The New Worker

As a manager, engaging your team is a non-negotiable if you want your employees to thrive in the workplace. Nowadays, skilled professionals are seeking the full package when it comes to their employee experience. This extends far beyond simply earning a livable wage; it includes finding purpose in your day-to-day, believing in your company values, and having a healthy work-life balance.

But engagement doesn’t just happen. It comes from collecting genuine feedback from your team and having honest conversations to see what’s working well and what’s holding people back, then working to emphasize the positive and improving the more challenging parts. Listening to your team shows them that you’re dedicated to keeping them happy and engaged, and empowers them to show up and do their best work.

This is your employee engagement action plan.

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The benefits of employee engagement

The benefits of managing a team of highly engaged employees are countless. Aside from higher employee productivity, your team will see:

• Higher employee retention
• Achieved collective objectives
• Less workplace stress
• Lower absenteeism rates
• Increased company profitability

Simply put, improving employee engagement is a vital part of developing high-performing teams. Read on to discover more benefits of employee engagement.

What is an employee engagement action plan?

Every great manager wants a team full of inspired, driven, and engaged employees. An employee engagement action plan can help leaders better motivate and stimulate their teams. As a manager, you can create an employee engagement action plan by assessing where engagement might be falling short, and then developing employee engagement strategies to improve those areas.

There is no one-size-fits-all employee engagement strategy, so your plan will depend on factors like your company's:

• Size
• Industry
• Work model
• Mission and vision
• OKRs

Just as teams, business goals, and strategies evolve and fluctuate over time, so do levels of engagement. That’s why a great employee engagement action plan isn’t just a one-time thing. Once you start taking action to improve engagement on your team, it becomes a regular part of maintaining team health and well-being.

Building an action plan to keep your employees engaged is an important step in improving employee morale and job satisfaction. Learn how to create the best employee engagement plan for your team with the steps outlined below.

How to build an employee engagement action plan

Step 1: Collect feedback through employee engagement surveys

Before you can start making any improvements or reassessing your objectives, you need to identify what might be keeping employee engagement on your team low, and what your people think is working well.

Sending your team a regular employee engagement survey is a great way to understand their experience and get employee feedback. When you analyze the survey results, you get a clearer picture of what’s bringing your engagement scores up, and what’s bringing them down. You may even spot some areas you didn’t know your employees were struggling with. This is the crucial knowledge that helps you build an excellent engagement action plan for your team.

Step 2: Focus on one thing at a time

Once you’ve sent out your engagement surveys and collected your employee feedback, your next step is to narrow down your areas of focus. Look through your results, choose a couple of areas to emphasize, and try narrowing it down to one metric if you can. This way, you can zero in on specific pain points or opportunities for improvement that could go a long way for your team, rather than spreading your focus in too many directions.

Remember that less is more when deciding which metrics to prioritize. The narrower your focus is, the more opportunity you have to make positive, impactful changes. If you’re unsure where to start, pay attention to the results that have the highest and/or lowest percentages, or focus on the metrics that tend to fluctuate more.

What should you keep an eye on while gauging employee engagement? Learn more about the top engagement metrics and sub-metrics every manager should watch out for.

Step 3: Define your employee engagement goals

When you've identified pain points keeping employee engagement low through your survey results, it's time to define and create specific team goals to reinspire your people. Clearly outline what you'd like to accomplish, which employee engagement initiatives will help you get there, and what the desired short or long-term objectives are.

Remember: if you want to meet your goals, they have to be realistic. Setting unattainable lofty goals and timelines can result in disappointment and further disengage your employees.

Step 4. Make the action planning process a team effort

You can’t make a great employee engagement plan without the help of your team. It’s important to get them involved early because many employees feel a disconnect between their experience and their manager’s perception.

1 in 5 employees feel a disconnect from their managers and wish for more frequent communication.

Officevibe Pulse Survey data

Start by working together to understand the engagement issues the team is facing before tackling them. From there, you can brainstorm solutions together and have everyone take on some action items in your plan. Developing an engagement action plan can help you foster a sense of togetherness and understanding in your team. By leaning into the specific key engagement drivers for your team, you'll learn what really drives your employees to succeed.

You can dig deeper into issues by discussing survey results in one-on-one meetings with employees. This helps you understand the employee experience and follow up on action items you set together. Officevibe helps you do this easily by turning engagement metrics into one-on-one talking points.

Step 5. Once you’ve got everything together, make an action plan

Now, it’s time to put your employee engagement initiatives into action. With data from your employee surveys, a better understanding of your team’s experience, and the ideas you came up with altogether, you’re ready to build your plan.

It’s important that all hands are on deck to get the most out of your engagement plan. Give your team members the opportunity to take on action items for themselves or volunteer to carry out certain tasks. While your team should consistently work on collective engagement action items, make sure this doesn't overwhelm them or add to their workloads. These employee engagement initiatives should ideally flow seamlessly into your day-to-day operations.

Step 6. Regularly follow up on the plan’s progress

For any manager, genuine open communication with your employees is key. As you roll out your engagement plan, keep your team posted on your progress and ask for their thoughts on an ongoing basis by implementing a feedback loop.

If you hit roadblocks together or things don’t go according to plan, make it a discussion and see how you can reassess priorities or try something else. Keep in mind that you may need to continue refining and changing your approach; sometimes when one engagement area is addressed, another focus area emerges. This is normal, and precisely why you want to maintain ongoing communication with your team.

Step 7. Keep measuring employee engagement metrics

Above all, remember that improving employee engagement doesn’t have a finish line – it's an ongoing process. These plans are designed to be continuous, and further evaluations and adjustments will eventually need to be made if you want to measure progress on your team. Don’t be afraid to reevaluate your engagement plan every month or two, set new goals, and tackle new metrics.

Sending out pulse surveys that cover the same metrics and asking employee engagement questions on similar topics can help you see how much positive change has resulted from your plan. Pulse surveys help you easily spot any fluctuations or trends because they measure the same metrics over time. Officevibe's Pulse Surveys are quick to answer and reports are easy to read, so they never take time away from you and your team doing what you do best.

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Examples of employee engagement action plans

Let's take a look at some common employee engagement areas that can prove challenging for most teams, and how you can go about building your action plan.

Note that the tables below provide simplified versions of employee engagement action plans. Use these templates as jumping-off points and really make them your own!

Employee well-being action plan

Professional development action plan

An employee engagement action plan for the long-term

You can always take quick steps to improve employee engagement on your team. But the best action plan is one that can be deployed long-term. This doesn’t mean it has to be a significant investment of time, effort, or money – it means it’s something you tend to do over time and adjust as needed.

Recap: How to build an employee engagement action plan for your team

• Review the data and identify which areas to prioritize. You might want to prioritize the lowest-scoring metrics from your engagement survey or any area that’s a current pain point for your team.
• Engage employees in action planning for these challenges. Your team knows their dynamic and workflows best, and have valuable insights on how they might improve things.
• Determine your goals and your endgame. Having a vision of where you want to end up gives you a clearer idea of how to get there. Make sure these goals are realistic and actionable.
• Follow up on progress. If you don't follow up and take stock of whether or not engagement initiatives are working, what's it all been about, then?

And with a sidekick like Officevibe's employee engagement solution to automate most of the work, you’ll be well-equipped to develop a plan that is tailor-made for your team.

But don't just take it from us: read how Officevibe has helped major enterprises like Alithya keep their employee engagement high in this recent interview.

No company wants high turnover. It's exhausting for managers, leaders, and HR professionals, and financially draining for the organization. That's why it's key to create an engaging and productive work environment. Bonus points if you can sprinkle in a little fun!

You might be telling yourself: that sounds great, but how does this fit into my broader people and culture strategy? We're going to break it down in this article while sharing 40 of the best employee engagement activities to keep your team inspired and energized.

Add these activities to your workflow and see the power of employee engagement firsthand.

Why are employee engagement initiatives so important for maintaining a healthy company culture?

Engaged employees are like oxygen in a body: they're vital to the health and function of an organization. Without high engagement, employees feel disinterested, bored, valueless, and unhappy. Measuring employee satisfaction is a good start, but it isn't enough. Keeping employees engaged and feeling good about their chosen careers requires an all-encompassing approach.

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Employee engagement activities or an extracurricular work program can also provide significant benefits for companies, including:

• Less absenteeism
• Greater productivity and efficiency
• Healthier employees (both mind and body)
• Higher employee retention
• Stronger leadership
• Faster professional growth
• Improved customer satisfaction

{emphasize}

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What manager doesn't want to take advantage of those employee engagement benefits? Great news: those are just the beginning of all the great things an engaged workforce offers employers.

Best practices for building employee engagement activities

If you want to make sure your engagement activities are as successful as possible, it’s important to follow a few best practices. You can also conduct a brainstorming session with your team to see what's engaging them.

Look beyond extrinsic motivation

Including rewards and cash prizes in your employee engagement activities can draw people in for the wrong reasons. Instead, focus on offering genuinely enjoyable experiences, learning and growth opportunities, and relationship-building moments.

Offer both remote and in-person activities

Reserving employee engagement activities during in-person events only can leave remote employees feeling left out. On the other hand, you’ll miss out on human connections if you exclusively host remote activities. Aim for a good balance, and try getting people together in person a few times a year if possible.  

Have an inclusive mindset when organizing events

It’s important for everyone on your team to feel considered and comfortable when choosing your employee engagement activities. For example, if your activity involves food and drinks, think about cultural or religious practices that may impact what you serve.

Always have an overarching goal

Before deciding on an activity, ask yourself what your end goal is. Is it to encourage collaboration and problem-solving as a team? Do you want to foster wellness and happiness at work? Are you looking to build personal connections and relationships? Or is improving job satisfaction your main objective? Answer these questions and narrow your list down from there.

40+ Fun activities to engage employees

With these 40+ employee engagement ideas, you can give your team a chance to unwind, have genuine fun, and create personal development opportunities. Let's dive in!

Innovation challenges

Starting off strong, an innovation challenge is a perfect way to reach the workplace trifecta: high engagement, alignment, and collaboration. These challenges are flexible and can be adapted to every company, regardless of industry or size. The trick is to center the challenge around real obstacles or opportunities that work towards company objectives.

{emphasize}Innovation challenge ideas:

• Pitch a new feature to solve a customer pain point.
• Create a new process to accelerate project timelines.
• Build a new product prototype based on pre-conducted market research.{emphasize}

Tip: Encourage employees to collaborate with colleagues in other departments. Not only will having diverse skill sets increase the team’s success, but it will also give people the opportunity to work with team members outside their usual circle.

Hackathons

The premise of a hackathon is similar to an innovation challenge. The nuance is that it focuses on programming projects only. This employee engagement activity is great for tech companies looking to retain programmers and developers while attracting top talent along the way. You can also partner with universities to involve students in the challenge and professors in the judging panel.

{emphasize}Hackathon project ideas:

• Challenge employees to build a game.
• Ask your team to program a smart assistant for the office
• Ask employees to reate a prototype app.{emphasize}

Tip: Appoint team leaders to delegate tasks, or have every employee select their task based on expertise to encourage ownership and ensure smooth sailing.

Peer recognition

Officevibe's Pulse Survey data found that 62% of employees wished they received more feedback from their co-workers. By implementing an employee engagement program that focuses on employee recognition and celebrating personal milestones, you can prevent one of the biggest contributors to employee turnover: feeling unappreciated and valueless in the workplace.

{emphasize}Activity ideas to foster peer recognition:

• Schedule time to give kudos during team meetings.
• Celebrate milestones (successful project, end of a sprint, employee anniversaries, work anniversaries) as a team.
• Use a private recognition tool like Good Vibes.{emphasize}

Tip: Make sure your team is satisfied with the frequency and quality of peer recognition they receive by sending out these 20 employee recognition survey questions.

Feedback hubs

Getting feedback from employees is far more important than most managers realize. According to Officevibe Pulse Survey data, 83% of employees appreciate any kind of feedback, both positive and negative. Using a dedicated feedback hub is perfect for encouraging employees to provide and receive open, honest, and continuous feedback regarding their work, progress, and development.

{emphasize}Feedback ideas:

• Work with shared documents so everyone can easily give direct feedback.
• Normalize feedback by giving it and asking for it in everyday conversations.
• Use an anonymous feedback messaging tool.{emphasize}

By making the feedback process collaborative, you can foster healthy professional development and skill building, starting with a strong foundation of openness and honesty.

Tip: Set an example by always responding promptly to employees’ comments and acting on feedback quickly. A manager who actively works to improve the employee experience is sure to build trust within their team.

Dynamic onboarding

Everyone remembers feeling shy on their first day of work. To ensure all employees feel welcome and connected to their colleagues right from the start, build a dynamic onboarding experience. In the distributed landscape, it’s best to have a remote-first plan for employees who live out of town or seldom go to the office.

{emphasize}Hybrid onboarding ideas:

• Invite new employees to a happy hour before they join the team to make their first day a little less nerve-racking.
• Ask everyone on your team to individually book coffee chat calls to get to know their new teammate.
• Try an employee onboarding platform to build structured and welcoming experiences.{emphasize}

Tip: New hires meet many people during their first week, and it can feel intimidating. Minimize this feeling by asking team members in other departments to film and submit short welcome videos on onboarding software like Workleap Onboarding.

Job rotation programs

Humans are curious by nature. We’re always seeking to try and learn new things, and this definitely applies in the workplace. That’s why having a job rotation program is a great way to keep things fresh and boost employee engagement. These programs give employees a holistic view of the organization's operations, while allowing them to explore new career paths and collaborate with new team members.

