Employee Engagement

This post originally appeared on SwitchAndShift, where I sometimes guest blog. Check out their site for more content on the world of work.

Learn how to pay attention.

Being mindful seems like such an obvious concept, but it still amazes me how little it’s practiced.

I’m always so insulted when someone is using their cell phone while talking to me, or checking an email in the middle of a conversation. It’s just plain rude.

Daniel Goleman is a psychologist and award winning author that studies mindfulness, and how it affects us.

One of the best videos I’ve seen on the subject is a talk that he gave at Google.

The video is a little long, but well worth the watch if you have some time.

Being more mindful simply means being more aware of what’s going on, really being “present” in the moment, and paying attention. It’s amazing to think how something as simple as this can increase employee engagement.

First, let’s look at some of the science behind how being more mindful can make you happier and more productive at work, and then I’ll give you some tips on how you can be more mindful.

Officevibe is the perfect employee engagement solution designed to help managers address areas of concern within a team and help keep employees engaged (and happy).

Being mindful makes employees happier

In two studies published in the journal Mindfulness, researchers looked at the effects of leaders being more mindful, and employee well-being and performance.

The studies found that the more mindful a leader is, the lower an employee’s emotional exhaustion is. More mindful leaders were also associated with employees having a better work-life balance, and overall job satisfaction.

The second study found that employees are also more friendly with co-workers, and helped their team more.

The second study did find something interesting though, it found that if an employee felt like they didn’t have enough autonomy or connection to others in the company, the mindfulness didn’t help.

So while mindfulness is important, don’t forget about giving employees the autonomy they need.

Being mindful improves decision making

In a recent study published in Psychological Science, the researchers wanted to see the effects of mindfulness on something called the sunk cost fallacy.

Just in case you don’t know what that is, it’s the bias that we have to continue down the wrong path because we’ve already invested time and energy into it. A simple example is when you watch a bad movie, but you finish it anyways, because you’ve already made it through the first hour.

What the researchers found, was people with increased mindfulness, through 15 minute meditation, had lower tendency to think in terms of sunk costs.

Being Mindful Helps You Focus On Tasks

In a study published in the journal Human Relations, researchers wanted to see how mindfulness could help in a chaotic work environment like a restaurant.

What they found was that servers that were more mindful had increased job performance, and were better able to focus on what their customers were asking for.

What’s interesting about this study, is that being mindful helped even when workers weren’t fully engaged, meaning that mindfulness has a direct link to job performance.

What the researchers said, was that workplace engagement increases feelings of positivity and happiness, but mindfulness increases cognitive skills and attention, making them better at juggling multiple things at once.

Why is focus so important?

I’m glad you asked. In a study done by Matt Killingsworth, he found that , researchers found that 47 percent of the time during a typical day, adult minds are not focused on what they’re currently doing. Even worse, when people’s minds wander, they report being less happy.

Here is a TED talk from Matt that talks about all of this:

How to be more mindful

The answer is meditation.

A recent study by University of Washington found that meditation training helped workers concentrate better, remember more of their work details, and stay energized and experience less negative moods.

You really only need about 2 minutes a day to make it work. Check out this great guide by Leo Babauta from Zenhabits.

2 tools I’d recommend everyone looking into:

• Headspace
• Buddhify

What do you think about mindful meditation?

Any tips or tricks you want to share with me? Let us know your thoughts on twitter @Officevibe.

Performance reviews, when done properly, can be an amazing tool to align your employees around their goals.

Unfortunately, proper employee performance reviews often fall by the wayside. Managers get busy and they sometimes fall into the trap of either only focusing on recent events (this is called the recency bias), or they'll use ranking systems that are unfair to most employees (especially top performers).

In the past, traditional performance reviews have been seen as tedious. That's why so many companies have started to change their approaches. Deloitte, Accenture, Gap, GE, Microsoft, and many others have scrapped the annual employee performance review in favor of “frequent check-ins.”

In theory, getting rid of something because it isn't working isn't a bad thing. And we are all for more frequent opportunities for performance feedback.

Performance reviews should be one small part of your entire performance management process.

That said, there is a real value in having a structured performance evaluation process, where performance reviews have a proper place. The truth is, when executed well, a performance review can be really powerful — for both managers and employees.

What exactly is a performance review?

A performance review comes in all types of types of forms and cadences. Some are more formal than others. Some occur annually while others more frequently. But at the core, a performance review is a structured process conducted by managers to evaluate employee performance.

{highlight}A well-structured performance review requires the following:

• A one-on-one formula between an employee and their direct manager
• A measurement of employee performance over a specific period of time
• Points discussed by both parties are documented
• An action plan and next steps that are put in place at the end
• A regularly occurring schedule (ex: every quarter or every year){highlight}

Most importantly, employee performance reviews serve as a benchmark to assess job-related expectations, accomplishments, strengths, areas for improvement, and future goals — and an opportunity for feedback and course correction if need be.

Goals of an employee performance review

Employee performance reviews have clear objectives that benefit both employees and the organization. These reviews offer valuable feedback to employees, acknowledging their accomplishments and pinpointing areas for improvement. They also serve as a means to align personal goals with the company's larger objectives.

{highlight}In the realm of managerial decisions, performance reviews play a pivotal role in:

• Determining promotions, salary adjustments, and bonuses.
• Identifying high-potential employees.
• Seeing who might benefit from further training or support.{highlight}

However, it's important to note that a performance review isn't a one-sided feedback mechanism; it's a two-way street. These reviews foster mutual understanding by providing employees and managers with an accurate picture of ongoing progress. This process enhances communication and transparency, creating a platform for open discussions about performance, career advancement, and skill enhancement. Ultimately, the performance review process promotes accountability, ensuring both managers and employees are actively engaged in driving success.

So, performance reviews? They're not just a chat. They're like a teamwork booster, a career roadmap, and a high-five station — all rolled into one.

Benefits of employee performance reviews

Unlike ad hoc 'check-ins,' a performance review provides a formal structure for documenting an employee's performance history. This is valuable for supporting employees — including future referencing, succession planning, and addressing performance-related issues. However, it is also crucial for supporting managers in delivering effective performance management.

{highlight}When well-executed, the performance review process contributes to:

• Increasing employee engagement, motivation, and retention.
• Fostering a culture of continuous learning, development, and accountability.
• Improving overall organizational performance.{highlight}

Performance reviews are one of many tools available for managers to engage, motivate, and retain their employees. They have different tools for different situations, and they need to know when to use which tool.

Types of employee performance reviews

Kudos to the companies that switched from annual performance reviews to more frequent check-ins, but it's not necessary to get rid of them.

At a high level, here is how you should use each feedback tool you have. We'll go into more detail throughout the post.

• Monthly one-on-ones: Remember,one-on-ones aren't supposed to focus solely on performance. Use this time to see how employees are feeling. See these one-on-one template agendas for ideas.
• Quarterly team performance: Team goals and individual goals both contribute to an organization's larger objectives. However, collective team goals can provide broader alignment and foster collaboration. Set quarterly goals and monitor performance as a team. Check out these performance goals for employees here.
• Annual performance review: This is where you can use data from the whole year to talk about an employee's performance and help them set and reach career goals.
• Real-time feedback: An important thing to keep in mind is in addition to these feedback tools, you should give employees feedback in as near real-time as possible.

Focusing on continuous performance management with a centralized process

Modern Marketing & Commerce (MMC), formerly known as Modern Marketing Concepts, is a New York-based company that helps businesses grow through digital strategies and optimization.

Why they needed help

Before Officevibe, Kathryn Kellam, the former VP of Sales and Marketing at MMC, had a tough time keeping track of her chats with team members. She used papers and computer notes to document her employee performance evaluations, which often got lost or mixed up. Her performance management system needed a bit of help, but then Officevibe came along to offer a hand.

Having better conversations

Officevibe is more than just surveys. It also has a special tool for one-on-one talks, simplifying the infamous employee performance review. Kathryn liked the trial so much that she started using Officevibe integrally. It helped her turn regular chats into super useful talks to inform performance evaluations. She shared survey results with her team and used them to plan more efficiently for the future.

Making chats more efficient

Kathryn and her team used Officevibe to make lists of things they wanted to discuss. It was like having a plan for their formal (and informal) performance review moments. They even added things during the week that they didn't want to forget. This was especially helpful for their hybrid workforce.

Happy team, great score

With certain processes streamlined, MMC enjoyed a stellar engagement score of 9.4. Kathryn thinks the 1-on-1 tool made a big difference in her review process: "Using this tool for chats and keeping notes really helped us get this great score."

Their secret to great chats

Kathryn’s secret to genuine employee performance chats was simple: be open and talk about everything. She asked her team about their lives outside the office and what they wanted to do at work. They also discussed what they need help with. Using Officevibe, they made lists of follow-up items which helped fuel collaboration and alignment.

In the end

Thanks to Officevibe's 1-on-1 tool, Kathryn and her team were able to have better conversations and work more collaboratively with their performance review process.

Performance review tips

Here are a few helpful employee performance review tips for you to keep in mind as you're structuring your review:

1. Set clear goals from the beginning

One of the biggest challenges with employee performance reviews is that they're not usually based on data, which leaves space for forgetting and biases. If you set clear goals from the beginning, you'll be able to accurately and fairly measure performance. If you and an employee agree on goals, they're less likely to challenge any negative feedback because it was made clear what you both would be measuring.

2. Remove any fear

Annual performance reviews can be incredibly nerve-racking for employees so it's important that you calm their fears.

Start the meeting on a positive note, let them know that it's their meeting and that you're there to help them grow in their career. If you can set the tone early on in the meeting, you'll be much better off.

3. Use multiple data points

Use the goals you set, milestones they've achieved, reviews from other coworkers, and as many different data points as you possibly can to get a more accurate picture of employee performance.

The more sources of data you use, the less chance you have of bias getting in the way of the review.

4. Create an action plan

Together, with the employee, create an action plan that you both can agree on for what to improve for the following year. A good tip to keep in mind is to find out what the employee's career goals and plans are to make sure you help them get there. The annual performance review is the perfect time to have those career growth discussions.

Important: Make sure you provide any support necessary for them to achieve the goals in the action plan.

5. Take notes and follow up

Take notes of everything you're discussing during the performance review meeting, and at the end of the meeting, make sure to follow up with the employee by email to ensure everyone is on the same page.

