make it a regular part of employee engagement by integrating key business messages in regular video updates, newsletters or other employee feedback initiatives. 

3. Get creative with sharing news

A newsletter is a great tool for sharing key announcements and team news. Want to avoid bland email updates and get your employees more involved? Get different teams to take turns pulling together company news in creative ways – video interviews, vintage news bulletins, local weather reports. Bring employees together and get them engaged with what’s going on across the company. Check out how Seenit user generated videos for employee engagement can be a great tool. 

4. Introduce an Employee Experience Platform

An employee experience platform cleverly integrates all the important aspects of the employee experience into one place. Think goal setting, performance feedback, recognition and reward. Want to set up a reward system to celebrate achieving goals, allow teammates to nominate each other for company awards or schedule regular engagement surveys? An employee experience platform can help you do all of this and more. Think about introducing one to streamline and integrate essential employee experiences and improve employee engagement.

5. Take advantage of video conferencing 

We’ve all been there, sitting on the end of a phone unable to see who’s speaking, judge the atmosphere, or easily engage in the conversation. Video conferencing and screen-sharing can enhance the employee communication experience to make sure everyone feels involved. Foster a video call culture to encourage more personal, human interactions and keep employees engaged in the conversation.

6. Engage future employees 

Start on the right foot by showing potential employees that you value employee engagement.

You might consider displaying engagement by using video and other media. Job ads that use video are more likely to be viewed and shared on social media channels. User-Generated Videos created by your existing employees give candidates a more authentic perspective on company culture, working life and what their potential teammates love about where they work.

Candidates appreciate the honest insight and you’re more likely to attract the right people who align with your company values and culture if they know what they’re signing up to.

7. Excel in your company onboarding experience

First impressions count. When we start a new job, we want to feel welcome, part of the team and clear on expectations for the role. In an increasingly remote workplace, it can be tricky to do that introductory face-to-face walk-around. Consider scheduling welcome chats with the team, or even creating a welcome video for an instant positive impression. A Seenit User-Generated Video crafted by the team - and even wider department - outlines who’s who, provides an honest take on team culture, and gives new members an immediate warm welcome.

8. Have a strong development offering

Employees need to feel like they have room to learn, grow, and develop if they stay engaged and stick around. Show your employees there are options and opportunities open to them:

• Compile real-life case studies to show peers’ diverse career paths and assure employees there is a path for them.
• Arrange regular and diverse learning opportunities - video conferences, meet-ups, one-to-one coaching, or lunch-and-learn sessions - to get employees excited about training and engaged in their learning journey. 

9. Invest in training

Have a new strategy, tool, or IT system? Make sure your team knows about it! Broadcast key headlines, guidance, top tips, and benefits to keep employees up-to-date, confident, and effective in their day-to-day work. 

10. Value-based employee recognition

If you want to embed company values in the workplace, it’s crucial to recognise when employees display them. A little bit of recognition and a simple word of thanks can go a long way in keeping employees motivated to keep up the good work. 

Encourage teammates to nominate each other for demonstrating company values — did someone go the extra mile to help a customer or come up with an ingenious fix to a problem? — send a thank you message to an individual or share your team’s success with the wider organisation. A Seenit User-Generated video is a fantastic way to involve everyone in the celebration and allow teammates to add a personal shoutout.

11. Apply different approaches to welcome feedback 

Are your employees happy? What do they like about where they work? Do they have ideas on how to improve the company? Feedback is vital if you want to understand how your employees feel about their roles and their work environment.

Employee surveys are an obvious and easy way to ask for and gather feedback, but consider other feedback channels, too. You could implement a digital suggestion box, quarterly Q&A sessions, or a monthly ‘Feedback Friday’ coffee break.

Take advantage of video conferencing to include remote workers and think about using functionality such as the Seenit Ask Me Anything format, as a great way to encourage open dialogue.

Consider asking teams to send video feedback so that you hear from diverse voices across the organisation. This can encourage those who are not as confident to speak out at meetings. The more direct, unfiltered and honest feedback you receive, the more you can understand and usefully engage on issues that matter most to your employees. 

Learn more about how having User-Generated Video can improve internal communication.

12. Invest in team building  

Strong team relationships improve communication, increase productivity and help employees feel valued. Get out of the work zone, have fun together and invest in building a strong team.

Whether it’s a scavenger hunt, a ‘Quiz and Fizz’ Friday or a spooky Halloween costume competition - make sure that people can take part remotely so nobody is left out. Don’t forget to encourage employees to capture photos and videos of the event to share the fun with the wider company, too! It’s always great to look back at company memories, for example at an end-of-year party.

13. Encourage social interactions

Did you know that people who have a best friend at work are more likely to feel engaged and happy in their work-life? Camaraderie with colleagues drives employees to support each other and invest in making the team — and ultimately the business — a success.

Encourage people to get to know each other inside and outside of the team with fun company-wide social activities. Think about randomised coffee catch-ups, cute pet photo competitions or setting up virtual groups for like-minded employees (environmentalists, crafters, foodies, photographers, etc.). This encourages employees to get to know each other and connect on a more personal level on topics they care about, outside of work. 

14. Maintain a work-life balance

Whether it’s to enjoy quality time with friends and family, take pleasure in hobbies, or just relax and recharge, we all value our personal time away from work.

Employees stay engaged when they feel like their time is respected and that their manager genuinely cares about their personal life. Show that you care by encouraging a healthy work-life balance. Promote flexible work schedules, get to know your employees personally through social interactions and celebrate non-work successes.

Whether you’re looking to connect with your employees, build an attractive company culture or just want to inject a bit of fun into working life, these ideas can get you started. There are so many ways to create employee engagement and Seenit is here to help.