{emphasize}Job rotation program ideas:

• Make two team members switch roles for a set period (day, week, month).
• Allow employees to explore a new role for the duration of a project or sprint.
• Implement a shadowing program where employees can follow and learn from another employee in a different role.{emphasize}

Lunch and learns

Lunch and learns have been a popular way to bring people together and spark continuous learning at work. There are two ways to go about this. First, you can reach out to experts in your industry and have them teach your employees relevant new skills. Second, you can involve employees and ask volunteers to host a session. The latter can help break silos in your organization and give people a sneak peek into the inner works of other departments.

{emphasize}Lunch and learn ideas:

• Host lecture-style sessions with live Q&As at the end.
• Include interactive workshops that allow employees to put their learnings into practice.
• Provide a free lunch or gift card to those attending, if your budget allows it.{emphasize}

Tip: Send a poll or start a Slack channel to gather employee feedback on the topics they're most interested in.

Games and competitions

Who doesn't love a little healthy competition? Company events like mud runs, board game afternoons, or bowling bring out the fun and encourage employees to get to know each other better. And creating personal connections is an engagement game-changer as it allows employees to feel more comfortable around each other inside and outside work.

{emphasize}Virtual game and competition ideas:

• Play a game of virtual charades through video calls.
• Organize fitness challenges using exercise-tracking apps like Strava.
• Create teams and see who can solve as many word puzzles or riddles in a given amount of time.
• Play virtual strategy games like Beat the Hacker escape room.
• Form sports teams and organize regular tournaments.{emphasize}

Team potluck dinners

Food does wonders at bringing people together, especially when it’s home-cooked. Next time you plan a team dinner, opt for a potluck over a restaurant, as it’s a great way to get all employees involved. Food is also at the center of culture, so having your teammates share dishes they love or grew up with is a terrific way to celebrate diversity, an important component of engagement, in your team.

{emphasize}Potluck dinner ideas:

• Ask everyone to bring their favorite dish.
• Ask everyone to bring the first thing they learned how to cook (no matter what it was!)
• Come up with a 5-course menu as a team and divide and conquer.{emphasize}

Tip: Don't forget to ask employees about any special diet considerations or allergies ahead of time!

Interest-based activities

What activities, hobbies, and interests make your employees tick outside the office? Do they love painting? Riding horses? Hiking? Wine tasting? Choosing your activities based on what your team loves doing shows that you care about their lives and interests beyond work. It also provides opportunities for everyone to participate in new and exciting experiences.

{emphasize}Activity ideas based on hobbies and interests:

• Ask employees what activities and interests they have, create a “hobby roulette” featuring every submission, and spin the wheel to pick your next engagement activity.
• Make an activity bucket list based on your team’s passions and interests.
• Assign an “activity captain” every quarter, and have them plan a team activity based on their hobbies.{emphasize}

Tip: Make sure your team submits inclusive ideas and avoid trying out hobbies that cannot be enjoyed by all. For illustrative purposes, avoid rock climbing if half of your team is scared of heights!

Mental health and wellness days

Engaged employees are happy employees, and happy employees understand the importance of self-care and mental health. Holding a mental health day is one of the most popular employee engagement activities for teams. As long as the activity is a positive experience, anything goes. It allows employees to relax, recharge, and get to know each other better in a light, informal situation where their only task is to feel good about themselves.

{emphasize}Activity ideas to improve mental health and wellness:

• Allow employees to bring their office-friendly pets to work for a day to boost employee morale.
• Offer free drop-in sessions (in-person, through video call, or both) with a local therapist or wellness counselor once per quarter.
• Host weekly yoga sessions at the office and record the class through Teams for employees doing remote work.{emphasize}

Tip: Create a health and wellness committee that can take charge of organizing these activities and gathering feedback from employees before and after.

Arts and crafts

Arts and crafts don’t have to be reserved for children – adults can dabble in the fun too! When introduced to the workplace, creative arts can offer a slew of benefits, increasing engagement being one of them. Aside from being fun, and even therapeutic, they help you flex your creative muscles (literally) by exercising the right side of the brain.

The more employees train their creative functions, the better they’ll support their rational thinking by offering unique perspectives and new ways to solve problems. In the end, you’ll have an engaged team with rounded-out skill sets and problem-solving techniques.

{emphasize}Creative arts ideas:

• Invite local artists to host drawing and painting workshops.
• Attend a pottery class in a nearby atelier.
• Ask a small business owner to teach a jewelry-making session.
• Host a hybrid arts and crafts session using readily available materials with an elementary or high school art teacher.{emphasize}

Emotional intelligence workshops

Emotionally intelligent people can successfully manage their feelings and those of others. It's different from IQ intelligence and is a flexible skill set that employees can hone with practice. Having an emotionally intelligent workforce can significantly reduce stress, improve communication and peer relationships, and boost overall engagement.

{emphasize}Emotional intelligence workshop ideas:

• Follow an emotional intelligence skill-building worksheet.
• Try a self-awareness exercise where employees write down their feelings, identify current emotions, and learn healthier coping skills.
• Create a safe space for employees to talk about their feelings at work and give advice to one another.{emphasize}

Tip: Inviting an emotional intelligence expert to moderate your workshops can help your team make the most of the activity.

How to fit these activities into your employee engagement strategy

Your employee engagement action plan should tackle all parts of the employee experience to be effective. This includes:

• Making sure your team is aligned by continuously communicating company and team objectives, and how each person contributes to them.
• Prioritizing tasks and projects to support realistic and stress-free workloads.
• Investing in employee development programs that help employees grow their careers within your company.
• Giving your team the right tools, resources, and environment they need in both the virtual and physical workplace.

{emphasize}👷Build and implement the best employee engagement strategies to increase work productivity, happiness, and satisfaction.{emphasize}

While employee engagement activities shouldn’t be at the center of your strategy, they’re the supporting actors that round it off. Some of these activities can easily be implemented in your regular workflows, but those that require more effort and resources are fun to include throughout the year.

{emphasize}Here’s how you can plan engagement activities year-round:

• High-effort activities like innovation challenges can be held once a year.
• Medium-effort activities like team potlucks can take place quarterly.
• Lower-effort (but just as important!) activities like dynamic onboarding should happen regularly, or every time someone joins the team.{emphasize}

Take your team's pulse on employee engagement

So, you understand that employee engagement activities should not be ignored within your organization. But how can you benchmark the success of these activities and fun team-building exercises? We've got it covered. Officevibe offers a variety of powerful, science-backed tools that managers and team leaders can use to measure employees' progress and engagement levels.

Our employee engagement solution is the perfect resource for organizations that want actionable advice and insights to help them create a healthy workplace and keep employees connected to their jobs. Receiving critical data and feedback from employees allows you to evaluate and assess their engagement levels quickly and conveniently.

With these 40+ employee engagement activities and strategic tips, you’re primed to create a winning team where all employees feel valued. In no time, you’ll see healthy communication, connections between colleagues, and innovation in your company flourish. All thanks to a little fun in the workplace!

FAQ on employee engagement activities

What are meaningful engagement activities?

Why should companies do employee engagement activities?

What are the benefits of employee engagement activities?

As a manager or HR professional, employee engagement should be at the top of your priority list. But do you know how to go about actually measuring employee engagement, or what to keep an eye on, more specifically?

There are several metrics you should measure to assess your team’s engagement levels, and each one is essential to the larger employee experience puzzle. These pieces come together to paint a portrait of how your employees feel and how invested they are in their roles and within the company.

Since we know a thing or two about the best ways to measure employee engagement, we've outlined the 10 metrics and several key sub-metrics you should keep tabs on and how each one contributes to team performance and the larger employee experience.

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What are employee engagement metrics?

Employee engagement can best be described as a person's commitment to their day-to-day work and their investment in their organization. To measure employee engagement and better understand their people, managers, business leaders, and HR professionals use 10 fundamental employee engagement metrics.

These metrics provide insight into several themes that matter to your team, including employee feedback, job satisfaction, personal wellness, relationship with their manager or peers, and employee recognition.

How to measure employee engagement

Knowing which employee engagement metrics to measure is one thing, but it’s equally important to get the hang of how to best assess them. One of the most crucial things to remember when measuring employee engagement is that you do it consistently over time. If you only gauge how your employees feel once in a while, you’ll end up with a disjointed picture of your team's sentiment only on that particular day or week, with no sense of how those feelings have evolved over time and how they fit into your team's collective employee experience.

So how do you keep up with your team’s engagement level without adding to your workload? Employee engagement tools like Officevibe help you understand how people feel with a simple, two-minute weekly pulse survey sent automatically to every team member. The algorithm covers 10 metrics on an ongoing basis, so the data you collect allows you to stay on top of budding issues and track trends over time.

{emphasize}Check on your team's engagement levels and nip issues in the bud before they arise with this free employee engagement survey template.{emphasize}

10 employee engagement metrics (and 10 sub-metrics) to watch

1. Relationship with manager

Now, this is an engagement metric you definitely want to measure, and one you have a direct influence on. People want to feel supported, understood, and appreciated by their managers. Nurturing a healthy relationship with your employees is fundamental to the success of your team and organization, but this takes trust, open communication, and close collaboration. If you notice your score on this metric slipping, follow these four simple steps to build better relationships with your employees.

{emphasize}Sub-metric to watch: Trust with manager

As with any relationship, trust is earned and worked on over time. Without it, the odds of fostering an engaged workforce are substantially lowered. Trust begets collaboration, and collaboration begets productivity and ultimately team success.{emphasize}

2. Feedback

The importance of giving consistent feedback to your employees cannot be overstated. It helps your people grow and builds an engaged and productive workforce. While knowing how to give feedback will help you better understand your team's communication styles and comfort levels, it's equally important to ask for feedback from your people to increase employee engagement. By implementing a continuous feedback loop, managers and employees can share their thoughts openly and without judgment to build a stronger, more collaborative team dynamic.

{emphasize}

Sub-metric to watch: Feedback frequency

According to Officevibe data, only 25% of employees feel they receive feedback frequently enough to help them improve at work. Learn the ins and outs of employee feedback in the workplace to boost employee engagement with our comprehensive guide for managers.{emphasize}

3. Personal growth

Employees want to feel challenged at work and see a clear path forward for their professional development. This means working to sharpen their skill sets, having autonomy in how they complete their work, and feeling a sense of purpose in the tasks they’re completing. According to recent Officevibe data, only 60% say they have a clear plan for their professional growth.

Measuring employee sentiment around their personal development at work helps you build an environment where they can thrive. This means better performance and fosters a workplace with highly engaged employees. When you know where people want space to challenge themselves, and where they need support, you’ll be able to set up the conditions for everyone to do their best work and evolve in their roles.

{emphasize}

Sub-metric to watch: Purpose

We all want our work to have meaning. When you send pulse surveys, ask your employees some of the following questions to gauge how they feel about their personal growth:

• Do you feel your work has an impact on your organization's purpose?
• Do you know what the main purpose of your organization is?
• Are you proud of the work you do?{emphasize}

4. Relationship with peers

Effective collaboration is essential to your team members forming a united front. When teamwork is off, performance suffers, so building strong peer relationships is a must to improve engagement and achieve collective success.

Having a strong foundation of trust and understanding helps people work better, together. When you track this metric, it helps you spot any important fluctuations that could indicate something is awry. From there, you can work with your team to get them back to performing at their best.

{emphasize}

Sub-metric to watch: Collaboration between peers

Strong team dynamics are fundamental to the success of your organization. If collaboration between your team members feels off, check out these five strategies to build team trust and boost collaboration.{emphasize}

5. Wellness

Offering support and resources for the well-being of your employees is a non-negotiable as a manager or team leader. By monitoring the employee wellness metric, you can spot issues or challenges that people might not feel comfortable bringing up in a one-on-one meeting or in their employee engagement surveys. From here, you can provide your team with appropriate services or resources, and work towards cultivating a positive and healthy work environment. This will help reduce the risk of workplace stress and burnout, absenteeism, and high employee turnover.

{emphasize}

Sub-metric to watch: Stress

The signs of workplace stress can be subtle and often go unnoticed. Check in on the well-being of your employees with this free template on work stress.{emphasize}

6. Recognition

Your team members need to know that their contributions count in the grand scheme of things. Employees also want to feel valued for the work they do, and to know that their peers and manager see and appreciate the effort they put into their daily tasks. Offering your people kind recognition messages is one of the most low-cost, high-impact ways to boost employee retention. Yet, only 66% of employees are content with the frequency at which they receive recognition. You can make your people feel seen and start improving employee engagement by asking simple but poignant employee recognition survey questions like:

• Is the recognition you receive meaningful?
• Do you know which behaviors receive recognition?
• Is the recognition for additional effort sufficient?

{emphasize}

Sub-metric to watch: Recognition frequency

Recognizing your employees consistently for their contributions is one of the best ways to improve employee engagement. Learn how to create a culture of recognition in the workplace with our comprehensive guide.{emphasize}

7. Company alignment

To reach broader company goals and ensure team alignment, employees must first be aware of their organization's main objectives and how they fit into the bigger picture. Knowing where your team stands on larger company goals helps you spot areas where things are unclear before employee engagement starts to slip. If people don’t understand the company's strategic direction, schedule some time with them to explore it more thoroughly. Or if team members don’t feel a personal connection with the values, you can build team values together that will have more impact in their day-to-day.

{emphasize}

Sub-metric to watch: Values

But company alignment is about more than just understanding and getting on board with the vision and mission. It’s also about company culture and corporate values, and whether employees are aligned with them; it’s about people's satisfaction with the company’s ethics and social responsibility.{emphasize}

8. Happiness

Every manager wants their team to be happy. While general happiness obviously relies on a number of factors in and outside of the workplace, the point of measuring happiness at work is to assess those that are work-specific. Do people have a good level of work-life balance? Are they supported as they deal with their day-to-day affairs? Do they enjoy the work they do?