Steps for a great performance review

Unlock the potential of your performance management process with a strategic approach to performance reviews. Let's delve into each step of the process:

1. Preparation phase: Taking these steps ensures you're well-equipped to evaluate performance effectively. Gather data, revisit goals, and establish clear expectations. This groundwork sets the stage for a fruitful review.
   • Gather relevant performance data and documentation: Before the performance review, collect essential data. For example, you can retrieve sales records that showcase revenue and deals closed, or explore customer feedback to understand interactions and compile project reports highlighting their contributions.
   • Review the employee's job description, goals, and objectives: Familiarize yourself with their job description to refresh your memory on their official roles. Align their goals with company strategies. Consider any changes since the last review, ensuring a clear overview.
   • Identify specific performance criteria and expectations: Define what counts. Outline performance factors such as hitting sales targets or teamwork. Quantify objectives like a 10% sales increase or maintaining high customer satisfaction.
2. Scheduling and communication: Communication is key in a performance review. Schedule thoughtfully, ensuring the employee is comfortable and engaged. Transparency about the process fosters an open and productive dialogue.
   • Schedule a meeting with the employee in advance: Plan ahead. Choose a suitable date and time, considering their preferences. Give them ample notice to prepare, ensuring a productive session.
   • Clearly communicate the purpose and format of the review: Set the stage. Explain what the review aims to achieve and how it will unfold. Emphasize that it's a platform for open exchange and valuable feedback.
   • Encourage the employee to self-assess their performance: Tap into their insights. Provide a self-assessment form, asking them to reflect on achievements and challenges. Their input shapes the discussion throughout the performance review.
3. Opening the review: Kicking off on a positive note creates a receptive atmosphere. Outlining the review's structure and encouraging input helps build a collaborative and constructive exchange during the performance review.
   • Begin the review by establishing a positive and constructive tone: Set the mood. Start on a positive note, acknowledging their contributions and dedication. Show appreciation for their efforts and that you have noticed their growth.
   • Discuss the agenda and the structure of the review: Navigate the roadmap. Outline the topics you'll cover and the process's flow. Managing expectations about timing fosters a focused discussion.
   • Encourage the employees to share their thoughts and concerns: Give them the floor. Create an environment where they feel comfortable sharing. Their perspective is valuable; listen actively and empathetically.
4. Assessing Performance: By evaluating employee performance against defined criteria and showcasing specific achievements, you create a comprehensive and accurate view of their contributions.
   • Evaluate the employee's performance against predetermined criteria: Get analytical. Measure against established criteria and objectives. Dive into performance data like sales or feedback, embracing both numbers and narrative.
   • Provide specific examples of achievements and areas for improvement: Paint a vivid picture. Highlight instances where they excelled and bring up tangible examples. Tackle growth areas constructively, focusing on behaviors and skills.
   • Seek input from relevant stakeholders, such as colleagues or clients: Broaden perspectives. Consult those who interact closely with the employee. Collect feedback from different angles to form a comprehensive assessment.
5. Feedback and discussion: Balanced feedback and active dialogue promote growth. Acknowledging strengths and inviting their perspective lay the foundation for constructive improvement.
   • Offer balanced and constructive feedback on strengths and weaknesses: Strike a balance. Begin with a nod to their strengths and accomplishments. Use real examples to showcase their positive impact. For growth areas, focus on actions and behaviors, steering clear of personal traits.
   • Encourage employees to share their own perspectives: Open the floor. Create a safe space for them to express their thoughts and concerns. Listen keenly and acknowledge their viewpoints. Their insights are invaluable and help shape the conversation.
   • Engage in a two-way dialogue and active listening: It's a conversation, not a monologue. Foster dialogue by posing open-ended questions. Seek clarity when needed, and encourage them to delve into their experiences. Keep the discussion balanced and inclusive.
6. Goal setting: Crafting SMART goals together aligns individual aspirations with organizational objectives. This collaboration sparks motivation and guides their path forward.
   • Collaboratively set new goals and performance expectations: Join forces. Dive into their aspirations for the upcoming period. Encourage them to share their own goals and dreams for professional growth. Harmonize individual aims with overarching company objectives.
   • Ensure the goals are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound): Get SMART. Nail down specifics, leaving no room for ambiguity. Make sure targets are measurable and realistic. Align goals with their roles, keeping an eye on both capability and available resources.
   • Discuss development opportunities and career aspirations: Chart the path. Identify areas for skill enhancement. Chat about training, workshops, and mentorship. Uncover their career dreams and explore avenues for growth within the organization.
7. Development and support: Identifying growth areas and offering guidance empowers professional development. Discussing training options and providing mentorship fuels continuous growth.
   • Identify areas where the employee can enhance their skills or knowledge: Pinpoint growth spots. Discuss strengths and areas needing polish. Map out skills or competencies beneficial for performance and career advancement.
   • Discuss available training programs or resources: Share the toolbox. Talk about training options, workshops, and courses. Detail internal resources like online learning platforms or mentorship schemes. Help them harness these resources effectively.
   • Offer support and guidance for the employee's professional growth: Guide their journey. Extend mentorship or coaching. Steer them in crafting a personalized development plan. Delve into possibilities and new challenges to broaden their skill set.
8. Performance ratings and summary: Providing an accurate rating, summarizing key points, and documenting outcomes offer clarity and direction for future endeavors.
   • Provide a fair and accurate performance rating, if applicable: Measure up. Gauge their overall performance based on set criteria and goals. Employ a rating system in line with your organization's evaluation framework. Back the rating with concrete feedback highlighting strengths and areas to refine.
   • Summarize key discussion points and action items: Synthesize the dialogue. Capture the main discussion points. Highlight achievements, growth areas, and upcoming goals. Reinforce agreed-upon action items, emphasizing the next moves.
9. Follow-up and documentation: Continued support and ongoing check-ins ensure progress. Documenting the journey preserves insights and promotes accountability.
   • Follow up on any commitments made during the review: Walk the talk. Ensure action items and development plans are put into motion. Lend support where needed. Arrange follow-up meetings to track progress and maintain a feedback loop.
   • Document the performance review and store it securely: Seal the record. Craft a comprehensive document encompassing discussion points and feedback. Respect confidentiality and comply with data regulations. Store it safely for future reference.
   • Schedule periodic check-ins to monitor progress and provide ongoing feedback: Stay connected. Arrange regular check-ins to gauge progress toward goals. Keep the feedback loop open and continuous. Use these sessions to address challenges and fine-tune their performance journey.

Each phase outlined above plays a pivotal and interconnected role in skillfully navigating the performance review process. By diligently following these steps, you lay a solid foundation for not only assessing performance but also fostering a culture of growth and continuous improvement within your team.

Performance review phrases to use

One important thing to keep in mind when giving feedback during your review process is to focus on behaviors and not personality traits. Behaviors can be changed, whereas personality traits are harder to change.

With that said, here are a few examples of phrases you can use in your next performance review:

• Handles receiving constructive feedback well
• Is constantly looking for ways to improve their work
• Communicates with the team clearly and concisely
• Shows up on time to meetings
• Shares knowledge with coworkers
• Completes projects on time and meets deadlines
• Gives feedback and challenges their coworkers
• Helps the team stay calm under pressure
• Is a good listener and has an open mind
• Contributes ideas and suggestions regularly for how to improve the business
• Is able to balance several projects at once
• Gives recognition to their peers

Common issues with performance reviews

Performance reviews (or performance appraisals), while essential, can sometimes stumble upon familiar challenges. Let's demystify these issues and explore ways to navigate them effectively, which is generally part of effective performance management:

1. Lack of preparation: Before conducting a performance review, it's crucial to gather ample performance data and relevant documentation. Moreover, familiarize yourself with the employee's goals, objectives, and job description to provide a comprehensive performance evaluation. Without proper preparation, your annual reviews may feel incomplete and inefficient.
2. Biased or inconsistent evaluation: Stay vigilant against personal biases that might inadvertently affect your performance evaluation. Consistency is key; apply the same performance criteria across all employees to ensure fairness.
3. Lack of specificity: When giving feedback during the review process, steer clear of vague statements. Instead, offer concrete examples to provide clarity. Explicitly communicate areas that need improvement to foster actionable progress.
4. Neglecting two-way communication: Remember, an effective performance review is one that promotes open dialogue. Encourage the employee to share their perspective. Listen actively, valuing their input and concerns to facilitate a productive conversation.
5. Focusing only on negatives: While addressing areas for improvement is vital, don't overshadow achievements within the employee performance review. Acknowledge strengths and accomplishments, and offer constructive feedback for well-rounded growth.
6. Failure to set clear goals: Setting achievable and well-defined goals together is paramount. Unrealistic expectations can lead to frustration. Collaborate to establish targets that align with the employee's role and the organization's vision to be assessed again at the next employee performance review.
7. Overlooking employee development: Use the appraisal as an opportunity to discuss training, development prospects, and career aspirations. Provide guidance and resources that empower the employee's professional journey.
8. Lack of follow-up and accountability: Don't let the momentum fade after the appraisal. Follow up on commitments and document progress to ensure accountability. This practice strengthens the impact of the appraisal process.
9. Delayed or infrequent reviews: Consistency is key. Conduct performance reviews on schedule to provide timely feedback and course corrections. Avoiding irregularity ensures performance stays on track.
10. Failure to document performance issues: Record performance-related concerns meticulously. Document discussions and agreements, creating a reliable reference point for future evaluations and developmental planning.

By steering clear of these common pitfalls, you can enhance the effectiveness of your employee performance review process and foster a culture of growth, development, and shared success.

Make performance reviews more effective with Officevibe

When it comes to effective performance management, performance reviews remain an integral part of the process. The key lies in simplifying the system to make them less heavy on managers and employees, and in nurturing a culture of trust within your organization. And for that, there are tools like Officevibe's upcoming performance management features.

There are many ways to modernize traditional performance reviews into an employee performance review process that is met with much enthusiasm! Incorporate peer reviews and link performance to core values to add a robust layer to your review process, elevating its impact and driving the point of collaboration home. Shifting the focus from personality traits to actionable behaviors is another game-changer. This shift ensures that reviews provide constructive and actionable feedback, enhancing employee growth and development.

Remember, the performance management doesn't end with the review. It's an ongoing collaboration, a commitment to continual improvement. Let your employees know that your shared goal is their development, and the review is merely a stepping stone in this collective journey.

The art of note-taking throughout the year is a gem of wisdom. By using technology to your advantage, you create a valuable reservoir of insights, minimizing the influence of biases and enriching the evaluation with substantial data. Embrace these insights from Officevibe, and watch your performance review process evolve into a dynamic force that propels your team and organization toward excellence. You'll have amazing reviews and catapult your performance management abilities!

It seems counterintuitive to suggest that work should be fun, right? Our whole lives we’ve been taught the “work hard, play hard” dichotomy. But why can’t work be fun in and of itself?

Fun company cultures are the best way to keep your employees and attract new ones. And while having fun perks like unlimited vacation is not a bad way to stimulate a fun culture, it doesn't always need to cost you. A fun culture stems from the energy and the vibe of your workplace, and it's up to the manager to set the tone for their team.

‍

What is company culture?

Company culture is essentially the personality, or the identity, of a company. Every company has a company culture, whether you intend to or not, but the difference is that great companies will cultivate theirs into being unique to their organization. Just like you’d ideally want a person you spend a lot of time with to be friendly, approachable, special and pleasant, the same goes for work - especially since that’s where people tend to spend most of their time. People don’t just work to earn a paycheck.

This recent article from Harvard Business Review explains that:

Compensating your employees properly is important, of course, but there’s so much more to work than just money. People are interested in enjoying their day to day, not just profiting from it.

Having a fun company culture is good for business

A fun, positive company culture is without a doubt good for business. Here are two reasons why:

1. It helps engage your employees

Engaged employees are more productive. Having a great company culture makes employees want to show up to work every day and do their best. It keeps them enthusiastic about their tasks and appreciative of all you do to ensure the workplace environment is enjoyable.

2. It helps attract new talent

When an employee loves where they work, they naturally become company ambassadors and help to organically promote your company, helping to attract new talent and promote the enterprise from the inside out.
This is why measuring your company’s Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) is important. Finding out how likely they are to recommend your company as a place to work will help you understand what areas you can work on improving.

Fun company culture examples

Here are some great examples of positive and fun company cultures.

Warby Parker

• They make sure that there’s always an event coming up, so employees have something to look forward to.
• Managers send random employees out to have lunch together to get to know everyone on their team.

Twitter

• They hold meetings on rooftops to keep it interesting.
• They get free meals delivered to the office.
• Unlimited vacations (for some).
• They offer mid-day yoga classes.

NextJump

• They built a free on-site gym for their employees, but only 5-10% of the company used it, so they created a fitness challenge that offered winning employees $1000.

HVAC.com

• They encourage employees to get out of the office on international mission trips, volunteer trips, organize summer cookouts supporting local causes, and even just go to museums.

Not every company can offer big fun perks like these, and that’s ok. A big part of having a fun company culture is just in the attitude that managers bring to the team.

This article, which discusses Richard Branson’s fun-tinted view on work and life, says it best:

Activities to help build a fun company culture

Organize office challenges

Organizing challenges within the office is a great way to engage employees through your company culture. This can pertain to the work itself, meaning creating some sort of friendly competition surrounding an initiative, or it can pertain to non-work-related challenges that the team participates in together.

For example, at Officevibe's parent company, each employee is gifted a FitBit as part of their onboarding welcome, and we compete in a challenge called Fit League to see who can reach the highest number of steps.