There are many things managers can do to support a happier, healthier team and inclusive work environment. Checking in regularly in one-on-one meetings on happiness levels helps you better understand each employee’s experience. From there, you can find ways to make people feel happier throughout their work day.

{emphasize}

Sub-metric to watch: Happiness at work

Whether your people are in the office or working remotely, there are tons of budget-friendly employee engagement activities your team will love that can help boost happiness and morale.{emphasize}

9. Satisfaction

Job satisfaction generally means people’s satisfaction with their role within the team or company, the physical and technological setup, and their compensation. Employee satisfaction is a key engagement metric to watch out for because it includes important topics like:

• Do people feel they’re in the right role, and on the right team?
• Are they well-equipped to do their work?
• Do they think their pay is fair?

To keep employee satisfaction high, you can work with your team members to set individual goals so they can develop their skills and establish clear career pathways. If your team needs additional resources, you can act as a liaison to help get them what they need to do their best work and keep your employees engaged.

{emphasize}

Sub-metric to watch: Role within the organization

Your employees want to know that they're playing an active role in advancing the company's mission and vision. Discover more ways to improve employee satisfaction including making sure their responsibilities are clearly outlined, providing them with appropriate resources, and supporting their professional growth.{emphasize}

10. Ambassadorship

Last but not least, ambassadorship gives you a great idea of whether employees are true advocates of the company, as an employer, and for its services. When an engaged employee goes from “I like my job” to “everyone should have an employer as great as mine,” it helps you retain (and attract) the best talent to your team.

Why is this metric important for managers? Because you have a big impact on how employees feel about their organization. And the more advocates you have on your team, the better they’ll perform. Tracking ambassadorship and asking the right employee Net Promoter Score questions help you spot what employees love most about working at your company, and where there’s room to strengthen that loyalty. That way, you have a lower employee turnover rate and continue to develop your team.

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Sub-metric to watch: Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)

Get actionable insights into whether your employees champion and advocate for your organization by using the employee Net Promoter Score.{emphasize}

More than a score: Beyond employee engagement metrics

The main purpose of measuring engagement on your team isn’t getting your engagement score up to 10/10. There are major benefits to keeping your employees engaged, and monitoring how people feel over time helps you spot fluctuations and understand the impact of workplace changes.

While it's important to track these engagement metrics, what you do with your employee survey results and feedback is arguably the most important step to improving employee engagement and boosting team happiness. Make sure you communicate results and subsequent decisions to your team and ultimately create realistic employee engagement action plans.

At the end of the day, engaged employees are happier, more loyal to your organization, and perform better in their daily tasks. Start taking the pulse of your team today with Officevibe's employee engagement solution and elevate your entire employee experience.

It’s easy to talk in the abstract about keeping your employees engaged. But how do you, as a manager, put this into practice, especially if you’re short on time? Surveys are a great way to quickly get the pulse on your team’s engagement levels. And an employee engagement survey template is a fantastic time saver to help you prepare.

A manager’s role is never static because team dynamics are always evolving. Your team’s needs and challenges change from week to week, month to month, and year to year. With the right surveys, you can stay nimble to better understand your team and give them the support they deserve.

Ready to start? Select a free employee engagement survey template based on your team’s needs, or build your own with our practical how-to steps.

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The importance of measuring employee engagement

But first, what are employee engagement surveys?

Employee engagement surveys, sometimes coined pulse surveys when sent frequently, feature a series of questions specifically designed to measure employee engagement metrics, including:

• Alignment
• Employee satisfaction
• Ambassadorship
• Happiness and wellness
• Relationships with managers and peers

Managers should constantly think about ways to keep their employees engaged. And while that statement seems obvious, it's often forgotten about or deprioritized on managers' long to-do lists. What many may not realize is that by letting engagement fall behind, they're missing out on serious benefits.

These employee engagement benefits include happier team members that perform better at work. In fact, an employee’s job satisfaction and quality of work influence each other, and the key to improving both is employee engagement.

Why it's key to measure employee engagement

It can be difficult (and time-consuming if you don't know where to start) to get a sense of how motivated each employee feels at any given time. A better approach is to look for common trends among team members when employee engagement is either riding high or crashing.

Measuring employee engagement with surveys can help you spot these engagement swings, so you can act fast and implement an effective employee engagement action plan.

Here are a few common scenarios when measuring employee engagement can help:

• When your team excels in a certain area and engagement is high, you can tap into that energy with new projects or by offering your team extra opportunities to shine.
• When the data shows that people are struggling in certain areas and engagement levels are low, you can nip those problems in the bud with extrinsic motivators like perks or fun events.
• When the reality of your team shifts, people leave, or new employees onboard, you can spot how and where it’s impacting your team and support them in those areas.
• When the year comes to an end, you can use your employee engagement survey results to compare past performance outcomes with engagement levels.

Pro tip: A growing team needs you to teach them how to collaborate with new coworkers and a more complex team structure. Sometimes your team is under a lot of pressure, or temporarily lacking in direction. You need to be ready to adapt to the situation and pitch in as a team player to help everyone do their best work together.

5 free employee engagement survey templates

There are countless employee engagement survey questions you can use, but we've taken the liberty of outlining the most common ones you need to get started. Select one of our employee engagement survey templates below, depending on your current needs and where your team stands.

How to format the templates

Each survey question is written to fit an ‘opinion scale’ format, where employees can gauge their answer on a scale from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’. Depending on what employee survey tool you’re using, you could use a sliding scale or multiple-choice survey question option.

If you use multiple-choice, give 5 answer options: strongly agree, somewhat agree, neutral, somewhat disagree, and strongly disagree. With Officevibe's employee engagement solution, you can create an opinion scale, multiple-choice, or text engagement survey questions when you build a custom survey.

1. Employee engagement survey template for large teams

In a larger team setting, it’s more challenging for managers to stay aware of everyone’s engagement levels. So, this survey template is your best tool to make sure your team is functioning well.

• Do you look forward to starting your workdays?
• Are you confident in voicing your opinion in such a big team?
• Do you believe your input will be taken seriously in a large team?
• Is there good transparency on your team in how decisions get made?
• Can you talk to your manager or senior leadership when you need to?
• Do you have the space and autonomy you need to do your work?
• Can you see how your contributions help your company’s goals?
• Do you feel seen and appreciated by your colleagues?
• Are you provided with all the tools and resources you need to do a great job?

2. Employee engagement survey template for small teams

With smaller teams, managers may think it’s easier to stay on top of how everyone feels. But giving these fast, light surveys is an effective way to spot anything you might be missing.

• Do you have the right amount of work and responsibilities?
• Would you tell people this is a good place to work?
• Can you envision great things for yourself and your team in the future?
• Does your team work well without too many lengthy meetings?
• Do you have the flexibility to experiment with your work?
• Do you fully understand the company’s mission and vision?
• Are you happy when you arrive at work each day?
• Are you impressed with the quality of your team members' work?
• When something unexpected comes up, is it clear whose task it is?
• Does the team have the knowledge, expertise, and human power needed to succeed?

3. Monthly employee engagement survey template

Things change in the workplace monthly based on many factors: priorities, relationships with colleagues, and employee productivity. A great manager can use a monthly engagement survey to keep on top of moving trends by asking questions like:

• Do you enjoy the work you do?
• Have you received some sort of praise this month?
• Were there any problems last month that were not resolved?
• Do you understand your role and upcoming tasks clearly?
• Are you proud of the work you’ve been doing?
• Does your manager show you trust and respect?
• Does the company promote a positive workplace culture?
• Have you learned something new on the job this month?
• Is the number of tasks you currently have a good amount?

4. Yearly employee satisfaction survey template

At the annual level, your data can reveal some real high-level issues, like major swings in employee engagement and team alignment. Knowing how things stand is key to making big plans regarding projects or setting long-term goals with your employees. But these crucial high-level assessments cannot be the only surveys you give. Without more granular surveys throughout the year, your data from annual surveys will likely be biased. Some questions

• Do you feel good about your work at the company?
• Would you refer a friend to work here?
• Do you want more challenges and responsibilities in the coming year?
• Is your compensation package fair?
• Are you satisfied with your benefits package?
• Does this company care about your work-life balance and well-being?
• Does your supervisor know you as an individual?
• Are you happy working with your colleagues?
• Are you learning new skills and/or improving your current ones?
• Can you see how your work has contributed to the team and company’s success?

If you're looking for deeper insights into more specific topics, check out these other employee satisfaction survey questions.

5. Survey template for disengaged employees

There are many reasons why individuals or your team may be disengaged at work. Understanding overlapping themes and sentiments on your team can help you tackle any major issues before you dive into one-on-one problem-solving. Surveys like this help you navigate that tricky terrain.

• Does your manager inspire you to do great work?
• Do you feel you owe it to your team to give your best?
• Are you eager to clock out every day, or at the end of the week?
• Do you understand how your role fits into the big picture?
• Are you getting enough recognition at work for your efforts?
• Do you wish you had other tasks or another role?
• Can you picture yourself working here next year?
• Are you regularly overwhelmed by your workload?
• Do you feel your job is too easy?
• Do you think your salary is fair or your level of experience?

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Setting up and conducting your employee engagement surveys

You don’t want your surveys to take too much time or be too frequent as you run the risk of overwhelming your team and reducing their participation. Then again, if these surveys pop up too infrequently, you won’t be getting the most accurate and up-to-date data. So it’s important to strike the right balance.

Best practices for conducting employee engagement surveys

We've been in the business long enough to know what works and work doesn't, and here are the main best practices we've gathered over time:

• Questions: The sweet spot for a regular pulse survey is five questions, but if you need more insights on a given week or month, feel free to include up to 10 questions. Remember that the longer you make your surveys, the more you risk your response rate dipping.
• Duration: A good employee engagement survey should give you all the information you need with just a few questions, and it should never feel tedious for an employee to fill out. We recommend keeping the duration between three to five minutes long.
• Frequency: The point of an engagement survey is to get a real-time pulse on your team and make sure your employees feel heard regularly. You should therefore aim to send your surveys out every week or at least bi-weekly.
• Anonymity: Our rule of thumb is that surveys should always remain anonymous. This gives employees a chance to be 100% honest without any fear of judgment or repercussions.

💡 Learn more about employee engagement survey best practices.

How to build your own employee engagement survey

If none of the above employee engagement survey questions meet your specific needs, don’t sweat it. Build your own with these key tips.

1. Assess your baseline. First, you may want to have an informal chat with your team to understand how things are. This will pinpoint areas to probe in the survey.
2. Set objectives. Employee engagement can cover many metrics, like job satisfaction, relationship with peers, or alignment with company goals. Figure out what you aim to uncover and plan your questions accordingly.
3. Choose your words. When you plan and select your questions, clarity, and simplicity are key, and neutral tones are best. You also need to make sure you address the points laid out in your objectives.

Equip yourself with the right survey tools

There are many engagement survey methods out there today. Some are manual (sending an email or Slack message with a few questions), some are automated (having a pulse survey platform), and others are somewhere in between (using survey tools like Survey Monkey or Google Forms). Your plate is probably already super full, so if you want a more hands-off approach, using an employee engagement survey tool is the way to go.

Employee pulse surveys

Having technology on your side makes the process of surveying employees a regular occurrence, without adding to your workload. Automated pulse survey tools choose from a curated list of employee engagement survey questions, separated by engagement metrics and submetrics, and send short surveys according to your preferred cadence.

Officevibe makes it easy (almost, fun?) to create surveys, analyze survey results, and even give your team a space to give anonymous feedback. Plus, our bank of in-app survey templates helps you dig deeper into specific topics, no planning needed.

Custom employee surveys

An engagement platform like Officevibe, for example, also gives you the option to set up custom employee surveys so that you can:

• Be in control of your surveys whenever necessary.
• Collect insights on topics specific to your organization or team.
• Follow up on a conversation with a unique survey.

Once filled out, the software gathers qualitative and quantitative data submitted by employees and reports on the findings for you. Not only do these tools give you a clear snapshot of how your team feels at a given moment, but they also help you keep track of any changes over time.

⭐️ Learn to read your team like a pro with this complete guide on employee engagement surveys.

Drive action from your engagement survey results

All employee feedback and data mean nothing if you don’t act on them. These free employee engagement survey templates are a great starting point as you build your employee engagement strategy, but it's important not to stop there.

Be sure to leverage the actionable insights you receive and focus your attention where it matters most to best support your team.

As employee experience experts, one thing we know for sure is that the success of a business or a brand is only as strong as the team behind it. And we're not ones to gatekeep the secret behind a winning team.

If you're looking to consistently achieve or surpass your objectives while cultivating a positive work environment, you need to make sure employee engagement is high day-in-day-out.

There are many ways to go about it, but we'll cut through the noise by giving you the 7 best strategies to enhance employee engagement.

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What is an employee engagement strategy?

Let's break it down into two parts. A strategy is an action plan set in place to help a person, group, or organization reach its goals and objectives. Employee engagement is a concept that highlights how people feel towards an organization and how their feelings translate into actions and behaviors at work. So, an employee engagement strategy is all about the concrete and actionable steps you take to build positive engagement at work.

So why is it worth spending time and resources on building this strategy? When done successfully, your team will feel happier at work, more intuned with your company culture, more committed to your company's core values, and more motivated to achieve their goals.

Having a solid employee engagement strategy has never been more pertinent. The transition from the traditional office space to a work-from-home environment has made it challenging for leadership teams to keep a pulse on how their employees are feeling.

The great news is that once you have a plan in place, you'll know what employee engagement outcomes to look out for and how to measure them.

Officevibe's employee engagement solution helps you keep a pulse on your team's engagement levels by measuring and tracking employee survey results over time. Once you pick up on how employees are feeling, you'll be primed to create a work environment that makes your team feel positive about their job.

The benefits of having an effective employee engagement strategy

According to Slack's 2019 State of Work Report, aligned or engaged employees "feel empowered to make strategic business decisions or to pursue new business opportunities."

Effective employee engagement strategies can encourage employees to reciprocate the value the company provides them. In turn, high employee engagement levels increase satisfaction and lower employee turnover.

Other benefits of an effective employee engagement strategy include:

• Increased productivity
• Improved company culture
• Authentic employee satisfaction
• Improved mental health
• Better work-life balance
• Reduced risk of burnout

7 employee engagement strategies for building all-star teams

Improving employee engagement may seem challenging or intangible if you lack concrete data. We've compiled a list of the best employee engagement strategies and strategic management skills that can help you engage employees, increase job satisfaction, and ensure your desired outcome for upcoming projects.

1. Build trusted relationships with your team

Trust is the foundation of employee engagement. Before you can have meaningful conversations and open communication with your team members, your organizational culture has to promote trust between all links in the chain of command.

Given increased stress and rapid changes in the last few years, it's only natural that many employees are feeling disconnected from their jobs and their managers. Such fragmented professional relationships may take a toll on individual employees – and on your company as a whole.

Relationship psychology expert Esther Perel says, "One of the most powerful ways for people not to feel deeply alone is for them to feel listened to." If you want to boost employee engagement and cultivate a positive work environment, your employees need to trust you.

This improved relationship between you and your team breaks down hierarchical barriers and makes your employees feel valued – encouraging collaboration and creating a unified department.

🛠 Building trust as a leader takes time. But with these 8 trust leadership tips, your path towards fostering trust with your employees will be easy and seamless.

2. Make sure your team is aligned

We've seen a significant shift in the organizational structure of many companies since 2020. With a combination of onsite and remote employees, many managers find it challenging to measure employee engagement and keep employees engaged amid these changes. And we've been there too. But having the right tools helped us build employee engagement along the way.

Finding a resolution to this confusion requires alignment and a collective understanding of the things that bring everyone together: company core values.

As the world continues to change at a rapid pace, most employees want to feel passionate about their work. To do so, they need to know why their work is important and how it affects the overall growth of the company.

Knowing what their company values – and receiving clear, consistent communication about these values – can increase employee engagement and further establish trust between leadership and other employees.

On the other hand, a lack of communication about company goals can create frustration for employees, who may feel that reduced productivity is their manager's fault, given the unclear objectives.

To improve employee engagement and realign mutual and individual goals, team leaders should clarify what they expect from their employees and what employees can expect from them.

Developing the right employee engagement strategies for your company requires keeping employees informed about company-wide goals and giving them a clear direction for achieving them.

3. Provide opportunities for giving and receiving employee feedback

One of the best ways to boost engagement is by gathering and acting on employee feedback. Officevibe Pulse Survey data shows that 83% of employees appreciate feedback, regardless of whether it's positive or negative, yet 64% feel that the quality of feedback they received needs to improve.

This dire lack of effective communication and honest feedback can quickly result in low employee engagement rates, reduced productivity, and a less cooperative work environment overall.

Feedback goes both ways

For many companies, the line of communication around feedback only goes one way. There is a huge opportunity to increase employee engagement by tapping into bilateral feedback between managers and employees.

It's what we like to call the continuous feedback loop: a process that helps managers collect opinions, suggestions, and comments from employees regularly and vice versa.

An employee engagement survey allows you to quickly and efficiently gauge how your employees feel and use the data you receive to develop a better employee engagement strategy.

If you need ideas to assess employee engagement, consider asking questions like:

• Do you have the necessary resources to achieve your career goals?
• Are you satisfied with your benefits package?
• Do you feel valued by your employer?
• What can your company do to show employee appreciation?

4. Build a culture of recognition

In business, we ensure customer loyalty by providing clients with consistently high-quality products and service time and time again. Why should the approach be any different for retaining employees?

Research from The Harvard Business Review suggests that supporting employees and helping them feel valued increases productivity, employee retention, and motivation. Though it may seem small, encouraging employees in their day-to-day work can improve both their personal well-being and the company's overall performance.

Addressing individual successes during the busy work week doesn't have to be challenging or tedious. Displays of recognition can be as simple as sending a short message to high-performing employees to keep them engaged and feeling appreciated.

These small acts of genuine appreciation for your employees are critical components of a successful employee engagement strategy. Higher employee engagement and quality performance rely on a unified front from department heads to entry-level employees. Offering support and recognition, even for small wins, can encourage this camaraderie.

👉 We've got you covered with the ultimate guide to creating a culture of recognition in the workplace.

5. Put employee wellness first to encourage engaged employees

Employee burnout appears to be at an all-time high given the particularly stressful circumstances of the past few years. From feeling overworked to lacking the appropriate resources to struggling in their personal lives, many employees find it challenging to stay engaged at work.

As leaders, it's essential that you implement employee wellness initiatives as part of your employee engagement strategy. Try delegating responsibilities appropriately to avoid overworking high-performing employees and create an environment that allows for a healthy work-life balance to combat burnout. Even something as simple as giving your employees an opportunity to recharge whenever possible can be the difference between an overwhelmed team and an engaged one.

Most importantly, you and your colleagues in leadership positions should embody positive attitudes about employee wellness and encourage your employees to prioritize their health. Saying your company supports employee wellness programs is one thing, but actively implementing strategies to ensure a healthier, more balanced work environment shows your employees how much you truly care.

When was the last time you took a pulse on your team's wellness levels? These employee wellness survey questions can help you catch insights you haven't picked up on before.

6. Invest in employee development to ensure job satisfaction

Remember that your employees aren't merely members of your collective workforce. They are individuals who have unique dreams and goals for their career growth. So part of a successful engagement strategy should include personal and professional development opportunities for all employees.

Our Officevibe Pulse Survey data reveals that 23% of employees say the feedback they receive doesn't help them grow or improve. Gallup's 2022 State of the Workforce Report also shows that only 33% of employees say their work helps them thrive.

These stats show us the importance of investing in our employees' futures. Providing employees with career development opportunities can improve morale and ensure the entire team feels valued and fulfilled.

7. Form an employee engagement committee

Most forms of employee engagement require you to take action as a leader. However, forming an employee engagement committee gives your employees an opportunity to contribute directly to a positive work environment.

Using data from your employee engagement survey, the committee members you select can take the reigns and develop engagement solutions with their coworkers. This method lets your employees take an active role in fostering a sense of community in your team or organization and grants them a safe space to voice their thoughts.

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How to implement employee engagement strategies

This might go without saying, but every company has a unique group of employees and needs. Implementing employee engagement strategies requires a personalized approach tailored to your team and company goals. To develop the most effective strategies for your team, consider the following tips.

Define the strategies that suit your company best and identify key drivers

The first step to developing a solution is revealing the problem. Beyond identifying your company's short- and long-term goals, focus on finding the issues your employees face on a daily basis and what you can improve to keep them engaged.

An anonymous survey gives your team the opportunity to provide honest, comprehensive feedback. You can use this input to begin building your employee engagement strategy.

Set realistic goals

It may be tempting to get hasty and make several changes to your organization at once, but such a reaction could backfire. It's important to remember that you won't see the fruits of your labor all at once, and it's likely that you'll make some mistakes here and there.

More important than speed are specificity and consistency. Target specific issues a few ideas at a time and set realistic expectations for improvement. This strategy can prevent you from getting in over your head and help you stay on course as you develop and implement changes.

Make sure everyone involved knows their role and is accountable

Delegating responsibilities and keeping track of everyone's progress from the start will help you gauge the effectiveness of your employee engagement strategies. Everyone – from middle managers to human resources officers to longstanding employees – should have a clear understanding of their roles.

Select high-performing members of each department to serve on the employee engagement committee. Give them the opportunity to implement the strategy on a more personal level, connecting with their coworkers and directly contributing to the work environment they wish to create.

Put your plan into action

Flexibility is key to ensuring the success of your employee engagement strategy. You'll rarely find a solution immediately, and it may take time and a bit of trial and error to adjust your strategies and perfect them for your needs.

Always keep an open mind for new ideas, and be sure to make use of the data you collect through employee engagement survey results. The primary objective of any of these strategies is to foster a relationship between management and your employees that not only allows for effective communication but encourages it.

Make a habit of regularly assessing employee engagement and collecting feedback. Use what you learn to make necessary adjustments to your plans and set your team up for success.

Assessing your employee engagement strategies

Executing a strong employee engagement strategy may seem like a daunting task if you've never done it before. Should you sit down with a whiteboard and map out your plans? Would it be more effective to schedule a company-wide meeting to hear different perspectives and thoughts?

Ultimately, there is no "wrong way" to begin building your strategy. It all depends on your company's specific needs and goals – and the issues you hope to tackle beyond improving overall employee engagement. Luckily, you have many options at your disposal, and you may find it easier to determine where to start once you receive feedback from your employees.

An employee engagement survey is a quick and effective means of identifying specific issues your employees face in the workplace. To get a foundation for your engagement strategy, consider asking employees about things like:

• Their happiness at work
• Their thoughts on your company's work-life balance
• If they feel supported
• The quality of relationships between coworkers and your leadership team
• How they would rate communication
• How they would rate their stress levels at work
• Their thoughts on their future with your company

Need more inspiration? Use these 25 pulse survey questions to boost employee engagement.

Giving your employees the opportunity to respond anonymously to your survey may help them overcome the initial anxiety of communicating with you and other senior leaders. For engagement strategies to work, your employees need to feel comfortable addressing problems. The survey could serve as the first step toward fostering a more communicative, collaborative work environment and bolstering employee confidence.

Once you've sent out your surveys, you'll be set to tackle the right issues by using the information your team members clearly outline for you.

Acting on your survey feedback

The most crucial part of this process is actually using the feedback you receive. By sending out your survey, you're opening a direct line of communication and encouraging employees to speak honestly about their concerns. Nothing could be more disappointing than doing so only for management to neglect the feedback and fall back on old habits.

Listening and showing your employees that you genuinely care about their thoughts and feelings is critical for employee engagement. If you commit to some action to better the culture of your workplace, always follow through. If, through surveys or direct communication, you discover a problem in productivity or employee wellness, work with your team to tackle the issue in accordance with everyone's needs.

Help your team succeed with the right employee engagement strategy

Your eagerness to learn about employee engagement means you're on the right track to fully support your team. Before you know it, you'll be putting your engagement strategy into action, and your team – and organization – will thank you for it.

While going through the process and building out your strategy, practice patience and focus on one issue at a time so you can give each problem that arises the attention it deserves. Doing so can help you see engagement strategies through to completion and honor your employees' needs at the same time.

Developers are an important part of many companies. In fact, the role of “developer” is so important that it’s projected to grow at a rate of around 25% per year in the United States. This is much faster than most other roles, even by tech standards.

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What's in this article

• Why a proper new developer onboarding is important
• How to onboard a developer: what to include in preboarding, onboarding, and training periods
• What a great developer onboarding experience looks like

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As you’re probably aware if you’re reading this, developers (or devs if you’re cool) are responsible for designing applications, programs, websites, and more. In some cases, they also perform quality assurance tests. Ask any developer and they’ll tell you they spend a lot of time fixing bugs and snags, whether it’s their own or their colleague’s. 

Aside from their technical knowledge, developers also must possess a keen understanding of a company’s goals and mission. Unfortunately, as their work tends to be highly independent, developers are often left out of company-wide information sessions and decisions. A great onboarding process can change that. 
Let's take a look at some tips and tricks that will help you onboard your next developer with ease. Read ‘till the end to find Workleap Onboarding's new developer onboarding template.

Why a proper new developer onboarding is important

When you give your developer a proper onboarding experience, you send them the message — from day one — that they’re an important part of the team. This is not only good news for hiring managers, who likely put a lot of time and effort into hiring a dev and fear an increase in turnover rate. It’s also good news for your new developer, who deserves to feel integrated and to understand how they can make an impact. And, like anyone else, they deserve to enjoy their job! 

What do we mean, exactly, when we speak of a “good” onboarding experience? We’re glad you asked. 

The process of starting a new job involves a steep learning curve. This is true not only for entry-level employees but also for field experts. The reasons for this are simple — every company does things differently, and no two team dynamics are the same. 

Therefore, an onboarding process is inevitable, and will happen whether or not you prepare for it. The difference is that an unplanned onboarding session will by its very nature be disorganized and, in turn, disorienting. A planned onboarding session, on the other hand, can leave your new hire with a strong sense of psychological safety and a high degree of confidence. 

Not only does it make sense on paper, but there’s also science to back this up. This study from the University of California, Berkeley and Microsoft showed a direct correlation between an employee onboarding experience and job satisfaction, productivity, and even long-term outcomes.

How to onboard a developer: what to include in preboarding, onboarding, and training periods

Preboarding

Preboarding is the period between the date that the new employee signs a job offer and their first day of the job.

You might be thinking of this as a time to prepare for your new team member’s arrival. You’re half right. While there are many things that you can do to help pair for their arrival that don’t involve the newcomer, there are also some ways that you should engage with your new hire before their start date. 

If planning out an entire onboarding process seems like a big task, fear not. It’s a lot easier if you break it down into three categories: 

• Set up computer and workstation: a dev without a computer is like a cobbler without a shoe. 
• Set up accounts and permissions: depending on their roles, developers may use a lot of different apps and software. If you set these up for your new hire ahead of time, you’ll save a lot of time on their first day. Don’t forget to also include any software access that falls outside of their role but is still important for every employee to have (like your HR software). 
• Send out training videos: one of the hardest parts about starting a new job can be the anticipation of the unknown. You can clear up some of your newcomer’s anxieties by sending them a training video ahead of time that goes over your company’s tech stack.