As another example, we just had our Winter Classic Hockey Tournament, which brought a ton of team spirit, camaraderie, and a bit of healthy competition to the workplace.

These challenges keep people active, engaged, and, of course - having fun!

Encourage eating lunch as a team

It’s so easy to spend all day at your desk, staring at your screen, but if an office environment is overly stressful and all employees do is work, day in and day out without a pleasant reprieve, they risk becoming disengaged.

As humans, we need socialization - it’s what breaks up the day and makes work fun. Ensure that you and your employees eat lunch as often as possible as a team. It’s important for our minds to take a break, and it’s a great way to get to know your team and for them to see you as more than a “boss.”

Get out of the office

Remember school field trips? How exciting it was to leave school for a few hours. Didn’t it make you appreciate your teachers so much more?

Work isn’t a prison - organize some off-site events. Be it drinks after work, lunch at a nearby restaurant, a professional development initiative, or even an offsite work day in a co-working space like WeWork.

For example, we have a Karaoke night coming up. It’s sure to be a memory-filled evening, and that outside fun trickles back into the Officevibe because, as a team, we are bonding and solidifying relationships.

Organized group exercise is another great way to get out of the office mid-day while doing something that will help increase your energy levels for the end-of-day sprint. Even just a group walk at lunchtime.

Celebrate milestones and wins

This is one of the most important ways to promote a positive, fun company culture, and it’s embedded in the tenets of employee engagement. Employees need and deserve constant recognition for their hard work to want to continue working hard for your company.

It’s called the Progress Principle, and it focuses on the power of small wins:

Of all the things that can boost inner work life, the most important is making progress in meaningful work.

Celebrating individual wins should happen daily.

For example, we have a “Kudos” channel in our Slack community that publicly allows employees and managers to commend one another on a job well done. This channel is active all day with great positive energy.

You can also celebrate company wins on a larger scale- be it regarding sales, the launch of a new initiative, the post-mortem of a successfully completed one, receiving amazing press, etc.

Celebrate! Company-wide. Together.

When we have a “big win,” we celebrate with champagne!

Imagine all the positive energy that is built up throughout the week when no good job goes unnoticed.

Create a fun office space

Depending on your company culture, you can interpret this as you like, but I’ll give you a glimpse into our office so you have an idea of what a fun office might look like.

We have long hallways, so we use skateboards and scooters.

We have a ping pong table - great to blow off steam between tasks (we also have competitions a few times a year).

We have an in-house café with our own barista - which promotes a really nice social gathering place, especially in the morning when we all have a cup of joe together.

We have a skateboard ramp in the office.

And, we have a huge sign on our wall that reads: "Without Fun, It Sucks"

And it’s the truth. Work, without fun, does kind of suck. Knowing that management realizes this and wants our days to be as pleasant as possible is what makes employees go above and beyond for the company.

Office ice breaker games

Fun doesn't need to cost anything. Icebreaker games are free and a great way to interject laughter into the day. There are tons of activities you can do with your team to increase bonding and make the day a little more fun.

Looking for more ways to build a fun company culture? Check out this list of 40+ fun employee engagement activities.

How Officevibe helps make your team culture come alive

Our tool works for any type of work dynamic — on-site, hybrid, you name it — empowering managers and employees to bring out the best of their teams and themselves.

{highlight}Officevibe empowers team leaders with features like:

Manager templates: Through our template hub, you can save time and better navigate any scenario with our 1-on-1 meeting and employee survey templates that experts have designed.

Team hub: Benefit from a more comprehensive understanding of your team via a centralized view of engagement metrics, important milestones, and your managerial activities.

Conversation Engine: Team building doesn’t only occur during formal meetings. Our platform provides dozens of purposeful conversation starters to keep culture nurturing daily.

Feedback guidance: We’re here to ensure you feel confident in answering sensitive feedback skillfully thanks to provided expert advice.

Manager hub: A one-stop shop for action items and reminders to help you stay on top of your duties and accountable to your team no matter how busy your work life gets.{highlight}

Use Officevibe to get a pulse on your team culture, keep an eye on morale, and set up meaningful 1-on-1s to stay connected, no matter where you work.  

Every human being wants to feel seen and valued — especially at work. Employees want to know their efforts don’t go unnoticed and that their contributions have value. That's why employee recognition is such an important part of management.

There’s a lot to learn from current employee recognition trends and statistics. How much does appreciation count for employees? Do recognition efforts impact other aspects of work and performance? And are managers getting it right?

We gathered insights from Pulse Survey data across 50,000 teams worldwide to reveal some of the most comprehensive employee performance and engagement statistics relating to recognition. 

Get ready for your mind to get blown — scroll to find out more.

‍TL;DR: Employee recognition statistics cheat sheet

• 37% of employees say they don't receive recognition frequently enough.
• 1 in 3 employees feel recognition isn’t given in a timely fashion.
• 87% of employees say recognition is meaningful when they receive it.
• 74% of employees pay attention to praise given at an organization level.
• 1 in 4 employees feel their organization doesn't celebrate accomplishments and learnings.
• 89% of employees say they're encouraged to give recognition to one another.{emphasize}

Starting with the basics: What is employee recognition?

Before diving into statistics, let’s first align on the basics. Employee recognition is, simply, acknowledging the efforts or achievements of employees.

Employee recognition takes many forms — verbal, written, and even tangible rewards. The aim is essentially to reinforce positive behaviors, boost morale, and foster a culture of appreciation in the workplace. 

As a big part of performance management and feedback strategies, employee recognition is led by managers. That said, everyone can and should participate in recognition efforts.

It’s a new world: Modern trends in employee recognition

Some things remain the same, no matter the era. The concept of pats on the back for a job well done, for example, probably hasn’t changed much from decades ago to now. Verbal praise also remains popular. Everybody still likes to hear “Good job!” once in a while. That said, some traditional methods of employee recognition are definitely evolving.

With company structures moving away from silo mentality, there’s a growing emphasis on peer-to-peer recognition. And, with new remote work environments taking over the professional world, digital platforms that facilitate real-time feedback are gaining traction. The next generation of workers also demand for more personalization in their work experiences, and they value recognition that feels genuine and tailored to their contributions.

Context matters: Industry-specific recognition trends

Employee recognition trends can also be industry-specific. After all, different industries have unique cultures and dynamics that can influence how recognition is practiced or perceived. For example, tech companies often prioritize peer recognition and innovation rewards, whereas the healthcare industry focuses on patient outcomes and team achievements.

What type of recognition do employees value the most?

There are many different types of employee recognition and ways to deliver this. Ultimately, employees value recognition that’s timely, specific, and sincere. 

Of course, who doesn’t love to receive a monetary reward? But even simple gestures like a heartfelt “thank you” or a public shoutout from a boss during a team meeting can have a profound impact — and those moments of recognition shouldn’t be overlooked.

Recognition channel preferences

While all employees need to feel acknowledged, not everyone has the same set of preferences. Some employees value the confidence boost of being praised in front of peers, while more shy employees might prefer private one-on-one praise. 

Managers have to figure out which formula works best depending on the individual. 
Also, the rise of remote and distributed teams has increased the reliance on technology — and this goes the same for relying on digital platforms for recognition. Employees appreciate tools that make recognition seamless and accessible — be it through email, chat apps, or dedicated platforms.

The key: A balanced recognition type distribution

Ultimately, a well-rounded employee recognition strategy incorporates all types of recognition, including: 

• Verbal recognition: Expressing appreciation verbally in person or through video calls. It's personal, immediate, and can be tailored to the individual employee.
• Written communication: Can take various forms —  emails, instant messaging, or handwritten notes. It can be saved for future reference and serve as a tangible reminder of appreciation.
• Public acknowledgment: Praising employees in front of their peers, like in team meetings or via company-wide emails. It celebrates achievements openly and encourages a culture of appreciation.
• Peer-to-peer recognition: Where colleagues acknowledge each other's contributions. This fosters a sense of camaraderie and teamwork.
• Managerial recognition: When recognition comes from managers. This holds significant weight and can be formal or informal, within performance reviews, one-on-one meetings, or special awards presented by leadership.
• Digital platforms: Have become increasingly popular with the rise of remote work, allowing for real-time feedback, virtual badges, and interactive features.

Reward programs: Tangible rewards like gift cards, bonuses, or extra time off. These incentives can be motivating, but they aren’t given as often as other forms of praise.

By balancing these different types of recognition — and applying a mix of verbal, written, and tangible tokens of recognition — managers ensure their teams feel valued and appreciated in a way that works for them.

Why is employee recognition so important?

Providing employee recognition can have a huge impact on employees and companies overall — influencing engagement, productivity, and loyalty. Appreciation isn’t just a nice-to-have — it ultimately impacts the organizational bottom line.

SHRM’s latest study on employee experience outlines appreciation as one of the four most critical aspects of work, according to HR professionals and workers.

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Impact on employee morale

Recognition helps love the work. Recognized employees feel more valued and appreciated, which leads to higher job satisfaction and morale.

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Influence on employee engagement

Recognition makes work meaningful. Recognition is closely linked to employee engagement, and engaged employees contribute to overall organizational success.{emphasize}

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Relationship between recognition and productivity

Recognition motivates and incentivizes. Acknowledged employees are more likely to go above and beyond — leading to increased productivity and performance.{emphasize}

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Connection to employee performance

Recognition reinforces good behaviors. By highlighting exemplary performance, managers inspire others to strive for excellence and continuous improvement.{emphasize}

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Impact on team collaboration

Recognition bonds teams. By showing support and celebrating collective successes, stronger relationships lead to smoother collaboration (and better outcomes).{emphasize}

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Recognition and retention rates

Recognition lowers turnover. It makes sense: employees who feel valued and appreciated are more likely to stay with their organization in the long run.{emphasize}

Recognition ROI: Mind-blowing employee recognition statistics  — based on data across 50,000 teams worldwide

Employee recognition isn’t something to sleep on — and this claim is based on hard evidence.  We pooled survey data from over 50,000 teams worldwide to provide you with some hard-to-ignore employee recognition statistics:

Recognition frequency statistics

37% of employees say they don't receive recognition frequently enough.

When it comes to recognizing employees, the main area for improvement is frequency. Employees want recognition more often — but how often is enough? While “too much praise” is almost impossible, managers can ask what their employees would prefer via a Pulse Survey.

{emphasize}Recognition frequency is the second lowest scoring sub-metric out of the 26 sub-metrics of employee engagement.

This tells us that recognition frequency is one of the most underserved engagement tools. When managers wait until quarterly reviews or monthly meetings to praise employees, this simply doesn’t hit the mark that employees expect. 

While it can be tough to create regular recognition rituals (especially when working remotely), setting yourself daily or weekly reminders to send out a couple of kudos to your team should help you build up a habit of giving recognition.{emphasize}

1 in 3 employees feel recognition isn’t given in a timely fashion.

Beyond recognition frequency, it's important to provide praise in real-time, too. When employees receive acknowledgment months after the fact, its value is diminished. Momentum is everything. In fact, why wait? Recognition can also mean a lot when work is still in progress.

{emphasize}Timeliness in action: Tricks to jump on recognition opportunities right away!

If managers notice someone on their team doing good work or acting in alignment with the company values, they should send a quick employee recognition message via Slack or email. There’s no time like now, and you should seize every opportunity to praise in case the next recognition window is too late.{emphasize}

All in all, don't wait until your team sees the results of their latest initiative to celebrate their success. In fact, don't even wait for them to deliver their work — provide praise as things move along to keep motivation levels high. But remember, moments of recognition should be regular. In between achievements, praise can simply be about a good attitude or collaboration, which is part of every day. Managers should let each employee know that their individual efforts are seen and valued often and in real time.

Recognition quality statistics

87% of employees say recognition is meaningful when they receive it.

This goes to show that most recognition efforts are valued — regardless if it’s about something important or a less significant effort. Praise is appreciated, no matter what it’s about. Put simply, it's better to say 'thank you' than nothing at all.