Onboarding

And now is where the fun begins. Pop quiz: how long should an onboarding process last? The surprising answer is not one week or even two weeks. It’s actually probably more like three months, and can even last longer than that. 

You can use this time wisely by doing the following for your new developer:

• Ease them in with the basics: before you even start to talk about coding, it’s a good idea to make sure that your developer knows their roles and responsibilities. Before you jump into the nitty-gritty, you should also make sure the dev has spent some time 1:1 with their manager and ideally their mentor, too. 
• Share company goals and strategy: earlier we touched on how developers are sometimes excluded from big-picture company decisions. This is especially the case if they’re working on the back end. Make sure that you brief them on your company strategy, products, services, and basic customer personas within the first week. 

Bring on the tech: developing is a highly technical job. Set your new team member up for success by sharing your coding standards, developer best practices, your CI/CD pipeline, your system architecture. Make sure your developer also sets up an IDE.

Training

As a highly technical role, training is an important part of the developer job. Some of the first training sessions that you’ll likely put a developer through include: 

• QA process overview: details are an important part of coding, so knowing the company QA process in and out is key. 
• Bug fixing: remember, fixing bugs is an important part of any dev role. Have your new developer fix a simulated bug to make sure that they understand the proper bug fix process. 
• Pair programming session: pair your new developer up with a buddy so they can practice coding without totally being left to their own devices. 
• Pull request: many companies find it advantageous to have a developer go through a pull request in the training phase. Pull requests let other team members know that a developer has made a change or completed a feature. 
• Best practices: it may seem basic, but it’s important to go through basic development processes and best practices of your organization during the training period. If you can provide a reference, that’s even better. It will take a while for your new dev to memorize them. 

What a great developer onboarding experience looks like

On board with what you’ve read so far? If it still seems a bit too theoretical, let us help you envision a great onboarding experience with these new developer onboarding examples. Seeing one or more of these in your onboarding plans is a surefire sign that you’re doing something right. 

• Company values: if you can look at your onboarding plan and see at least three sessions dedicated to company culture and values, then you’re doing something right. This can include a meeting with the CEO, with other team managers (a marketing manager is a great pick for this), and even presentations on company history and milestones. 
• Socialization: again, development is social work. But working for a company is inherently a social act. This is still true for remote teams! In fact, if you’re working remotely, scheduling fun events into your day is extra important. It doesn’t have to just be an informal happy hour over Zoom or Teams. It could also be something like playing Jackbox.TV as a team for an hour. Depending on the level of your new developer, an educational game like Oh My Git, which teaches you about Git commands, could also be appropriate. 
• Questions: if your developer is asking questions throughout their onboarding process, don’t take this as a shortcoming. Instead, it means that you’re stirring up curiosity. This means that the onboarding process is working! To ensure that the feedback loop continues past the onboarding period, set up regular 1:1s to periodically take the pulse of your new hire. 

Onboarding a new team member is hard. You don’t have to do it alone. Have a look at Workleap's tried-and-true new developer onboarding template and new developer onboarding checklist to help you on your way.

Let’s play a game of “would you rather.”

Would you rather your employees show up to work each day excited for new challenges and opportunities, ready to give it their all, and empowered with the satisfaction of a job well done?

Or would you rather have employees who watch the clock, lack motivation at work, and pass the buck whenever something goes wrong?

Great leaders want employees who are productive, hard-working, and satisfied, so it's no surprise that everyone would choose the former. The question is, how do you achieve it?

Spoiler alert: it’s not free t-shirts, snacks in the break room, and casual Friday. But don't sweat it; solutions for improving the employee experience (EX) are just as easy. Get started by adding these 9 tips to your employee experience strategy.

{emphasize}Learn how to improve your employee experience

• Why is having a positive employee experience important?
• 9 Tactics to enhance your employee experience
• Make your employee experience shine with Officevibe{emphasize}

Why is having a positive employee experience important?

Before jumping into the tactics, it's key to know why having a great employee experience makes perfect business sense. Your EX reflects your team's perceptions of all the interactions, touchpoints, and involvements they have at your organization. In short, it's a good representation of how your team feels about their day-to-day lives at work.

If your team feels positive about their experience in your organization, they're more likely to:

• Feel motivated to do their best work
• Attain their professional goals, in line with broader business objectives
• Contribute to higher customer satisfaction
• Become ambassadors for your brand

9 Tactics to enhance your employee experience

Helping employees feel motivated, productive, and happy at work doesn't need to be difficult. With the right EX strategy, your team will feel and perform better than ever. Here are our top 9 tips to get you there.

1. Prioritize job satisfaction and meaningful work

Not every second of the workday has to be filled with award-winning projects for a positive employee experience, but it’s important that your employees feel that what they are doing matters.

Studies have shown that by trusting your employees, giving them reasonable autonomy, and providing adequate workplace technology, they’ll have higher job satisfaction rates and a better sense of well-being. And we've seen great benefits arising from high employee satisfaction levels, including:

• Lower employee turnover
• Higher productivity
• Loyalty towards the organization
• A positive work environment

📏 Not sure where your team stands? Measure your employee satisfaction with this 10-question survey template.

2. Give thoughtful employee feedback

Giving employee feedback can be nerve-racking or feel like a touchy subject for some managers. You might be caught up on not wanting to hurt someone’s feelings or cause unnecessary conflict. But great feedback should never break your team's harmony. Times have changed and providing clear and constructive feedback is something your employees have come to expect, and even appreciate.

Officevibe’s Pulse Survey data uncovered that a whopping 96% of employees said receiving feedback regularly is a good thing.

Even if the feedback is simple, your employees understand its importance and still want to hear it. Our data further revealed that 83% of employees appreciate receiving feedback, regardless of whether it’s positive or negative.

For feedback to result in better business outcomes and meaningful career development, it should be delivered with thoughtfulness and care. These employee feedback examples can help you get started.

3. Welcome feedback from employees

Feedback is a two-way street, and you can improve the employee experience by giving your team an outlet to express their opinions, too.

Officevibe's employee feedback tool provides an anonymous, safe place for employees in your organization to share their feelings. Most employees feel valued when they know their voices are heard. Plus, when you show that you take this feedback to heart, you will likely improve employee retention rates.

Officevibe not only gives you instant insight into the employee experience, but also tracks how your team feels over time and addresses issues as you see them creeping up in your organizational culture.

👉 Pro tip: Feedback should always be addressed and replied to in a timely manner. Use these tips on how to respond to employee feedback next time you receive an anonymous comment.

4. Create a flexible and positive work environment

Life can get in the way of many things, including work. Instead of penalizing an employee for attending their child’s soccer game or taking a mental health day, consider providing a healthy work-life balance. This strategy gives your employees the best of both worlds: they can meet (or exceed) their work obligations while still enjoying personal time to recharge.

Each organization will have different levels of leeway with flexibility, but potential options include:

• Offer a hybrid work environment with at least one day of remote work per week. Modern employees often look for full autonomy when deciding where to work, so consider this when creating your remote work policies.
• Implement core hours when all employees should be online (ex: 10 am to 3 pm) and allow them to distribute the rest of their time as they wish. You'll soon see your team shift to schedules that fit their lifestyles and help them perform better at work.
• Gather insights from your employees with an internal survey tool to find out what flexibility options they desire, and see if it’s possible to meet them all the way (or at least halfway).
• Provide a holistic time off policy that employees can use regardless of what life throws their way. This can include a general paid parental leave policy, but also a generous (or even unlimited) bank of personal days.
• Sponsor fitness programs and give employees time in their work schedule to hit the gym, take a walk, meditate, or do something healthy for the brain and mind.

By focusing on initiatives that promote employee wellness, you can have happier and healthier employees that stick with your organization through thick and thin. Sending a quick employee wellness survey can help you determine which initiatives would have the biggest impact across your organization.

5. Be mindful of the employee life cycle

Just like a product or company has a life cycle, so do employees!

The typical stages of an employee's life cycle go something like this:

1. Attraction: What does the public know about your product, company culture, compensation, etc., that attracts an employee to apply for a position?
2. Hiring: When an employee applies, does the hiring process feel fair? What can human resources do to make each applicant feel valued?
3. Onboarding: Does the onboarding process for new hires make them feel like they’ve joined a positive work environment with great managers and room for career advancement? The quality of employee onboarding experiences can set the stage for long-term employee engagement.
4. Development: Does the employee experience at your organization include a strategy to encourage employees to continue to develop their skills for professional development?
5. Retention: Retaining employees requires a high degree of employee engagement. Knowing whether you have engaged employees can be difficult to quantify, so it can be helpful to create a series of metrics that, together, help you pinpoint whether you are providing an employee experience that encourages retention.
6. Separation: If an employee's journey comes to an end, exit interviews can help you determine what, if anything, went wrong. Was the employee experience subpar due to the physical work environment, performance issues, or something else?

Asking yourself these questions at each step of the employee journey will help you stay nimble in your management style and improve your employee experience strategy.

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6. Optimize the employee journey

Did you know that there is such a thing as a “job honeymoon?” This six-month period of the employee experience includes gushing over the new job and seamless onboarding experience, delighting in work relationships that feel like personal relationships, and feeling like your schedule is jam-packed with meaningful work.

When the honeymoon is over, employees sometimes experience boredom, less motivation, and even frustration. To avoid such a drastic shift in employee productivity and happiness, keep your finger on the pulse of the 9 KPIs that indicate employee engagement and satisfaction.

Another way to solidify your employee experience strategy is to implement stay interviews. Unlike an exit interview, which happens when an employee departs, stay interviews allow you to identify what’s working and where you can improve before an employee leaves.

7. Promote a workplace culture of diversity and inclusion

The world is diverse, but many employees still tend to eschew what is unfamiliar or different. As a result, 3 out of 5 workers “hide” their identity at work, creating a less-than-stellar employee experience.

Fostering a positive environment and inclusive workplace culture that celebrates a diverse workforce can boost employee engagement and even lead to better business outcomes. Managers and HR leaders could encourage employees to celebrate and learn from each other’s differences.

💡 Build a stronger team with a high sense of belonging with these 5 diversity and inclusion activities.

8. Make room for growth

While there’s something to be said for stability and certainty, a high-performing employee will inevitably want to be at a company that affords a high degree of career development.

Whether your business is brand new or a Fortune 500 company, you can have more engaged employees by showing willingness to fairly evaluate employee performance, provide constructive feedback, and offer room for growth to provide employees with a sense of purpose and upward mobility.

9. Set the right expectations

Setting expectations early and often helps your team understand what’s expected of them and what’s expected of you.

Some of this disconnect is a natural side effect of having an agile organization. Roles and tasks evolve to fit immediate and long-term needs. Still, those shifting (or expanding) expectations need to be communicated to your staff to preserve a quality employee experience.

Don’t wait for an annual review to communicate or learn of a disconnect. Instead, use a tool like Officevibe to customize employee surveys or organize one-on-ones surrounding key issues, including expectations.

Make your employee experience shine with Officevibe

If you want your business to succeed in the modern work landscape, improving your employee experience day-in-day-out should always be a top priority. Be sure to implement these tips and tricks across your teams and departments, and watch your employees bring your company to the next level.

When in doubt, know that you're not alone in your EX journey. Tools like Officevibe will support you along the way by helping you track, measure, and maximize your employee journey and experience. Discover Officevibe's people-friendly EX platform, and start improving your employee experience today.

It’s not easy to find the right executives for your company. 

Hiring of any kind is an expensive, lengthy, and frankly exhausting endeavour. But sometimes it seems like the higher up the position you’re hiring for, the higher your experience will fall on the difficulty ladder. When you hire a company executive, you’re looking for somebody who not only has the right skills and experience but who can make a lasting impression on the company for (hopefully) years to come.

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What's in this article

• Why a proper new executive onboarding is important
• What to include in an executive onboarding
• What does a great executive onboarding process look like?

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When you find your superstar executive, you’re going to want to hold on to them for dear life. The best way to start them off on the right foot is to offer a remarkable onboarding experience. Read on to learn more about how to onboard an executive with ease (psst: you can even find an executive onboarding template at the bottom of this article).

Why a proper new executive onboarding is important

When an executive joins the company, they’re coming with a significant amount of industry experience and their own thoughts and beliefs on the best way to run a company. 

Of course, this could be said of any employee at any level. But an executive role comes with a certain expectation of leadership that can be hard to accomplish without a proper onboarding. 

This difference can lead some employers to gloss over the onboarding process for executives or skip over it completely. Their reasoning could be something like: 

• “It’s insulting to teach someone at the executive level something they probably already know”
• “We have a lot of work to do and no time to waste on training or onboarding”
• “An executive’s time is expensive and onboarding is not a good way to spend it”
• “The idea of onboarding somebody at the executive level seems overwhelming—we wouldn’t even know where to begin”

Of course, these assumptions are false, and can harm both employee experiences and business operations. Remember that a good onboarding experience was found to improve employee retention by up to 82%. 

The other benefits of onboarding at the executive level include: 

• Increasing trust and a sense of community between the executive level and other positions
• Open the floor for feedback (in both directions) 
• Set expectations (for both the executive and the team)
• Give some time for the executive to ease into the company culture  and current challenges the company is facing

Business studies have shown that the need for onboarding is not eliminated when somebody is at the executive level. If anything, it is intensified, since it is integral that an executive be fully aligned with the overall company culture. 

A proper onboarding isn’t an experience that only a certain type of employee needs. It’s an employee that all human beings starting a new job needs. 

What to include in an executive onboarding

Preboarding

If you think that employee onboarding starts on their hire date, think again! The preboarding stage, which takes place in the few weeks leading up to a new hire’s start date, is just as important—if not more. 

If done well, it beautifully sets the tone for a successful career at your organization. If done poorly, it has the power to leave your new hire wondering if they made the right decision by accepting their new role.

You can make a great preboarding experience for your executives by:

• Setting up their computer and work station: you don’t want to be scrambling on your new hire’s first day. Set their work computer up for them ahead of time (and send it in the mail if they’re working remotely)
• Sending a welcome package: this sets a good tone at any level of employment, but when it comes to executives, it’s a necessity. Some great welcome gifts for executives include personalized AirPods, local gourmet baked goods, macarons, plants….the list could go on and on! 
• Setting up accounts and permissions: if somebody is working at the executive level, they’re going to need access to many different tools. Have your IT set these up ahead of time. 
• Sending out an announcement: by letting your employees know about a new executive, you’ll take a bit of pressure off. Fewer people will be wondering who the new face is when they see them walking around or on Zoom. 
• Getting organized: make sure that you have all of your proverbial ducks in a row before your executive’s first day. This includes booking the right people for meetings, organizing all of your training resources, and having the right paperwork in order. It’s important for all new employees but especially important for executives.  

Onboarding

Fun fact—the onboarding period lasts longer than most people think it does. The executive onboarding process in particular is more intense than other onboarding set-ups. It definitely won’t be done in a day. In fact, it’s important for the onboarding period to last for months. Why? There’s a lot of people to meet, teams to understand, scopes to…scope out, and priorities to identify. 

Here are some things you can expect to go over during your executive’s first week of onboarding:

• CEO meet-and-greet: many executives work very closely with the company’s CEO, so it’s a good idea to schedule a meet-and-greet within the onboarding (grabbing lunch or dinner is a great option) 
• Founders meet-and-greet: if your company’s founders are still involved with the company, it’s a good idea to have them meet with your new executive 
• Learn about company history and business ambitions: make sure to include things like the story of your company’s founder, important moments in your company’s history 
• Financial information: executives should be made aware of the financial workings of your company so that they can make informed decisions 
• Executive-specific tools and dashboards: in order to do their job, your new executive are going to need the same birds-eye view of company activities that other senior-level positions in your company need

Training

Training isn’t just for entry-level positions. Executive training includes things like: 

• Hands-on tech training: some of the tech that your company uses is probably new to your executive, so expect to spend time and energy training them on it
• Product training: it’s important that executives understand your product in and out, so make sure you schedule demonstrations and stakeholder interviews

What does a great executive onboarding process look like?

Maybe the executive onboarding checklist above makes sense on the surface, but you’re having trouble visualizing it. Here are some great onboarding executive examples. If you see any of them in your onboarding process, then chances are that you’re doing a great job!

• Honest feedback: telling each other the honest truth can be very hard, even in a professional context. But with executives, it’s of the utmost importance. Make sure that you set parameters that allow for honest feedback sessions. It works best if you schedule precise time for them as part of your onboarding. 
• Time for fun: the onboarding period can be emotionally exhausting for newcomers and onboarders alike. Don’t forget to schedule some time for all parties to let loose! It’s recommended that you set aside some time for a dinner or happy hour for your executive that’s outside of working hours. 
• Give your executive a chance to lead: yes, your executive is a newcomer, but it’s important that they also get the sense that you trust them early on. You can send this message by letting your new executive lead an all-hands within a few weeks of being hired. 
• Show vulnerabilities: you want your executive to know that they’ve stumbled upon something great, but you shouldn’t be afraid to let your guard down as a company. Let them in on what keeps you up at night as a company. If they don’t know, they can’t help. 
• Be open-minded: you hired your new executive so you can have a new point of view, so make sure to be open to their suggestions and overall opinions related to your onboarding process. 

Onboarding an executive takes work but is worth it. Try out our executive onboarding template and see the difference an intentional approach to onboarding makes.

Hiring a new manager comes with its own set of challenges. However, there are also a lot of ways that hiring a manager is similar to hiring an entry or mid-level employee. The main thing that they have in common is that they’re both hard to do!

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The onboarding of a new employee sets the tone for the next step in their career and has a fundamental impact on the success of your company in the near-future. This is a lot of pressure, and you shouldn’t have to do it alone. Fortunately, the hard task of onboarding becomes much less stressful with the help of a new manager onboarding template.

Before we get to that, though, let’s look at some of the tried-and-true best practices that can show us how to onboard a manager.

Why a Proper Onboarding is Important for New Managers

It’s common knowledge that new employees need onboarding. But sometimes, when employees are hired at a managerial level, there’s an assumption that they know how to do their jobs and don’t need to be onboarded in the same way an entry-level employee would be. Unfortunately, this pervasive attitude couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Expecting our managers to know everything from day one not only puts unfair expectations on them but also doesn’t allow time for the rest of your team to adjust to their new colleague. Here are some other reasons why the onboarding process is just as important for those stepping into a middle or senior management position:

Managers have impact

If you wanted to do an experiment to see how quickly you can get an employee to quit, put them under the guise of a bad manager. Okay, so you probably wouldn’t want to do this experiment, but just humour us for a moment and imagine you would. 

There are few — if any — components of a job that have the same impact as the influence of a manager. Have a competent and kind manager team, and you’ll see team morale soar. Employ a set of micromanaging, over-critical bosses, and chances are that you’ll see your turnover rate skyrocket. 

None of us enter the world as infants who are “natural managers”. Although some innate soft skills lend themselves well to management — like empathy or active listening — there are many skills that must be taught. If you don’t offer your new manager an onboarding experience that sets them up for success, prepare to see a wave of negativity ripple through your organization. 

Although managers are taking on a senior position in your company, they still need the onboarding period to learn the company values. An onboarding period also gives them a chance to determine the best way that their management style will fit in with the overall organization.

Employee retention

It’s hard to hire for manager-level positions. In fact, it’s hard to hire in general, and the pandemic has only made it harder. According to a study released by Goldman Sachs, 87% of surveyed small businesses said that it’s difficult to find qualified candidates to hire. What’s more is a staggering 97% said that this struggle in hiring impacts their bottom line.  

With this much on the line, hiring managers and their companies are looking for ways to keep quality talent once they find it. When you consider that businesses with a standardized onboarding approach have a 50% higher retention rate, pouring time into onboarding is a no-brainer.

Context switching

An onboarding experience is important even if you’re promoting from within. Although this internal employee would be familiar with your company’s operations, the new job is still an adjustment. An onboarding process will give them time to learn about their new role and give them a “buffer” between the two roles so it doesn’t feel like they’re being thrown from one role to another.

What to Include in a Successful Onboarding

Your exact new manager onboarding checklist will look different depending on the needs of your organization. But every experience should have the following components:

Pre-boarding

So you’ve found the perfect new manager to join your tight-knit team. Everyone is anxiously awaiting their arrival. There is nothing to do but anticipate, right?

Not quite. The time between the moment you make a hire and their first day is actually a very important part of the overall onboarding process. It’s called “pre-boarding”, and it’s the best time to set a positive first impression for your new hire.

The pre-onboarding period is a great time to provide your new hire with the basics that they need to know before they get started. Here are some ways that you can give your new hire a pleasant pre-boarding experience:

• Send a warm welcome email that congratulates the new hire on their position and clearly outlines their start date and time
• Provide a preview of what the first week will look like (or, even better, send them their onboarding schedule ahead-of-time)
• Send a copy of the employee handbook
• Set up their new computer and account accesses 
• Send out a welcome package with branded items 
• Choose a mentor for your newcomer
• Announce the new hire to your internal team

Onboarding

As an HR professional, this is your time to shine. While you might only use the first week for introductory tasks, it’s important to remember that the average onboarding process actually takes a few months (and it takes at least a year for an employee to realize their full potential)!

The best onboarding experiences include: 

• Employee introductions
• Daily check-ins 
• Establishment of rituals (like weekly check-ins with other team members)
• Company social gatherings 
• Meeting other managers
• Learning the basics of the job
• Learning more about the company

Training

Contrary to popular belief, onboarding and training are not interchangeable. Training includes things like: 

• Sharing documentation and processes
• Briefing new hires on any new software 
• Setting expectations and goals 
• Mentorship, collaboration, and room for asking questions

How to Spot a Great Onboarding 

Sometimes it’s better to show, not tell—here are some great new manager onboarding examples.

Example 1: the Remote Manager

• Send new employees a care package filled with useful items (like pens and paper) and items that represent the company’s culture (like a pass to a local sports club or a book).
  Finding some time to set up face-to-face virtual meetings with new coworkers is great, too. If time won’t allow for that, a pre-recorded video welcome message from new employees is a good idea (especially when followed by a face-to-face interaction). 
• Set up incremental reminders for check-ins and feedback sessions. 
• Provide one-on-one training on any software or communication tools that your company uses. 

A social aspect is an important part of any onboarding, and remote work is no exception. There are plenty of fun team games you could make use of during this remote onboarding session — skibbl.io is a popular drawing game that leads to lots of laughs.

Example 2: the In-Office Manager

• Start the day with an office tour—nobody likes to be disoriented. 
• Make sure that you send out an email (or other message) to your team introducing them to the new face around the office. Try to set up organized times for colleagues to interact with one another, so that your new hire isn’t bombarded with countless introductions in their first days. 
• Consider a fun interactive game that allows you to take advantage of the fact you’re in-office.
• Set your new hire up with a “buddy” who can take them to lunch and introduce them to colleagues—this is a must if you have a large office. 

SoftStart’s new manager onboarding template was created by actual managers and HR experts. It’s fully-customizable, so feel free to use it as a starting point and build off of it so that it best serves you and your team. This particular template is designed with the manager’s experience in mind—a demographic often left out of the onboarding discourse.

With the rise of mobile devices and smartphones, mobile apps are becoming the new way to access learning materials. Learning management systems (LMS) are software applications that help companies manage their employees' training. They allow instructors or trainers to create lessons, assign them to participants and track performance. The main benefit of using these platforms is that they provide a centralized repository where learners can access information at any time and from anywhere.

Learning management systems, also known as knowledge management systems (KMS), are designed to assist organizations in developing, delivering, tracking, measuring and reporting on employee knowledge acquisition. These systems are often used to deliver formal training programs, but may be used for other purposes as well. 

For example, a key challenge companies face nowadays is high turnover. To improve employee retention and keep their teams engaged, many modern businesses invest in an LMS. This allows them to personalize the learning experience and help employees develop key skills through structured courses on topics such as time management, team building, communication techniques, conflict resolution, decision-making, etc. 

There are several types of LMS, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Keep reading to learn more about the benefits of using an LMS as well as to discover tips to make the most of your learning management system.

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What's in this article

• What is a learning management system?
• Types of learning management systems
• Who uses learning management systems?
• What are learning management systems used for?
• Why use learning management systems?
• How do learning management systems work?
• How can I get the most out of my LMS?
• Key features of a learning management system
• Applications of learning management systems
• Best LMS for businesses and enterprises

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What is a learning management system?

A learning management system (LMS) is an online learning platform that allows users to access course materials and communicate in real-time. An LMS optimizes collaboration between employees and managers. It can be used to manage courses, track progress, and provide feedback on performance

LMS are software platforms used by businesses and educational organizations to manage all aspects of teaching and learning as well as optimize online learning programs. They provide features that allow instructors to track attendance, assignments, grades, and much more. LMS also allows companies to share content across multiple devices and locations.

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Start managing your students’ learning

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Types of learning management systems 

• Cloud-based LMSes offer flexibility and scalability because you don't have to worry about hardware upgrades or maintenance. They're easy to deploy and manage, and most come with free trial versions. 
• Self-hosted LMSes are installed on your server. This gives you complete control over everything, including security settings and data backups. However, self-hosted LMS installations require technical expertise, and you must install and maintain the software yourself.
• Desktop applications are desktop programs that run directly on your computer. These are usually standalone programs that perform specific functions, such as creating quizzes or managing student records. Some of these programs work offline, while others connect to the Internet to sync information. Most desktop applications cost money, although some are free.
• Mobile applications are designed specifically for smartphones and tablets. They allow students to take tests, view grades, and track assignments. Many mobile applications let teachers assign tasks, grade homework, and send messages to students. In addition, mobile applications enable educators to interact with students outside of class hours.

LMSes can be used across multiple devices, including desktops, laptops, phones, tablets, and even smartwatches. For example, a teacher can use a tablet app to administer a quiz during class and then submit scores via a smartphone app.

Corporate vs. Academic LMS

LMS providers, whether corporate or academic, provide access to online courses and automate different aspects of the training process. However, there are some key differences between them.

Academic LMSes focus on developing students' knowledge of different subjects. They rely heavily on theoretical knowledge. On the other hand, corporate learning is focused on practical application, and one of its primary objectives is the return on investment (ROI). 

Here are some of the most important differences between academic and corporate LMSs:

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Why use an LMS for employee training?

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Who uses learning management systems?

LMSes are frequently used by SMBs, non-profit organizations, cooperatives and educational institutions. They help organizations save time and money as well as optimize learning and training.

What are learning management systems used for?

A learning management system is a software application designed to help facilitate the delivery of online courses. These applications offer features such as course creation, assignment submission, grading, communication tools, and student records. They often provide additional functionality, such as collaboration tools, quizzing, etc.

The primary use of a learning management system is knowledge management. Knowledge management refers to the gathering, organizing, sharing, and analysis of organizational information — such as documents, files, people, processes, etc. — related to a particular topic or subject area. This allows individuals to access relevant information quickly and easily, thus improving decision-making and productivity.