{emphasize}'Is recognition meaningful when you receive it?' is in the top 10 highest-scoring questions across Officevibe surveys.

What does this tell us? That employees take notice of recognition efforts, regardless of what it’s about. While it's natural to want to be intentional and come up with amazingly creative and unique ways to show your team recognition — employees don't need elaborate displays to feel appreciated. It's truly the thought that counts.{emphasize}

74% of employees feel adequately recognized at an organizational level.

Recognition from direct supervisors and managers counts for a lot — but it’s important to remember that appreciation is also a culture-building tactic and helps everyone feel part of the bigger picture. Employees pay attention to recognition efforts from an organizational standpoint too.

{emphasize}Making appreciation a company matter.

It’s possible to shout praise from the rooftops without making a scene. Recognition programs that take the form of an Employee of The Month section within an internal newsletter or Slack channel are a great way to provide public shoutouts at a company level.{emphasize}

Managerial recognition statistics

1 in 4 employees feel their organization doesn't celebrate accomplishments and learnings.

Company culture has a big influence on job satisfaction and the overall employee experience. An environment that celebrates wins and seeks out learnings (even when initiatives fail) will increase employee motivation and reduce the risk of burnout. Similarly, forgetting to celebrate accomplishments will create disengaged employees.

{emphasize}Looking to create more moments of celebration? Try this trick.

Create a 'win of the week' and 'fail of the week' awards — an exercise all team members can participate in. By encouraging everyone to share their accomplishments and what they could’ve done better, discussions are sparked and learning moments happen.{emphasize}

Peer-to-peer recognition statistics

89% of employees say they're encouraged to give recognition to one another.

This is great news as peer recognition has a big impact on employees. As valuable as recognition can be when it comes from direct managers or leadership, hearing you did a good job from someone whose day-to-day looks more like yours can mean a lot. Managers should continue to encourage their teams to build a culture of peer recognition together.

{emphasize}Making a culture of recognition come alive.

Like a spirit stick, a peer recognition activity could be for a trophy to get passed from one employee to another every month — with the winner designated by the team. It’s another way to get everyone involved in sharing praise and create a recognition program that invites everyone’s participation!{emphasize}

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Global recognition statistics — what’s happening around the world?

The Deloitte Greenhouse Experience Group surveyed over 16,000 professionals across 4,000 organizations around the world (from C-suite leaders to junior staff members) about their recognition preferences

While there are some strong general preferences across all professionals, such as new professional opportunities being preferred over salary bumps, there are some key differences too, based on demographic factors like generation or gender.

For example, Baby Boomers prefer private recognition compared to Millenials — whereas younger generations who grew up with social media, like Gen Z workers, are more accustomed to public praise.{emphasize}

How companies can effectively implement recognition programs in their management strategies

Understanding the power of data in shaping effective management strategies is key for any manager. Feeling inspired by the above employee recognition statistics? Here are the next steps we suggest to fine-tune your recognition programs and maximize their impact. 

Leverage employee appreciation data

Use your own data collected from employee recognition moments to gain insights into which behaviors and achievements are being acknowledged most frequently. This might reveal what is being properly recognized — as well as what’s being overlooked. 

Maybe your company gives great bonuses once a year, but forgets to proverbially high five successes day-to-day. Having access to this kind of information will help you tailor recognition efforts to align with what employees value most.

Get employee feedback on recognition

Keep inquiring with those whose opinion matters the most — employees! By soliciting feedback from employees on their experiences with recognition programs, they’ll be able to provide you with insights specific to your company realities. They might even inspire a few great ideas!

Ask them about the types of recognition they find most meaningful, as well as areas for improvement, and incorporate this feedback into the design and implementation of future recognition initiatives to ensure they resonate with your current workforce.

Measure recognition program effectiveness often

Last but not least — regularly evaluate the effectiveness of your recognition programs to ensure they continue to meet their intended goals. What works today might not work tomorrow, so adjusting recognition strategies at need is non-negotiable. 

By keeping an eye on metrics such as employee engagement levels, retention rates, and performance indicators, you’ll be able to keep your finger on the pulse when it comes to recognition efforts.

Building a culture of recognition with Workleap

We gathered insights from Pulse Survey data across 50,000 teams worldwide to unveil some of the most impactful employee recognition statistics — which was no easy feat! But thanks to our wonderful partners, our collective insights are your gain. 

From frequency of recognition to its impact on team morale, employee engagement, and productivity, these stats shed light on how much appreciation at work really does matter. It’s about connecting big and small moments to create a workplace where all employees feel valued and motivated to do their best work.With all that’s happening in the world, investing in employee recognition is more crucial than ever. The key here is to remember that moments appreciation isn’t a one-time event — it’s part of an ongoing commitment of continuous improvement.

{highlight}Find out how your employees feel about your current recognition program. Employee recognition is one of the 10 engagement metrics measured through Officevibe's Pulse Surveys. You can test it out by signing up free — you’ll be able to invite your team to answer five simple questions every week and start collecting insights on how employees really feel.{highlight}

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Eeny, meeny, miny, moe… engage your employees or watch them go.

Okay, that's an oversimplification of how things work… but you get the point. You'd never leave employee retention to chance and risk losing your star talent, would you?

With talent shortages, shifting work realities, and new employee mindsets, it's important to keep up with the times and find fresh new ways to keep employees engaged and on board for good (or at least for a long while). Doing so won't just make your organization a better place to work, but it'll also make it run more successfully.

We all know that great employees are worth their weight in gold, so making sure they feel valued is also, well, golden. Their level of satisfaction stems from so much more than how engaged they are. If you want to keep them around long-term, then you need to respect and ensure that everyone has healthy work-life balance, and enjoys being part of the team.

Ready to get started? Read on to understand what employees really want at work and uncover our data-backed employee retention strategies.

{emphasize}Learn tried and true strategies on how to retain your employees

• Understanding employee turnover and resignation: Why are employees quitting?
• The business impact of high employee retention
• Key considerations for improved employee retention
• 13 Employee retention tactics aligned with modern workforce needs
• How to build your employee retention strategy
• Unlock your unique retention strategies with an employee engagement solution{emphasize}

Understanding employee turnover and resignation: Why are employees quitting?

We first heard about the Great Resignation in May 2021. The pandemic changed the reality of work and acted as a catalyst for people to think about and re-prioritize their needs.

Flexibility played a huge role in this. People grew accustomed to working remotely and many employees left hustle culture behaviors behind in search of a better work-life balance. But flexibility wasn't the only cause of employee turnover that led to record-breaking levels of attrition.

The current landscape of the modern workforce

Did you know? 50.5 million Americans quit their jobs in 2022, surpassing the previous record set in 2021 by 2.5 million.

McKinsey surveyed over 13,000 employees in Australia, Canada, India, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States to dig deeper and fully understand the phenomenon at hand. The study found the most common reasons employees quit or thought about quitting their jobs, including:

• Lack of career development
• Inadequate salary and total compensation
• Uncaring and uninspiring leaders
• Lack of meaningful work
• Unsustainable work expectations

High attrition rates are bad news for businesses around the world. Not only does turnover cost a lot from the get-go, but it also leaves lingering effects that can hurt your company culture, employee morale, and profitability down the line.

The good news is that we now have access to a ton of data to help us understand how people feel at work so that we can build stronger employee retention strategies.

The business impact of high employee retention

If you (or your leaders) are still hesitant on investing in employee retention, remember this: every employee departure equals at least a third of their annual salary in replacement costs. Prioritizing employee retention doesn't just make sense financially in the short term, though. There is a slew of benefits that come with high retention and engaged workforces.

When employees stay at an organization, they're more likely to:

• accumulate valuable knowledge about your business and products or services,
• create strong and consistent processes for higher productivity and quality of work,
• build solid, trust-based relationships with your customer base,
• contribute to positive team dynamics,
• and strengthen your employer brand for an easier recruitment process.

Put simply, keeping your employees on board makes your business run smoothly and efficiently. When you work towards building employee retention strategies, you'll see employee satisfaction, productivity, and happiness soar. Keep it consistent year-round, and strong financial returns are sure to follow suit.

So, how can you make this happen?

Key considerations for improved employee retention

Recognition of the importance of work-life balance and flexibility

Everybody knows that we're in a new work era. One that puts the spotlight on having healthy work-life balance more than ever before. The hybrid and remote work models that we've become accustomed to have given employees more flexibility and time to tend to their personal needs, which has essentially become non-negotiable. Employees have proven that they're capable of balancing their time and remaining productive. That's why acknowledging and respecting this balance has become a key factor in employee retention.

Flexible work schedules and remote work options accommodate employees' personal needs and enable them to prioritize things that matter, like self-care and family time. Employers who provide the resources and support needed to help manage stress and promote well-being are the ones that come out on top and retain top talent. Foster a culture that values work-life balance and emphasizes the importance of personal time and it's a win-win for both sides.

Consideration of career growth and development opportunities

While growth looks different for everyone, what remains the same is that all employees want opportunities for professional development along their career path. That's why it's so important to make training programs and workshops accessible, and to offer mentorship or coaching programs to support each employee's career growth.

It's also important to remember that no plan is ever one-size-fits-all. Take the time to create individual development plans, have conversations about career opportunities with employees, and always, always recognize and reward employees who take initiative and make notable strides in their professional growth.

Significance of a positive and inclusive work culture

There's a lot to be said for having a workplace culture of respect, trust, and open communication. It lays the foundation for success within an organization and makes it a safe space for everyone to grow, connect, and learn. This kind of environment celebrates diversity, promotes inclusivity in all aspects of the organization, and tends to ensure equal opportunities for all employees, regardless of their unique backgrounds.

When you support this kind of inclusivity, you also encourage teamwork and collaboration, and create a sense of belonging among employees. When you have this sense of belonging, you feel more valued and embedded in the organization, which is of course a positive factor of retention. Be sure to recognize and appreciate the contributions of individuals from different backgrounds so that everyone feels valued.

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13 Employee retention tactics aligned with modern workforce needs

Employee retention can be tackled in more ways than one. We put together the following list of employee retention strategies based on the insights we've uncovered from industry research and our latest Officevibe Pulse Survey data. We've also included an example and some actionable advice for each tactic.

1. Define a clear and inspiring mission

These days, it's rare to find people who don't care about contributing positively to the world — even at work. We've gone through a series of very unfortunate events as a collective, but the silver lining is that people are prioritizing what's really important to them, and that includes working for organizations that do good by society. This is especially true for the hyper-cognitive and purpose-driven Gen Z generation.

 “Their desire to know how their individual contributions and role in the team help support the organization’s mission differentiates them. They make career choices and purchasing choices driven by the impact these make in the world.”

Harvard Business Review

That's why it's so important to make your stance known by defining and communicating your mission in an inspiring way. Tap into what matters by developing a meaningful mission statement that emphasizes your company's commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship, for example.

Next step

Once you've talked the talk, be sure to walk the walk by regularly communicating it to employees, integrating it into company-wide initiatives, and creating opportunities for all employees to contribute to the company's environmental goals so that everyone can do their part and feel good about it!

2. Align your strategies to your values

It's clear that modern employees are value-oriented. They not only care that their organization's values align with their own, but also expect companies to act in alignment with those values. Considering that 26% of employees feel their organizations do not make decisions that reflect their values, per Officevibe Pulse Survey data, there is a lot of room for improvement.

How? By making sure your values carry through into concrete, actionable strategies. For example, if one of your company's core values is "continuous learning," work on establishing and implementing a learning and development program that offers ongoing training and educational opportunities to all employees.

Next step

Keep it going by frequently assessing the alignment of your company policies, practices, and decision-making with the values you laid out. This makes you better able to make effective adjustments along the way, and communicate updates to your employees so that they can see the alignment in action for themselves.

👀 Are you hitting the mark on alignment? Learn to spot the signs of a misaligned team and use these 5 tips to ensure alignment and improve performance.