The exact role of an LMS varies based on the organization's training strategy and goals, and different types of organizations use them differently. For example, some companies use LMSs internally to train employees, while others use them externally to teach customers.

Why use learning management systems?

An LMS provides many advantages over traditional methods of delivering training and education. Some examples include:

• Reduced costs: An LMS allows companies to reduce the amount of time spent traveling for training and teaching purposes. This saves money because it eliminates the need to hire additional personnel and use expensive facilities for training and teaching.
• Improved efficiency: A well-designed LMS helps optimize training expenditures by reducing wasted resources such as instructor salaries, classroom space rental fees, etc.
• Increased effectiveness: An LMS offers great flexibility in terms of how it can be implemented. For example, an LMS can be customized to meet specific needs while retaining the ability to scale up quickly to accommodate future growth.
• Consistent quality: With an LMS, companies can ensure that all employees receive the same high-quality training and instruction. This is especially important given the fact that some people learn better visually while others prefer to read about topics.
• Ease of tracking: An LMS makes it easy to track learner progress and performance. Companies can see exactly where each learner stands in relation to his or her peers and determine whether there is room for improvement.
• Data analytics: An LMS collects data on a variety of metrics including learner satisfaction, retention rates, completion rates, etc. These statistics help companies make educated decisions regarding future training plans and budget allocations.

How do learning management systems work?

An enterprise LMS can be customized to meet your organization's specific needs and used to centralize your company's knowledge. It’s an innovative way to develop your team’s skills, monitor their progress in real time and track their training hours. It helps employees develop the knowledge required to perform their roles and advance faster in their careers.

Businesses invest in corporate LMSes in order to store, organize, and distribute courses to employees as needed. How the learning management system works depends on the platform chosen. 

For example, Workleap LMS offers businesses the following features: 

• Personalized support for LMS implementation
• Complete control over the access to courses (private courses, restricted access groups, course enrollment periods, etc.)
• Virtual classrooms and live webinars with recordings
• Drip content
• Automated completion certificates
• Customization options (white label, custom domain name, custom colors and logo, custom course cards, etc.)
• Administration dashboard
• User progress tracking
• Enrollment and completion reports
• Detailed sales report
• Bill 90 management
• Custom learning paths
• Batch user import
• Automated enrollments
• Zapier integration
• Simple and intuitive navigation
• Mobile-friendly platform
• Featured courses 
• Web hosting in Canada
• Continuous monitoring of servers
• Protection of your intellectual property
• Promo codes and discounts
• Subscription plans
• Facebook Pixel, Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager integration
• Refund management 
• Multilingual (English, French and Dutch)
• Instant payment system
• Sales tax management

How can I get the most out of my LMS?

If you're looking for the best LMS platform for your business, then you're already in the growth mindset required to succeed. But you also need to ensure that all your team is onboard if you seek long-term results.

To do so, remind your HRs that an LMS will help them be more efficient and save time. Explain to your managers that corporate training will now be fast to manage and monitor. Finally, show how simple it will now be for your employees to develop their skills and boost their careers. Once everyone understands the benefits of using an LMS, it's time for you to utilize its full potential and work towards your business goals. Follow these 9 steps.

1. Choose the right type of learning management system (LMS)

There are different reasons why you might want an LMS but there are different types of LMSes out there so it can be hard to know which platform is the right one for your business. You could choose a web-based LMS which allows you to access your LMS from anywhere at any time. It is usually a cheaper option than an offline LMS.

An online learning management system (LMS) allows an organization to manage courses and track learner progress through them. A good LMS should provide a variety of features including course creation, tracking student progress, reporting, and analytics. 

Some LMSes offer additional functionality such as eCommerce, social media integration, mobile access, and collaboration tools. Most LMSes require users to create accounts before they can start creating courses. The LMS you use can affect how you deliver online learning and, ultimately, it’s all about what works for your business.

2. Define your business needs

Think about your “Why?" Why are you thinking of implementing an LMS or upgrading your current one? What are your organizational goals?  It's important for your LMS to align with your company’s strategic objectives. You should also align your organization’s training needs with your corporate goal for a solid strategy that meets everyone’s expectations and gets the most return out of your LMS investment.

3. Be specific when assessing each team's learning goals

We all know everyone’s different. But don’t let that stop you from defining what you think they should learn, how they should learn it, and why. Define each team’s learning objectives, including any key milestones along the way. Make sure these are measurable so you can determine whether or not you’re meeting them. Track them regularly to make sure you’re getting the best value out of your learning management system.

4. Make sure your company is ready for the big launch

You're trying to get people to successfully complete the tasks they need to complete. User adoption is key - and the key to that is configuring. When online, people generally choose to visit sites and online services that are easy on the eyes so that they can quickly understand how things work. So why should your e-training platform be any different? Configuring your e-training platform with your organization's branding will definitely help with user adoption. 

5. Integrate your LMS with existing systems 

Your team may already be using a variety of communication tools to work together so it's important to integrate your LMS with existing systems. A good place to start would be to integrate your LMS with your human resources (HR) system. 

Automated integration between these two areas can help you keep track of who’s where, and also provide you with valuable information about how people are performing within your company. In addition, having access to this data can help you make informed decisions about training needs, employee development plans, and overall performance.

6. Make sure your team is up-to-date on the latest developments

Do you wish to maximize the benefits of your LMS platform? Then make sure that your employees are fully aware of and using the diverse feature sets that your LMS provides. Workleap LMS  offers personalized support to accelerate your LMS implementation. This offer is free for enterprise LMS customers and will give you a head start when it comes to publishing your first online course!

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Request a personalized demo

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7. Make it personal

Each person consumes different types of content at different times. For example, some people read their news online in the morning but watch TV shows later in the evening. Your LMS content needs to be as engaging as possible, which is why it is important to ensure that your team has easy and convenient ways to view your LMS content from anywhere and anytime. To help achieve this, your LMS platform must have a responsive web design.

8. Good reporting

It’s important to keep track of how your team uses the LMS, whether they're meeting their goals, and identify any gaps in knowledge. You can automatically share detailed progress updates for courses at both the individual and group levels. You can also create custom report types to provide staff members with useful information.

9. Focus on what matters most

After all the talk about the perfect LMS and how it can be used to improve your organization's learning experience, don't forget the one most important aspect - your employees. Don't fall into the trap of focusing too much on the actual LMS, and remember, your employees must always come first.

That means avoiding the pitfalls of trying to incorporate the newest technologies into your LMS without any good reason. Remember, your employees must always be your top priority; Will they learn better through easy-to-use quizzes? Will interactive videos be more effective? What information do your employees really require to know from your system? 

Key features of a learning management system

A good LMS must offer many things, such as:

• A great interface
• An easy navigation
• Good security
• Support for different devices
• Customizable modules
• Online courses
• Classroom management
• Collaboration tools
• Analytics

Applications of learning management systems

Employee training and onboarding are among the most common uses for learning management systems. These types of programs can be used to create immersive learning experiences that enable employees to develop new skills and the ability to solve problems.

Another example of an LMS usage scenario is for sales training. This can include onboarding and training, but also includes creating seminars on product knowledge, how to handle customers, and how to prepare for client meetings.

Best LMS for businesses and enterprises

Your enterprise LMS private learning platform makes talent development easy. Our team can personalize an action plan based on your corporate training program goals and help you clarify your vision to better understand how our enterprise LMS solution can bring your business learning strategy to life. 

We also offer personalized support to accelerate your LMS implementation. This offer is free for Workleap LMS customers and will give you a head start when it comes to publishing your first online course!

Are you a performance-driven manager? If so, you likely ask yourself the following questions regularly:

• How can I improve productivity in my team?
• How can my department be more innovative?
• How can we better contribute to our organization's goals and objectives?

Finding the solution to these challenges begins with the people working in your organization. And the best way to reach optimal performance in your team is by measuring employee experience KPIs and acting on your findings in a constructive, timely fashion.

In this article, we'll give you the 411 on how to measure your employee experience (EX) so you can establish a positive workplace culture and productive work environment.

‍

What is employee experience?

Employee experience is how team members observe, interpret, and internalize all the interactions with an organization. It involves all organizational encounters, or touchpoints, throughout the employee lifecycle, including:

• The interview process
• Onboarding after a new hire
• The training process
• Internal promotions
• Pulse surveys
• Exit interviews

Traditionally, employee experience factors are broken down into three categories:

1. Physical workspace: These factors include a safe and practical work environment and a convenient office location. Perks, such as lunch stipends and career counseling, are also physical workplace factors.
2. Cultural: The organizational structure should give employees the opportunity for future growth. Cultural employee experience factors also include fair compensation with sufficient retirement and healthcare benefits.
3. Technological: Employees should have sufficient resources to do their jobs. For example, high-performing computers and speedy networks can improve employee engagement and experience. On the other hand, outdated systems can contribute to poor employee experience.  

In the era of distributed work, other factors that can enhance employee experiences include:

• Flexibility and good work-life balance
• Transparent and open communication
• Organizational trust
• Meaningful input
• Healthy co-worker and manager relationships
• Voice, empowerment, and accountability (VEA)

{emphasize}Recognition and feedback are also crucial to promoting employee engagement. According to Officevibe’s Pulse Survey data, 83% of employees appreciate receiving feedback, whether positive or negative.{emphasize}

The importance of a positive employee experience

Why should an organization aim to improve its employee experience?

When employees feel good about going to work, organizations tend to see a sustainable increase in business success. A few things contribute to this increase in business performance:

• Optimal employee retention: Maximizing employee experience boosts retention rates because happier, more engaged employees feel less of an urge to leave their organizations in search of something new. Employees that stick around become experts and ambassadors at your organization, ultimately contributing to long-term company success.
  
  If that's not reason enough, high turnover can be really expensive. According to Gallup, replacing existing employees can cost up to two times the employee’s salary.

{emphasize}Many business leaders underestimate the financial significance of happy, engaged employees. We've gathered compelling insights on the Return on Investment (ROI) from employee experience to help reframe this essential perspective{emphasize}

• Improved engagement: High employee engagement brings a slew of benefits. For starters, an engaged employee is likelier to be more productive and go the extra mile for their organization. Not only do these employees drive up their own performance, but they often pull the rest of the team with them.
  
  It's clear then that engagement is super important and should be prioritized. However, promoting engagement can be challenging if your organization doesn’t focus on the broader employee experience. One cannot live without the other.
• Easier recruitment: Promoting employee experience should be the bedrock of your employee recruitment strategy. Top talent is in high demand these days. If a talented candidate knows that your organization is serious about building a positive company culture and providing growth opportunities, they'll be more likely to apply for a vacant position. And if you can highlight your EX throughout the interview process, winning them over will be a breeze.
  
  💡Pro tip: Including other employees and brand ambassadors throughout your interview process is a great way to show your employee experience at work. Candidates will see others living and breathing your EX, and it can make all the difference in their decision-making.
• Improved customer experience: Energized employees with a positive experience at work are also more likely to transpire this positivity externally, engage with customers, and provide them with high-value solutions. This is sure to improve your customer advocacy loop and will keep clients engaged with your products and services.

{emphasize}The past two years have changed the reality of work forever. Read our latest data report for insights about the current state of employee experience and how leaders and companies can shape it in the future.{emphasize}

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8 KPIs to measure employee experience

Key performance indicators (KPIs) are metrics that measure employee experience levels within your organization. These quantitative and qualitative data points eliminate guesswork when you need to determine the quality and effectiveness of employee interactions.

Instead of asking your team questions on the fly, you can strategically create employee surveys based on these indicators to get valuable insight into specific employee experience factors. The results will not only show you where your EX is excelling but also help you identify problem areas that need attention.

If you're not sure where to start, we've got you covered with eight employee experience metrics you can track to keep your EX thriving.

1. Satisfaction levels

This employee experience KPI provides qualitative data on how team members generally feel at work. More specifically, the employee satisfaction metric gauges your team members' satisfaction levels around their role in the organization, compensation, and the workplace as a whole.

Measuring employee satisfaction starts with asking the right questions; otherwise, you'll find it challenging to quantify. Here are a few you can ask:

• Do you feel you are making a difference in the organization?
• Are you satisfied with the resources at your disposal?
• On a scale of 0 to 10, how satisfied are you with your compensation and benefits package?
• Are you comfortable in your work environment?

Once you have your team's responses, you'll be primed to act on the right pain points. You'll quickly find low-hanging fruit that will make all the difference in your employee experience.

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Employee experience surveys and one-on-one conversations offer great avenues to gain an in-depth understanding of satisfaction levels within a department or company.{emphasize}

2. Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)

The employee Net Promoter Scores is a critical metric to measure when evaluating employee experience, and would typically be included in a survey annually.

The eNPS is a key performance indicator that asks employees: “Using a scale from 0 (unlikely) to 10 (highly likely), what is the likelihood that you would recommend your current place of employment as a good place to work?”

Depending on their answers, employees will fall into one of three categories:

• Promoters: A score of 9 or 10
• Neutrals: A score of 7 or 8
• Detractors: A score of 0 to 6

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To calculate your eNPS, subtract the number of detractors from the number of promoters, then divide the answer by the number of respondents.{emphasize}

An eNPS of 30 or higher might indicate relatively high levels of employee satisfaction. The number of neutrals doesn’t impact this score, as these employees are generally indifferent towards the organization as an employer.

{emphasize}💡Pro-tip: While neutrals aren't considered in the eNPS formula, they should not be ignored as they likely represent the largest part of your workforce. You'll want to identify who your neutrals are and implement practical improvements based on their survey feedback to transform them into promoters.{emphasize}

3. Internal referrals

A metric that often gets overlooked when measuring employee experience is the number of referrals your team members are sending HR's way. While it's closely linked with the employee Net Promoter Score, this KPI shows ambassadorship in practice, not just theory.