3. Make sure your objectives are challenging, yet realistic

Objective setting is a big part of the alignment puzzle. Challenging company objectives often lead to exciting new projects and help employees grow, pick up new skills, and gain knowledge. But big, hairy, audacious goals can quickly become demotivating when they feel too unattainable.

31% of employees do not feel their organization invests the necessary resources, people, and efforts to measure up to its ambitions.

Officevibe Pulse Survey data, August 2022

The magic happens when you break it down into more attainable, realistic goals. For example, why not set quarterly goals instead of annual goals? This stretches employees' abilities and drives innovation, while giving consideration to the resources and capabilities available. This puts goals more within reach, which is a far more effective strategy.

Next step

Start by providing clear guidelines and assigning the right resources to support employees in smashing their objectives. Review progress on a regular basis and offer constructive feedback that can help employees navigate challenges and continue to grow.

What this all boils down to is that it's okay, and necessary for business success, to think big. But it's crucial to match your ambitions with the resources needed to make them realistic.

4. Show employees why their work matters

When employees can tie their daily work back to broader company objectives and outcomes, they're more likely to understand the value they bring. Not only does this boost their confidence, but it also instills a strong sense of purpose, which we've already seen is an important need for younger employees.

A great way to give recognition and inspire others to do great work is to share success stories that highlight how your employees' contributions have positively impacted your customers, organization, and even the community.

Next step

When managers have regular conversations around the broader impact of each employee's individual tasks and projects, it helps them see the connection between the work that they do and the company's mission and goals. After all, greater meaning makes for greater motivation!

5. Give employees access to the right tools and technology

Few things are more frustrating than feeling stuck because of a lack of resources. If you aren't giving your team the tools and technology they need to do their job well and efficiently, you're putting your company's success and your employees' job satisfaction on the line. It's a zero-sum game. Investing in the essentials is a surefire way to ensure high levels of productivity and engagement.

One of the best things you can do is invest in project management software that streamlines workflows and enhances collaboration among team members. This helps get everyone aligned on what they need to do, and how it contributes to the big picture of each project.

Next step

Since technology is always evolving and improving, be sure to have regular technology assessments so you can identify gaps or outdated tools that are no longer serving you and your team. Whenever you implement a new tool, it's important to provide proper training and support to your employees to ensure they're proficient in using the tools effectively. We can't simply assume that everyone will be able to pick it up and run with it, so remember that a little guidance goes a long way.

6. Offer a fair and competitive compensation package

In times of economic uncertainty, compensation matters. And considering that salary is the main reason people look for new jobs, your compensation strategy shouldn't be neglected. But you don't have to dish out salaries your company cannot afford to make a difference. What matters most to employees is that they are compensated fairly.

39% of employees do not feel they are paid fairly when taking their responsibilities, skills, and experience into account.

Officevibe Pulse Survey data, August 2022

The best approach to navigating fair compensation is to conduct salary benchmarking research to ensure that your company's salaries align with industry standards, while also considering additional benefits like performance bonuses or profit-sharing.

Next step

What's important to note here is that this should be an ongoing practice. As time goes on and the market changes, keep up with reviewing and adjusting your compensation packages in order to remain competitive. It's also a good idea to be transparent with your employees about the factors considered in determining their salaries (which we'll elaborate on next).

To keep them happy, be sure to assess the total compensation package and make sure you're fairly in line with the rest of the job market.

7. Be transparent about compensation

Transparency is key when it comes to money talk. Officevibe Pulse Survey data revealed that 34% of employees do not trust that they are paid fairly compared to similar roles in other organizations. But is compensation itself truly the issue, or is it perceived unfairness? We looked at our fairness sub-metric in Officevibe and found that the root of the problem was a lack of transparency and communication.

Implementing a clear and consistent compensation structure that includes transparent criteria for salary adjustments, promotions, and bonuses is the fairest way to ensure clarity for everyone. When you get rid of the gray areas, you build trust.

Next step

This trust comes from communicating the company's compensation structure to all employees, and giving them the opportunity to openly ask questions or seek clarification. Check in regularly to review and address any discrepancies or concerns that may pop up.

At the end of the day, employees want to understand exactly how compensation is determined and whether it is equitable. So if you have a special formula, a market baseline that you follow, and performance standards, be sure to share them with your team from the start. 

8. Provide opportunities for growth and professional development

Career growth is of utmost importance for young employees. So much so that many of them are likely to change jobs ten times between the ages of 18 and 34 in search of professional development. If you want to ensure high retention, you must support your team internally with career planning, skills mapping, and training and development.

In order to give your junior team members the support they need, it helps to establish a mentoring program where more experienced employees provide guidance. They're a truly valuable asset in helping more junior employees grow into their role and navigate their career path and professional development.

Next step

Once again, it's important to look at this through an individual lens. Create personal development plans that identify specific training opportunities and areas for growth, and encourage employees to attend conferences, workshops, or online courses to expand their knowledge and skills.

Setting SMART performance goals helps employees reach their full potential, while also getting your company closer to its objectives. Support your team's performance with these 10 employee goal-setting examples.

9. Encourage employees to recognize each other

Employees are more likely to stay in an organization where they feel valued and celebrated. And people aren't just looking to be recognized by their managers or superiors; they want their peers to do it too. Peer-to-peer recognition programs strengthen work relationships and team dynamics. A kind kudos or note of appreciation also sprinkles a little joy into a person's day.

Help get the ball rolling by implementing a peer recognition program where employees can personally nominate and acknowledge their colleagues' contributions. Making it simple and accessible to all is a great way to encourage employees to share kind words with one another.

Next step

Once the platform or tool is up and running, communicate the recognition program and its purpose with your employees. Beyond the personal messages, it's also great to celebrate and highlight recognized employees in team meetings or company-wide communications so that they can really have their shine and feel valued.

🎉 Use these 6 ideas to help boost peer recognition within your team.

10. Invest in employee health and wellness

The great reprioritization highlighted that health and wellness are non-negotiable for today's employees. But Officevibe data shows that most companies are still falling behind, and it's likely impacting their retention rates:

• 29% of employees do not feel their organization offers the support they need to deal with work-related stress.
• 24% of employees do not feel their organization cares about their mental well-being.

Knowing how important work-life balance is to today's workforce, it's more important than ever to take the opportunity to implement health and wellness programs that people truly value. From yoga classes and meditation sessions, to access to mental health resources, there are so many ways employers can support the physical and mental health of their team.

Next step

To help take the guesswork out of figuring out what people want, conduct regular wellness surveys or focus groups to assess what your employees' wellness needs and preferences are. The feedback you gather can help you design, shape, and implement wellness initiatives that address their specific wellness concerns. These are the first steps to showing employees your organization truly cares.

11. Pay attention to workloads and energy levels

Many employees are disengaged and choose to leave because of high-stress levels at work and unmanageable workloads.

23% of employees are not able to maintain a good level of energy at work and 34% feel negatively about their level of work related stress.

Officevibe Pulse Survey data, August 2022

Avoiding burnout starts with properly assessing your employees' workloads to make sure they're not overloaded and overwhelmed. Once you have a clear picture of the workloads, it's important to take action by implementing measures to redistribute projects and provide any additional resources or support your team needs. You'll demonstrate that you care about their wellbeing, and they'll appreciate the extra hands on deck.

Next step

Proactivity is the only solution. Check in with employees on a regular basis in order to gauge their energy levels and workload satisfaction. Encourage them to speak up about their workload concerns, and provide flexibility in task assignments or schedules when possible. Keep on supporting proper work-life balance in every regard, and encourage them to take breaks and vacations to recharge, refresh, and come back feeling stronger.

Notice someone struggling at work? Discuss work-related stress and find solutions together before it's too late.

12. Don’t let diversity, equity, and inclusion fall behind

To achieve true belonging and psychological safety within an organization, everyone should feel seen, supported, and heard. Workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI for short, should be top of mind at every employee touch point and stage in the employee experience journey. All employees deserve equal opportunities. If they don't feel accounted for and respected, modern employees won't shy away from seeking a new job.

47% of Gen Z employees identify as BIPOC, compared to 39% of millenials, making it the most diverse generation in the job market to date.

Great Place to Work

If you want to foster a more inclusive culture, it's a great idea to form a diversity and inclusion committee or task force with your employees. Rally people from different backgrounds to drive initiatives together.

Next step

Conduct diversity and inclusion training for all employees to raise awareness and promote understanding. You can also start at the very beginning by implementing recruitment and hiring practices that prioritize diversity and ensure equal opportunities. Take the time to assess the inclusiveness of your company policies, practices, and employee experiences so that you can spot areas for improvement. When everyone feels equal, valued, seen, and heard, great things happen.

What's the current reality of different demographics within your organization? Send a diversity, equity, and inclusion poll using these 21 DEI survey questions to find out.

13. Prioritize culture contribution over culture fit

The idea of hiring for culture fit is passé. This mindset encourages uniformity, ignores DEI best practices, and often leads to echo chambers in the workplace. A better way to tackle company culture and make your workplace better for all is to hire people who will contribute positively to your organizational culture, instead of fitting into a predetermined mold. During the hiring process, ask yourself:

• Does this person bring a new perspective to the table?
• Do they have skills, hard and soft, that can complement the rest of the team?
• Are their values in line with the organization's values?

All of this starts at square one, during the interview process. Try focusing on assessing candidates' potential contributions to the company's culture, values, and goals rather than solely evaluating their fit within the existing culture. See the potential, support progression, and welcome diverse perspectives.

Next step

First, define the desired cultural attributes and values that align with your organization's mission and strategic objectives, then incorporate behavioral-based interview questions that elicit responses related to cultural contribution. Just be sure to equip your interviewers with proper training on assessing cultural alignment and potential so that they can make the best choices for your organization.

When you take a human-generated approach to culture, you'll see your team thrive and become the best version of itself.

How to build your employee retention strategy

If you're starting from scratch, you can't go wrong with building the first iteration of your retention strategy with a mix of the tactics above. However, it's important to keep in mind that no single retention strategy will work for every company. The best way to boost retention is to tailor your efforts to your own people and their needs.

Here's how you can figure out what's most important to them (and what will make them stay in their jobs): 

• One-on-one meetings give you insights on the individual level and can help you understand what makes each person on your team tick.
• Regular pulse surveys take the guessing game out of receiving feedback. They provide employees with prompts they wouldn't have otherwise thought about and they ensure you have a consistent and measurable bank of feedback at all times.
• Anonymous feedback tools give employees the opportunity to share thoughts, feelings, suggestions, and concerns openly and honestly, without fear of repercussion. They help managers focus on the message, rather than the messenger.
• Onboarding surveys allow new hires to share feedback specific to their first few months on the job. They help HR and managers improve employee retention from the start by nailing the onboarding process.
• Stay interviews uncover how employees feel in their current roles, what's keeping them engaged, and what can boost their job satisfaction.
• Exit interviews are the last resort to collect feedback on how to boost employee retention in the long run. During these meetings, a departing employee can give you concrete insights into what led them to look for greener pastures.

Unlock your unique retention strategies with an employee engagement solution

Congrats! You just read everything you need to know to get started with your employee retention game plan. You have a better understanding of the current global context, you know why people are leaving their jobs, you can outline the business impact of employee retention, and you even have some employee retention strategy ideas to get the ball rolling.

If you want to solidify your employee retention strategies, the next step is to find the right employee feedback and engagement tools to help customize your plan according to your business's needs.

Officevibe's employee engagement solution can help get you there by taking the guessing game out with actionable insights on where your team is and where you want it to be.

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.

Employee turnover is a white-hot topic these days — and with good reason. According to a recent study by McKinsey, around 40% of employees surveyed considered leaving their jobs for greener pastures within the year. And as the battle for talent rages on, companies are looking to adapt their employee experience strategies to keep their people around for the long haul.

A certain amount of turnover is to be expected at every company. But as an HR leader, you want to avoid losing your top performers by reducing employee turnover on your team. The first step is to learn how to calculate employee turnover and understand your turnover rate. From there, you can take active steps to improve your retention rate, which is the other side of the coin.