Think about the times you've referred people you know for a job at your organization – and the times you didn't. More likely than not, employees refer others only when they feel positively about their employee experience. If you don't enjoy the environment you work in, you probably wouldn't want to share that burden with someone else. On the other hand, if you feel engaged day-in-day-out, you'll be happy to see others experience that as well.

Aside from giving you a snippet of where your EX stands, referrals and a good referral program can also do wonders when it comes to actually shaping your employee experience. LinkedIn data shows that people who refer others, especially those who refer others successfully, stay longer at their organizations.

4. Employee productivity

According to a study by the Saïd Business School of Oxford University, employees who are happy at work are, on average, 13% more productive than their counterparts. So, measuring productivity levels will give you a pretty good idea of how your EX is perceived by employees.

A great way to measure your team's productivity is by setting actionable goals on a quarterly or yearly basis and following up on your team's progress regularly. If goals are consistently reached or even surpassed in a department, it's a sign of a positive and motivating employee experience. Once you've gauged productivity levels, you'll be able to improve them over time to help your team do their best work, always.

5. Retention rates

Your employee retention KPI is a big reflection of your employee experience. It's a no-brainer. People stay where they feel happy, motivated, and inspired on the daily.

{emphasize}Employee retention = (number of employees at the end of the year ÷ number of employees at the beginning of the year) x 100{emphasize}

For example, suppose 150 staff members worked for the organization at the start of January, and this number increased to 170 by the end of December. In this case, 20 employees started a new job at the company, and your retention rate is 113%.

A positive retention rate of over 100% indicates high employee experience levels. If retention rates improve over time, it also means that the steps you take to enhance employee experience are effective.

{emphasize}Looking to improve retention? Asking employees what they need during regular touchpoints is a great way to make them feel heard. By opening lines of communication, you're paving the way for healthy relationships, higher retention, and ultimately a better employee experience.{emphasize}

6. Employee absenteeism

Keeping absenteeism rates as low as possible is critical to not only maximizing profitability but also employee engagement. Absenteeism can significantly affect productivity and cost your organization thousands of dollars over a year. When an employee is absent for non-urgent issues, it also increases the workload on other employees, which affects their performance and can create a vicious cycle.

{emphasize}Absenteeism rate = (number of absences ÷ total number of workdays in a year) x 100{emphasize}

Generally, a low absenteeism rate (the closer to zero, the better) indicates a positive employee experience. Employees who are optimistic about their work environment are less likely to play hooky or use minor excuses not to come in.

7. Recognition frequency

Relationships and human interactions are often the backbone of a company's culture. So, if you want to measure the employee experience, you'll want to take a look at how these relationships pan out at work.

The recognition KPI can give managers and leaders great insights, especially when it's given among peers. Colleagues who take the time to recognize each other, whether to acknowledge someone's hard work or simply thank them for being awesome, contribute to a better EX for all.

A great recognition frequency varies per organization, so we recommend tracking your own metric over time to identify trends within your company. Once you have an idea of what the status quo is, you can work to improve or maintain your recognition levels.

8. Wellness

When employees increasingly encounter physical or mental health issues, especially deriving from work-related issues, it can drastically impact their employee experience. Factors that can take a toll on employee wellness include:

• Unrealistic workloads and expectations
• Insufficient health and safety policies
• Poor management and communication practices
• Inflexible work hours
• A workplace culture of harassment or bullying
• An environment that does not value diversity and inclusion

Gathering quantitative data on employees’ wellness can be challenging. However, you can determine how your team is feeling and what factors are taking a toll on their wellbeing by sending employee wellness surveys regularly. You can also pay close attention to other metrics, like your absenteeism rate, as both metrics often move in the same direction.

{emphasize}😌 Prioritize conversations around mental health and use these stress and wellbeing templates for upcoming surveys and one-on-ones.{emphasize}

Employee engagement surveys: A simple tool to measure employee engagement and experience

Gone are the days where decision-making around employee experience happens haphazardly. Keeping a pulse on your EX requires care and attention, so measuring employee experience should come as a long-term strategy. Having a dedicated employee experience survey set in place will help you:

• measure how your team is feeling in real-time
• identify specific areas of improvement
• track trends and fluctuations overtime
• see where you're already doing great

Make your employee experience shine with Officevibe

Having a great employee experience makes perfect business sense. The happier and more engaged your team is, the better the business performs as a whole.

Officevibe's Pulse Survey tool provides a no-fuss, effective solution so you can start measuring employee engagement and gaining insights into your team's experience in no time. Before you know it, your EX will be on the rise and there will be no looking back.

{emphasize}Curious about how our surveys work? Kick off your employee experience improvement journey with an Officevibe demo.{emphasize}

Employee engagement: the industry term du jour – and with good reason. Employee engagement refers to the emotional or mental connection someone might have to their job and company. Essentially, it's how invested an employee is in what they do and where they're doing it.

We know that employees are the lifeblood of every organization. So it stands to reason that if your people are happy with what they do and are eager to wake up every day to tick tasks off their to-do lists, then your organization will be better primed for success.

While traditional ways of engaging employees may have worked in the past, most modern professionals need more than free coffee or casual Fridays to keep them feeling productive and inspired. Let's explore why.

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The importance of employee engagement initiatives

The most successful teams are made up of engaged employees who want to contribute to their company's mission and collective goals.

But actively engaging your employees can prove easier said than done, especially during challenging moments like an organizational restructuring or a shift to a hybrid work model. In these bumpier contexts, the importance of employee engagement can't be overstated as a more engaged workforce can result in:

• Higher productivity
• More collaborative teamwork
• Stronger company culture
• Genuine job satisfaction
• Lower risk of burnout
• Better employee retention
• Reduced employee turnover rates

And the list goes on.

When an employee is passionate about their career and feels connected to their company values, it shows in their day-to-day work. But with the shift to remote work, it's become more challenging for managers to keep the pulse on how their team members are feeling. You can help keep your employees engaged by making time for interesting, motivational, and downright fun activities and initiatives.

14 effective employee engagement ideas for your team

Let's dive into some employee engagement ideas that are more apropos for the 21st-century workplace.

1. Create a safe space for employee feedback...

One of the best ways you can engage employees is by listening to what they have to say on anything from interpersonal challenges and administrative policies to creative direction and company vision. Creating a continuous feedback loop to collect your team's opinions, questions, and comments will help clue you in on how your employees feel.

To ensure all your employees feel comfortable expressing their thoughts and new ideas, you should offer them the possibility of submitting feedback anonymously. This will allow your team to comment on what matters to them more freely and without fear of repercussion.

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💡Discover some of the best methods and tools for collecting anonymous employee feedback.

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2. ...and always act on it

Collecting feedback is an ongoing process but it's just half the battle; what matters most is how you respond to it. By acting on their comments, you're encouraging employees to keep submitting their honest thoughts which can help bring about positive change for their own personal development, your team, and even the entire company.

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Read how you can respond to feedback so your employees feel valued.

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3. Send out pulse surveys

One of the most tried-and-true employee engagement activities in the management book is to send out pulse surveys. Pulse surveys are a quick and efficient way to measure if you're sufficiently engaging employees by asking them a series of short but poignant questions (with qualitative or quantitative answers on a sliding scale) like:

• Do you have the resources necessary to grow in your role?
• Are you satisfied with the amount of feedback you get from your manager?
• Do you feel like your employer cares about employee health?
• What can your organization do to boost employee satisfaction?

Pulse survey tools in software like Officevibe can help you keep track of how your people feel in a safe space, allowing employees to share their thoughts more candidly.

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💡Need some inspiration to craft your first survey? Try out these 25 pulse survey questions designed to see if your employees feel engaged.

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4. Make sure your team's objectives are aligned

According to Officevibe data, 73% of employees feel their managers can define more precise goals.

When you're not all on the same page, it's easy for employee engagement to slip; misaligned objectives can lead to frustration and frustration can lead to resentment, ultimately hurting employee happiness. Clarity around what you expect from your people (and what they expect from you) is a non-negotiable if you want your team to succeed.

Using goal-setting tools like the OKR (Objectives and Key Results) framework can help your team reassess and realign collective and individual goals and improve team performance.

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Goal setting is an art form. Master it with Officevibe's essential OKR email course.

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5. Don't let recognition slip through the cracks

No matter how busy things get, it's crucial to keep employee recognition at the forefront. Since our data shows that 34% of employees report unhappiness with how frequently they're recognized at work, neglecting this vital element of employee engagement can lead to high (and costly) turnover rates for your company. Recognize employees for their wins, big and small, express your gratitude for the time they put in, and show your employees how much you value their contributions.

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💡Get inspired by these 27 employee recognition message examples and send your team a few kind words to boost employee performance and engagement.

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6. Encourage professional development

Learning is a lifelong affair and as a manager or HR professional, it's part of your raison d'être to help your people grow. Cultivate employee engagement on your teams by providing opportunities for career development with workshops, short courses, lunch and learns, or mentorship programs. You can even invite a colleague from another unit to discuss a lesser-known topic to promote cross-team communication and learning.

Help your employees sharpen their skill sets for their current roles, or encourage them to get out of their comfort zones and tackle a new competency that will help them land a new title on your team or in a different department.

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7. Connect with your team on a personal level

You might spend 40 hours a week chatting and working alongside your team members, but how well do you really know them? While professional boundaries are healthy and necessary, it's also important to learn what they're passionate about beyond their work and engage them on a personal level. You might learn that some of your coworkers are avid readers, hiking enthusiasts, or trivia buffs, so why not organize a book club, a trek through the woods, or a game evening as a team-building activity?

Connecting with your employees can be challenging, especially if you have remote team members. If you have the opportunity to meet offsite for a few hours, it can go a long way in fostering more genuine employee engagement.

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👉 Amplify team connections, build trust, and encourage employee engagement with these 10 team-building activities.

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8. Create a memorable onboarding experience for new employees

The hiring process can be stressful, but onboarding doesn't have to be. Engagement begins even before a new employee logs on for their first day, so it's crucial to make sure new hires are fully equipped with the resources they need to succeed in their job.

Make sure the latest addition to your team is comfortable and has a clear understanding of the scope of their position and their role within the organization. Luckily tools like Workleap Onboarding exist to help you offer your remote employees the same authentic onboarding process as you would any onsite employee.

9. Prioritize employee well-being

We know that mental health and wellness have taken a hit in the last few years, but did you know that, according to Officevibe data, 47% of employees are feeling overwhelmed at work? That's a jarring statistic. This means that many employees are signaling to their managers that they are feeling stressed, burnt out, and unhappy.

If you want to boost employee engagement, you need to make sure your team members feel safe enough to speak up when they can no longer maintain a healthy work-life balance. Sending employee wellness surveys can help you pinpoint areas of the employee experience you might need to reassess to keep your employees happy. You can also promote a mindful lifestyle by holding in-person or virtual yoga sessions, providing healthy snacks at the office, or offering access to wellness applications.

10. Foster a positive company culture

When you make employee well-being a priority, you begin to elevate your entire employee experience. Positive company culture is rooted in mutual respect and can lead to stronger collaboration, higher employee productivity, and overall happier, more engaged employees.

When your team feels supported and motivated by their peers and company leadership, they will be better equipped to reach their personal and professional goals as well as broader collective goals.

11. Promote equity, diversity, and inclusion

The workplace must be a safe space for every employee, regardless of gender, socio-economic background, race, or religion. To truly support your employees, you need to foster a company culture that is accessible and inclusive for every team member.

Get the conversation going with a series of diversity, equity, and inclusion survey questions that will encourage employees to speak freely on topics that matter the most to them. These types of engagement efforts aim to uplift employee voices and make sure everyone is involved in important company discussions that can shape workplace culture.

12. Hold one-on-one meetings with your employees

Sometimes a simple conversation can be the best way to connect with your employees. Regular one-on-one meetings can clear up confusion for ongoing tasks, ensure alignment on team objectives, and can help resolve internal conflicts.

Asking the right questions can help you improve employee engagement by getting a clearer picture of your team's reality. We've put together a list of some useful one-on-one meeting questions to prompt conversations with your employees:

• Are you excited about what you’re currently working on?
• Are there things happening on the team that make it difficult to collaborate?
• Do you feel challenged at work? Are you learning new things?
• Is there something we could do as a team to improve recognition?

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Uncover more benefits of holding regular one-on-one meetings.

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13. Include your team in decision-making

Many HR professionals and team leaders make the cardinal error of excluding their direct reports from important conversations that affect daily operations. More often than not, your employees will be the ones most impacted by high-level decisions usually dictated by senior leadership.

Managers should tap into their best resource (their employees) to get feedback before implementing new policies or starting new projects. Get your employees involved by opening the floor for feedback and questions. Giving your team a seat at the table to express their thoughts will do wonders for making employees feel valued.

14. Encourage employee activism and volunteering

Your team is dedicated and that extends well beyond the workplace. Learn what causes are dear to their hearts and organize an offsite volunteer day. A more altruistic employee engagement strategy like this one is a great opportunity for team building and can bond peers over common goals and shared values.

Every organization has a social responsibility to contribute to the greater good, and engaging in acts of community service is a wonderful way to inspire employees.

Implement an employee engagement program in your workplace

Improving employee engagement can seem like a gargantuan task if you don't know where to start. Should you dive right into organizing team bonding activities or should you hold one-on-one meetings to have a quick chat? The truth is, there is no wrong answer.

Remember: employee engagement will look different for each of your team members. The best way to move forward and foster a happy work environment is to get your people motived and excited to perform at their best.

Regardless of how you engage with your employees, the important thing is to make the time to check in with them regularly and connect with them in a way that suits your team's needs and ambitions.