What is the employee turnover rate?

Employee turnover refers to the number or percentage of people who leave an organization during a specific time period (typically one year) and are replaced by new employees.

Turnover can be divided into two categories: voluntary and involuntary. The former refers to employees who decide to leave their positions for new opportunities at a different company, different department, or for retirement. Involuntary turnover, on the other hand, occurs when an employee is asked to leave the organization for a number of reasons, including lackluster performance, problematic behavior, or significant misalignment with the company culture.

Why should HR calculate employee turnover?

Saying goodbye to a colleague is always tough, regardless of how they left. But after employees leave, the fact remains that there might be significant gaps in projects and implications to consider for the rest of the team.

Replacing employees can put a financial strain on an organization. These hard costs are quantifiable and are usually the biggest considerations for C-suite leadership when calculating employee turnover rates.

According to a 2019 Gallup study, it can cost a company one-half to two times the employee's annual salary to replace them. If the average employee earns $50,000 annually, your organization may be dishing out anywhere between $25,000 to $100,000 to replace them.

The biggest hard costs of employee turnover include:

• Offboarding costs
• Hiring costs
• Onboarding new hires
• Training new employees
• Benefit costs

But the costs extend far beyond the dollars and cents, though; these more subtle but equally important ones are called soft costs. If you have high turnover, your team could experience the true employee turnover cost in ways like:

• Lower engagement and morale: People leaving the team can impact team spirit for active employees. Saying goodbye to colleagues, disrupting regular teamwork cycles, and taking time out of your team’s calendar to help with backfilling roles on your team can all lead to employee disengagement if it’s happening too regularly.
• Fear and uncertainty: When people frequently leave your team, employees might wonder if they should leave, too. People might even fear that they could be next to be let go. This kind of uncertainty can cause your employees to lose trust in management and leadership. It can also cause your employer brand to take a serious hit.
• Decreased productivity: Work gets shuffled around and projects are impacted when someone leaves the team. And when employees go, they take valuable skills and knowledge with them. This can even lead to burnout, as team members who stay start taking on extra work.

You can’t always stop employees from leaving. However, knowing your company's turnover rate will help you identify any problems that might be happening on your team. If you notice that people are leaving your team at a more-than-regular rate, you can spend some time understanding why, and work on your employee retention strategy.

How to calculate employee turnover

Annual employee turnover rate

Math doesn't always come easy to everyone, but it’s important to understand how to calculate turnover. Follow these steps to measure turnover.

Step 1: Add the number of employees at the start of the year with the number you had at the end of the year.

{emphasize}For example: 20 employees at the start of the year + 18 employees at the end of the year = 38 employees.{emphasize}

Step 2: Divide the total you got from step one in half (by 2).

{emphasize}For example: 38 total employees ÷ 2 = 19 employees.{emphasize}

Step 3: Divide the number of employees who left during the year by the outcome of the first equation.

{emphasize}For example: 2 employees left during the year ÷ 19 employees = 0.105{emphasize}

Step 4: Multiply this final number by 100, and you‘ve got your employee turnover rate.

{emphasize}For example: 0.105 × 100 = 10.5% turnover rate.{emphasize}

Monthly employee turnover rate

If you want to keep a more active pulse on this number, you can calculate your turnover rate more often in a certain period. All you have to do is follow the same equation, but with shorter time intervals, such as bi-annually or quarterly. Checking in on your monthly turnover rate can also be a good approach.

According to SHRM, you can follow these steps to calculate the monthly turnover rate at your company:

1. Determine the number of employees who have left during the month.
2. Take the number of departures and divide it by the average number of employees who are active.
3. Take that result and multiply by 100.
4. Voila! Your monthly employee turnover rate.

{emphasize}Here is a quick example:

Five employees left in October and the average number of employees at your company is 80.

5 ÷ 80 = 0.0625

0.0625 × 100 = 6.25%

Your average turnover rate for that month is 6.25%.{emphasize}

What is a good employee turnover rate?

When it comes to employment data, it’s hard to pinpoint a golden number or benchmark. You need to look at your employee turnover rate from a few different lenses to get a real sense of what it means to you.

An average employee turnover rate hovers around 18%. This includes both involuntary and voluntary turnover. However, a turnover rate of 10% or less is what most companies consider a healthy turnover rate.

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Understanding your team’s turnover rate

Remember, there is more to this number than meets the eye. It’s crucial that you contextualize your turnover rate within the reality of your team and organization.

Who are the employees that are leaving? Why are they seeking out other opportunities in other industries or companies? Addressing the root causes of your voluntary turnover can help you make improvements to the employee experience after you part ways with a colleague.

Some of the most common causes of employee turnover include:

• Inflexible workloads and schedules
• Lack of professional development opportunities
• Murky understanding of roles
• Burnout and disregard for employee well-being
• Misalignment of values

Making time to calculate employee turnover on a regular basis is one way to understand employment patterns and engagement levels on your team. Consider calculating your turnover rate at the end of each quarter, so that you can have a fluid and up-to-date comparison over time. You might spot trends from seasonality or company changes that could give you valuable insights into what contributes to employee turnover.

If you’re experiencing turnover because people are leaving the organization and you’re not sure why — or if everyone is citing the same reasons for their departure — this could be a red flag.

Another good way HR leaders can better understand their team’s turnover is to ask. Make sure you have an exit interview for every employee departure. This can be a formal or informal discussion with a departing employee to get a sense of what led them to make the jump and whether they have specific feedback to impart.

Better yet, conduct a stay interview if you're sensing that an employee may be thinking of leaving and address the reasons why they are considering moving on.

{emphasize}Pro tip: Don’t just wait until people are packing up their desks, you can also ask employee retention questions to your team to understand the employee experience. Get to know what’s keeping them happy, engaged, and motivated at work.{emphasize}

Lower your turnover rate with proven strategies

If your company is experiencing an undesirable annual turnover rate, it might be high time to adapt your engagement and retention strategies to keep your people happy.

Collect (and act on) employee feedback

Taking a regular pulse of your employees is primordial to the success of any business. Check in on your teams by asking them the right questions to get to the heart of what matters most to your people. But remember, if you collect feedback, it's vital to act on it. Feedback may uncover challenges on your teams, but this is a great opportunity to work in tandem with your people leaders to improve the employee experience.

Create a culture of recognition

Building a culture of recognition means more than just celebrating big wins — it's about highlighting the valiant efforts regardless of outcomes. Employees want to know that the hours and energy they put in are being noticed. Receiving recognition instills a sense of pride and will go a long way in keeping employees engaged and happy with their work.

Hold frequent one-on-one meetings

We've said it before and we'll say it again: check in on your people. By holding regular one-on-one meetings, you and your managers are creating a safe space for your employees to share their thoughts and concerns and ask questions on everything from salary to project clarity. While team meetings serve a specific and important purpose, knowing when to chat privately with an employee who might need a hand is a mark of good leadership.

Offer professional development opportunities

Most people want to grow within their companies and will seek out other opportunities if not given the chance to flourish. Tap into your talented team's interests and provide career development opportunities like workshops, lunch & learns, or even language courses.

Lean on trusted tools

Like tracking engagement metrics or asking for feedback from your team, calculating turnover is one more tool you can use to understand what matters to your employees. But you don't have to go at it alone; employee engagement solutions like Officevibe make it easier than ever to take the pulse of your team.

By practicing active listening and putting in the hours to make changes, you can keep your top talent engaged and committed to your organization for a long, happy time.

Every manager wants to lead employees who are committed and connected to their work. In other words, they want a team of engaged employees. But why, exactly, is this so important? What are the benefits of employee engagement?

Many things play into employee engagement. Things like how happy employees feel at work, how connected they are with their peers and manager, and how often they feel recognized and appreciated for their contributions are just a few factors of engagement.

When employees are truly engaged, teams go from being good to being great. Challenges turn into opportunities, outcomes turn into achievements, and people give it their all. Let's explore this more closely.

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Managers are often told that they need to work on employee engagement. However, the concept of engagement is sometimes hard to understand. We built a list of 10 important benefits to help you understand what employee engagement really looks like.

10 Benefits of employee engagement

The reason employee engagement is so important is simple: it affects all aspects of work. Benefits around engagement impact employees, teams, managers, and the organization as a whole.

1. Better team performance

Employee engagement doesn't just benefit individual employees – it benefits the team. This is because engaged employees perform at a higher level. And when you have a group of engaged employees working together, the team naturally performs at its best as well.

Not only that, but employee morale can be really contagious. When team members are surrounded by driven and motivated peers who care about what they do, they're more likely to feel engaged in their own roles. Individual engagement leads to team engagement, and individual performance improves team performance.

2. Increased employee productivity

Highly engaged employees are more efficient and produce higher-quality work. Why? Because they're personally invested in their job, and their performance matters to them. They're aligned with the team and business goals, and accountable for their individual contribution. This means increased productivity on your team and greater returns for your business.

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Check-in on employee engagement in every one-on-one meeting. If you spot a drop in performance or productivity, it could be an indication of disengagement.

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3. Achieved team objectives

Speaking of hitting targets, employee engagement plays a huge role in your team's success and achievements. As a manager, it's natural to focus your attention on your team's goals. But this doesn't mean you should neglect the employee engagement side as it has a direct, positive impact on your objectives.

It's a two-way street: team members that are aligned on goals feel more engaged, and engaged employees are more motivated to work towards common objectives.

Team members who believe in the vision will help you get there. And they do so because they are engaged in their work and aligned with your business strategy.

4. Less workplace stress

Engaged employees and disengaged employees alike are susceptible to stress at work. The difference lies in how it's managed, as well as the outcomes of that stress. And as a manager, your support will play a huge role here.

For engaged employees, some stress at work is usually much easier to manage and could even become a motivator. Employees who are engaged tend to be more self-aware and can better detect when their stress levels surpass a healthy threshold. They're also more prone to seek support from managers and peers when needed.

On the other hand, when engagement dwindles, stress can become unmanageable and sometimes even detrimental to people's well-being. And this is especially true when employees do not feel a sense of belonging at work and feel unsupported.

Be mindful of when and how you push people. Stress can be a sign that we're on the brink of something amazing! But it can also completely hinder us from reaching those achievements. Make sure your team members know that you have their backs and that stress is only okay if it's propelling them forward.

{emphasize}

💡Not sure how to detect signs of stress? Use our free survey template to help you assess your team's stress levels and uncover the root causes.

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5. Lower risk of burnout

Employee burnout, which the World Health Organization defines as an “occupational phenomenon… resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed,” is one of the biggest issues facing today's workforce.

When employees reach the point of burnout, it has serious consequences – for them, your team, and your organization. Burnout is bad news. But the upside? By keeping your employees engaged with their work and monitoring stress levels on your team, you're helping significantly lower their risk for burnout.

{emphasize}

Burnout symptoms to look out for: 

• Mental and physical exhaustion
• Lowered productivity
• Decreased sense of accomplishment
• Decreased job satisfaction
• And – you guessed it: lack of engagement with work

{emphasize}

6. Lower employee absenteeism

Absenteeism has become a big issue in recent years. In the United States alone, nearly one million people skip work each day due to stress. And alarmingly, those who take time off for mental health reasons are seven times more likely to be absent in the future.

When workloads become overwhelming and work-life balance feels unattainable, engagement falls and absenteeism takes a hike. So how can you help as a manager? You can improve employee engagement by fostering a motivating environment that prioritizes health and well-being. You'll see your engaged employees excited to show up for work (online or in person), innovate with ease, achieve goals, and perform at the highest level in no time.

{emphasize}

Reach out to employees when you notice changes in their behavior like taking more sick days or participating less in team meetings. Avoid coming from a place of frustration or judgment, and come from a place of care. Maybe something is going on that you couldn't have spotted otherwise, and you might even be able to help.

{emphasize}

7. ... And lower employee presenteeism as well

As Investopedia clearly puts it, presenteeism is "the lost productivity that occurs when employees are not fully functioning in the workplace because of an illness, injury, or other condition." These days, presenteeism is most often due to mental health issues like stress and anxiety. It traps employees in a negative loop where their challenges contribute to low productivity, and their low productivity causes more anxiety. The catch-22: employees dealing with presenteeism just end up "working" more to compensate.

Unlike absenteeism, the signs of presenteeism aren't stark, so it often goes unnoticed by managers until it becomes a bigger problem. The good news is that measuring employee engagement can help you detect whether your team is struggling and can point you in the right direction to improve your employee's experience at work.

Healthy and engaged employees that feel supported by their managers and peers naturally perform better at work. So, next time feel your team's productivity levels dipping, remember to create a virtuous circle of employee engagement.

8. Higher employee retention and lower turnover rates

If you want to build a high-performing team, you need your employees to stick around. It's hard for teams to do their best work if employees are constantly cycling in and out. When long-standing employees leave, they take valuable knowledge and expertise with them. Plus, training new hires is a significant investment of time, energy, and resources.

An engaged, satisfied employee who's committed to their objectives is less likely to leave. So by improving employee retention rates, you'll have more engaged employees that make your team stronger, more experienced, and better equipped to hit targets.

{emphasize}

Conduct stay interviews regularly. Unlike exit interviews, stay interviews help you spot a disengaged employee before a valuable team member leaves. Every three months, ask your employees what's keeping them at the company and what they enjoy about their work.

{emphasize}

9. Strong ambassadorship and employer brand

A great employer brand is key to business success and it starts with high employee engagement. An engaged employee is more likely to vouch for their organization, and this ambassadorship is worth more than gold in today's labor market.

In fact, highly engaged organizations are usually raved about externally on job search platforms like Glassdoor and through word-of-mouth. So if you're looking to be on everyone's list of dream workplaces, you'll want to make sure your ambassadors are satisfied and motivated at all times. Employee engagement surveys are a great tool to keep these metrics in check.

{emphasize}

📏 Measure employee engagement by calculating your employee Net Promoter Score. This metric will paint a clear picture of your team's ambassadorship levels and their likeliness to promote your organization as a great place to work.

{emphasize}

10. Easier recruitment

It's no surprise that when your employer brand shines, HR's job becomes way easier in the recruitment process. Candidates want to be 100% sure when deciding to join an organization, so they're sure to scour online reviews or their networks for the scoop on what it's like to work at your company.

If your employee engagement is strong, you have nothing to fret about. In fact, your employees are probably doing a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to attracting top talent simply by speaking highly about their positive experiences at work. And considering that 66% of candidates want to hear more from employees, you'll want to continue involving engaged employees throughout your recruitment.

How to improve employee engagement in your team

Your employee engagement strategy is a part of how you manage your team and doesn't have to add to your workload. Here are some engagement ideas you can try.

Make a healthy work-life balance non-negotiable

No matter how much employees love what they do, if they're overwhelmed or always on, they're going to burn out and disengage. Strong company culture will encourage a healthy work-life balance, which leads to a more engaged workforce. This is especially important on remote or distributed teams, where it's easy for the line between “work” and “home” to blur even more.  As a manager, you can make balance the norm on your team.

Set clear, firm expectations and boundaries around work communication, business hours, and taking time off. Openly encourage people to take breaks, book long weekends, and pursue their passions outside of work. Make sure that everyone feels comfortable logging off early if they've completed their work for the day.

{emphasize}

Ask the right questions to learn more about your team's well-being with these employee wellness surveys.

{emphasize}

Measure employee engagement, and talk about it

An employee engagement survey is a great way to collect information on how your people are feeling. Measuring employee engagement helps you spot any issues before they spiral into bigger problems. Officevibe's employee engagement software sends weekly surveys to every member of your team so you can keep a pulse on engagement levels.

Plus, you can collect employee feedback on an ongoing basis. From there, you can plan (and keep track of your notes) directly in the one-on-one software, so engagement is always a talking point.

Help your team set - and achieve - their goals

Your team will be more engaged when they feel like they're making meaningful contributions to collective business objectives.

First, help them understand those objectives. Then you can work together with them to set team goals that are aligned. Finally, set individual goals with team members so they have a clear path forward and something to strive toward.

You can set and track individual goals with each employee using Officevibe, and connect them to team goals in the app. Plus, it's easy to set smaller action items in every one-on-one, and then add it as a talking point for your next meeting so you're sure to follow up. This makes goal progression a part of every discussion, so employees feel supported and empowered.

Employee engagement leads to higher-performing teams

Employee engagement is a crucial part of high-performing teams. Now that you know the benefits of employee engagement, you can put these suggestions into practice – and watch your team thrive as a result.

Want to see where your team stand? Sign up for Officevibe and start measuring your employee engagement today.

If you’ve ever taken part in team-building activities at work, thinking about them might stir up some strong feelings.

You might feel genuine excitement—you’ve experienced the way team-building activities form stronger bonds, bring out new perspectives and approaches to problem-solving, and of course, how this boosts collaboration and camaraderie back at the office.

On the other hand, if you haven’t experienced successful team-building events, you might roll your eyes at the very thought of them, knowing that when they’re not done right, they can be boring and even awkward.

With the right planning, team-building activities for the office can liven up company social events, encourage employees to connect on a human level, work better together, and even help resolve the underlying conflict.

Team-building activities have the power to open up communication, nurture relationship-building, and encourage innovative thinking, all of which will give your team’s engagement and performance a boost.

[ov_cta id="5116559"]

7 Essential team-building best practices for work

To make the most out of team-building activities, you want to ensure employees are engaged and having fun. Here are seven planning tips to make your team-building event a success.

1. Don’t call it team-building:

The first rule of team building activities is not to refer to them as team building activities.

It’s important that the moment feels as organic as possible, because forcing people to bond never works. Instead, use language like  “let’s take some time away from the office today”, or “let’s take a break from work this afternoon.” No need to say “for team-building”—it’s a given.

2. Be inclusive:

Employees with kids might not be able to join in for evening or weekend activities, and introverted individuals probably won’t love being forced into a flash-mob or karaoke. Plan events during office hours whenever possible, and try offering a variety of activities so that everyone feels comfortable and included.

3. Structure is your friend:

Make sure that when employees show up for the scheduled activities, instructions and timeframes are clear and accessible. When activities are too complex, or the guidelines are unclear, people can become disengaged and give up.

4. Take a load off:

If possible host an offsite event away from the office, and make it a work-free day. You’ll get the most out of team-building if employees are fully present, and it’s hard to get in the game if you’re trying to answer emails from your smart phone.

5. Work with professionals:

For bigger events, or if you don’t have enough time to properly plan these team-building activities on your own, you might consider the help of professional team-building facilitators. This also means that planning won’t land on leadership, and employees at all levels can participate together, helping to break down barriers and hierarchy.

6. Strength in (smaller) numbers:

Breaking your staff into smaller groups for large team-building events can make for a more intimate and meaningful event. Mix people up from different divisions and have groups change from one activity to the next to foster connections that might not otherwise take place.

7. Follow up for next time:

After the event, follow up is key. Survey your employees to see which activities were preferred, which games they’d prefer to skip next time, and gather any additional feedback. This lets your employees know their opinion truly does matter, and might bring out some creative ideas for the next event.

How do you know when to prioritize team building activities? Tools like Officevibe's employee engagement platform help managers track team engagement metrics such as “Relationship with Peers.” When this metric is low, it might be a good time to start thinking about getting your team together.

8 Meaningful team building activities for work

Now that you have all the tips you need to plan the perfect team-building event, it’s time to pick the best activities for your team or organization.

It's possible to incorporate weekly or daily team building activities, but some of our suggestions may be a better fit on a monthly or quarterly basis.

Fun team-building activities to break the ice

Ice-breaker activities are perfect when you’re welcoming new employees onto the team or for kicking off a quarterly review or retrospective. They help people feel more connected and comfortable, and build trust by encouraging authentic relationship building.

1. Who’s who?

Split the group into two teams and have everybody write down one surprising fact about themselves. A volunteer from each team reads their list of facts, and the teams take turns guessing who each fact belongs to. Does Scott speak Klingon? Did Laurel star in a french fry commercial as a kid? This game is bound to unearth some fascinating information that employees would never have known about each other otherwise.

{highlight}Time Required: 10 minutes to split into teams and write down facts, and 45 minutes for the game itself.

Materials Needed: Nothing more than pens and paper.{highlight}

2. Trust walk

Find a big open space and set up obstacles for team members to navigate through. You can make use of stuff from around the office, like desk chairs and stacks of books. One by one, have blindfolded employees try to navigate the obstacles using only the instructions of their team. This activity builds communication skills and trust at the same time.

{highlight}Time Required: 15 minutes to set up the obstacles, and 5 minutes per walk.

Materials Needed: Office items to use as obstacles—chairs, books, exercise ball, boxes, lamps…just nothing too breakable.{highlight}

3. Two truths and a lie

An all-time classic, each person comes up with two things about themselves that are true (that others don’t already know), and one that’s completely made up (but still believable). Everyone takes a turn stating their “facts,” and the group guesses which one is a lie.

Time Required: 5-10 minutes to prepare, and 5 minutes for each person to present and the group to guess.

Materials Needed: Everyone’s imagination and inquisitive mindsets!

4. Life goals

This one goes a little deeper, really building those meaningful connections between employees. Go around the table or popcorn-style and give each team member an opportunity to share one of their life goals with the group. Whether it’s family-related, professional, or personal, this is a great way to form authentic relationships on the team and tap into that human element, which are essential to building trust.

{highlight}Time Required: Between 30 minutes to 2 hours should give plenty of time for everyone to share as much as they feel comfortable, depending on the size of your team.

Materials Needed: Take care to create a safe space where people will feel comfortable to be open and share.{highlight}

Problem-solving activities to get your team working together

Once the ice has been broken, you can move onto these teamwork-oriented activities. These provide opportunities to strengthen collaboration, work through challenges, and be creative as a team. Who knows, they might just lead to your company’s next big breakthrough!

5. Lego City

Start by having everyone brainstorm a list of 10-15 Lego City requirements—things like a set number of roads to be built, a river that flows through the town, a bridge crossing the river, structures such as a hospital, school, and fire station, and perhaps a bus or train station. Then, split your group into teams of 3 or 4 Lego City builders. Each team has to figure out their blueprint and how they want to divide the work of building. At the end, each team presents their final product to the group. One piece of advice: make sure you clean up all the Lego when you’re done. Nobody wants to step on one of those later!

{highlight}Time Required: 3-4 hours

Materials Needed: Paper, pens, and Lego. Lots of Lego.{highlight}

6. Scavenger hunt

Get your group into teams of 4 to 6 people, depending on how many you are. Rather than having your teams collect bird feathers and a coin from 1987, put together a list of challenges that will get people working together. Different challenges can have different point values, creating the opportunity for teams to approach the game with different strategies. For example, a photo of everybody jumping in the air at once is worth 1 point, learning and performing a magic trick could be worth 3 points, getting or giving a piggyback ride from a stranger is worth 5, and making lunch for the less fortunate is worth 10. This makes it more of a collaborative effort and adds an angle of strategic thinking.

{highlight}Time Required: 1-8 hours, depending how far you want to go with these challenges.

Materials Needed: A printed or digital checklist, and from there, the sky is the limit!{highlight}

7. Shark tank

We’ve all had a great business idea that we didn’t see through or was launched by somebody else before we had the chance, so tap into your employees’ creative ideas! Divide the group into teams of 3 or 4 to come up with a business or product idea, then pitch it to the group. You can have everyone vote for the winning team, but the best reward is giving your employees an innovative space where there are no bad ideas. In your next brainstorm session your team might be more comfortable sharing their out of the box ideas, and more welcoming to approaches they’ve never tried. It could just be the breath of fresh air your next project needs.

{highlight}Time Required: 1-2 hours for planning and preparing their pitch, 1 hour for the presentations.

Materials Needed: Standard office supplies—pens, paper, computers, etc.{highlight}

8. The egg drop

If you’re a fan of nostalgia, this one is bound to take you right back to your middle school science class. Divide your team into groups of 3 to 5 and have them build a contraption to protect their egg from cracking, then have everyone drop their devices from an office window (aim for 8 to 10 feet high). You can repeat this a few times, having teams who’s egg cracked restructure their device and successful teams make a new one. This hands-on collaborative activity will get everyone feeling inventive and solution-oriented.

{highlight}Time Required: 30 minutes for building the container, 30 minutes for the egg drops.

Materials Needed: Cardboard rolls, newspaper, boxes, ziplock bags, tape, glue, elastic bands, popsicle sticks, plastic straws, cotton balls, pieces of sponge, etc. Really, anything you’d find in a recycling bin or junk drawer. Oh, and of course, half a dozen per team.{highlight}

Virtual activities to build connections on your team

With the new reality we are in, your team might be working in a remote context. That means that connections might be harder to build or maintain than in a regular workplace setting. It's also possible that some of your team members have never met in real life.

Remote work reduces the number of informal interactions we have with our colleagues. However, these exchanges are critical to the well-being of your team. While some of the ideas presented higher are also applicable to a virtual context, here are a few remote team-building activities.

Virtual escape rooms

Many escape rooms have expanded their offer and developed scenarios you can tackle in the comfort of your home office. In addition to being a great way to unwind from work, virtual escape games are great to build problem-solving skills as a team. Many learnings about collaboration can be applied in day-to-day work.

Video chat happy hour

Bringing your team together for a happy hour is a great way to stimulate informal discussions. These types of interactions happen too rarely in the remote work era. If you feel like the video chat format is too cold and you're afraid that there might be silent moments, don't hesitate to propose a game. This will make discussion easier and push your employees to interact with each other!

Cooking class

Whether it is during lunch or after work, bringing your team members together to cook a meal is a fun way for your employees to learn new skills. Many companies offer services where they can even deliver the ingredients to your team members, making the experience seamless for everyone!

Remote fitness club

When your office is 20 feet away from your bedroom, it's normal to have a lower level of physical activity in a day. As a leader, you can rally your team around a common goal and motivate your employees to be more active.

In addition to the physical benefits that these activities must have, sports are a great way to maintain a balance and can have some positive effects on mental health. It's even possible that you will notice the effects of such an initiative in your employee's morale.

Team-building activities don’t have to be cheesy—they can set the tone for important meetings, get employees out of their day-to-day, spark innovative thinking, and make for lasting memories and authentic connections among colleagues. Big or small, these activities can have a positive impact on your team’s collaboration and communication.

So, what are you waiting for? Happy team building!

What’s your favourite team-building activity?

CEOs have a deep impact on their corporate culture, even if they aren’t conscious of it all the time.

The CEO is the leader of the organization and therefore their direct engagement affects features of the company.

According to Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM, “Culture is your company’s number one asset.”

And there is no better person to implement the desired culture of the company than the CEO, because the company mirrors the CEOs actions and behavior.

Culture is formed by the CEO in the beginning of the company’s life, whether this is intentional or not.

Therefore, the top person to promote a positive brand image and create an environment of employee satisfaction and open communication is the CEO.

For example, if the CEO is frequently in absentia, employee attendance will fall.

If the CEO has a poor work ethic, is dishonest and does not follow a strong set of ethics, then employees could begin to follow the same code of ethics and mimic this behavior.

CEO syndrome

The way a CEO accepts new information is important to all future exchanges of information between themselves and their staff.

Sometimes, when a CEO has a fixed point of view and is unwilling to alter and adjust these viewpoints, then they can become judgmental of other people’s opinions and can’t perceive new possibilities that contradict what they believe is possible.

Enron gave the world one of the best examples of cultural malfunction to study and learn from.

The company’s official code of ethics was based on “communication, respect, integrity and excellence,” but they disregarded every word of it.

Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling and many other top executives promoted a culture of greed and entitlement.

Skilling and his executives actions did not pay off in the long run: all of them stood trial for fraud and conspiracy, and were handed lengthy prison sentences.

Staff will tend to filter and manipulate information to suit the CEOs points of view in order not to provoke a reaction or clash with their superior and behavior such as this has a negative outcome for the company.

The best leaders are those who have the ability to change with the times.

The eternal question remains, what makes a good leader? How is the CEO meant to drive a culture of innovation and leadership, if all everyone wants to do is be like him or her?

Leadership culture

Because CEOs are usually not around for any significant length of time in a company’s life cycle, the company needs to foster something that endures beyond this period.

You could be forgiven for thinking that this article so far contradicts its title.

CEO involvement is still the most important factor in creating and maintaining solid business performance, it just isn’t the only factor.

“Forbes” analyzed hundreds of businesses over the past few years, and they found a high correlation between the companies’ leadership development and their long term performance.

Of course, correlation does not mean causation, but it seems highly likely that this is the case.

A corporate culture will form whether it’s engineered or not, and if leadership doesn’t consciously shape the culture in the direction they want, it may end up taking a slow turn down a dark alley, a la Barclays Bank — who tried to fix the Libor rate and then attempted to blame the banks shortcoming on corporate culture.

CEOs need to be familiar with the business objectives and trained fully or promoted from within the company.

They need to be promoted from within or educated sufficiently if hired from outside the company.

Management Philosophies

The hiring practices of the organization are of paramount importance.

New employees need to be suited to the culture or else they will end up being unhappy and unproductive, they should also not be treated as units of production.

CEOs should also have an open-door policy, encouraging their employees to share their ideas and their problems.

One of the easiest ways to create a great corporate culture is to convince your staff that they matter.

Making a decision without your employees in mind or speaking to them first, could potentially damage the corporate culture more than it helps.

Qualities of CEOs

Lowell McAdam is the current chairman and CEO of Verizon Wireless. He previously served as CEO of Verizon Wireless and the COO of Verizon.

McAdam started with the company in 2000 and, in his early days there, he was tasked with creating a corporate culture for Verizon Wireless in the expectation that it would help differentiate the company.

Dennis Strigl was the lead executive in charge of integrating Verizon Wireless when McAdam first joined the company.

At a recent talk at Rutgers, McAdam remembered being told “the culture would determine the longevity and the success of the company as much as the technology would.”

Verizon Wireless, in establishing what type of company they would like to become, used employee surveys to develop a set of core values.

Unsurprisingly, they discovered that their staff “wanted to be associated with a company consumers could depend on.”

It may have taken Verizon Wireless four years to strategically implement these core values, but they were committed to redefining the business model and culture of Verizon Wireless to become a company that not only their consumers could depend on, but their employees were proud to work for.

McAdam stressed, “I can’t overemphasize how important the culture is to the business.”

When made CEO of Verizon Wireless, McAdam would have again played a huge part in the process of nurturing the company’s culture simply by believing that culture was crucial to the success of Verizon Wireless.

His belief would have filtered down to his everyday behavior and rubbed off on his staff.

Although the CEO may have countless others things on their plate, taking the time to show interest in employee satisfaction is imperative to the infrastructure of a strong and genuine corporate culture.

What do you think of the CEO's role in creating a great company culture?

Do you think it's more than the leadership? How much of a role do managers and employees play a role in creating a great company culture? Let us know your thoughts on twitter @Officevibe.

When you gaze out over your team, whether at the office or on a grid of video feeds from home, what do you see? Not their to-do lists or deadlines or productivity stats. No, you see faces, expressions, and attitudes.

Sure, people aren’t as easy to read as a spreadsheet or report, but one thing emotionally intelligent managers should always try to gauge is how motivated their people are. Remember, motivation levels aren’t pre-determined. They are the result of applying your managerial soft skills, and motivation is top among them.

Why employee motivation can be tough right now

Things have changed. Strategies, work processes and team dynamics have been affected. We’re all adapting to new realities. Things that kept us motivated at the office we may not have at home. Everyone is living in different circumstances. Some are revelling in remote work, while others are feeling lonely or needing to manage parenting and working at the same time. This can affect you, the manager, as much as anyone on your team. And it’s admittedly difficult to motivate when you’re not too motivated yourself.

Before you jump into motivation solutions, it’s important to understand where everyone is on the motivation spectrum. Ask your employees how they’re feeling with our Officevibe surveys and feedback tool to track engagement. You’ll be able to see clearly where things are going well, and where they aren’t, while offering a safe space for employees to share anonymous feedback. This will help you get important conversations started, then you can build solutions based on your findings.

Learn more about Officevibe

2 different kinds of motivation in the workplace - intrinsic and extrinsic

What does motivation mean in the context of work? Once upon a time, the simple answer was the paycheck, but a study from Psychology Today reports that money ranked far below other factors when it comes to employee motivation. The figures speak for themselves:

1. Camaraderie, peer motivation (20%)
2. Desire to do a good job (17%)
3. Feeling recognized (13%)
4. Having an impact (10%)
5. Growing professionally (8%)
6. Money (7%)

This doesn’t mean that fair compensation is not essential, it just means that there’s a lot more to motivating people than dangling a carrot. To get into this, let’s break down the idea of motivation into two types: extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation  

1. Extrinsic motivation: motivating employees with external rewards

Money and rewards are the best example here. Someone does a job, and their time and energy are then indirectly translated into monetary compensation. The problem with extrinsic motivators alone is that they don’t necessarily engage your employee more than the minimum required. 

How do employees feel about the extrinsic motivator of compensation?

Thanks to our Officevibe data, we have some insights for managers on compensation:

of employees don’t feel satisfied with the benefits their organization offers.

of employees do not feel that they are paid fairly based on their skills, experience and efforts.

of employees don’t think that the way pay is decided is fair.

So, don’t bank on compensation alone to motivate. You need a more profound tool in your motivational toolkit. Aside from money, you can play around with more fun ideas, like extra days off or a free lunch.

2. Intrinsic motivation: motivating your employees with internal rewards

Intrinsic motivation is about doing something for its own sake — for the satisfaction of doing it, enjoying it, and seeing it done well. There are many things you can do as a manager to internally motivate your employees to do their jobs with such gusto.

In work, intrinsic motivation comes from: 

• Getting involved in the decision-making process 
• Seeing the impact of one’s work in a bigger picture
• Being able to learn and grow while working
• Enjoying the work and caring for your team
• Being able to do what you love and hone in on your strengths

When you put your best efforts into intrinsically motivating your employees, you demonstrate you care and are all-in to see them develop under your leadership.

6 ways to motivate your employees in their day-to-day

Keeping your employees motivated every day is a full-time job. Before we explore some concrete things you can do on a day-to-day basis, let’s lay down the high-level principles of employee motivation:

1. People need a sense of involvement in defining their roles and setting goals,
2. People need to see how their individual contributions have an impact,
3. People need to know they have the freedom and autonomy to experiment, and
4. People need to feel a sense of commitment to their team and to you, the manager.

Here are some good tips to keep in mind when applying intrinsic motivation. 

1. Inspire a sense of purpose

Everyone on your team needs to feel a sense of purpose in the big picture and to see how their individual efforts help your team get there. Working personally with each employee to define their roles and set their goals is a great motivator. This also gives them the chance to reflect on their strengths and map out where they’d like to improve.

{emphasize}Tip: With a new hire, ask them to write up a job description, not of the job they think they’ve been hired for, but of the dream job they want. Then see how you two can make it a reality together.{emphasize}

2. Offer autonomy and the freedom to fail

You need to allow your employees the space to be creative, to try new approaches, and even fail. These are great learning experiences. More importantly, granting autonomy (especially during remote times when managers may inadvertently turn to micromanaging) demonstrates that you trust them, a true intrinsically motivating force.

{emphasize}Tip: Thomas Edison once said, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” Why not offer an Edison Award — recognition for the most interesting or educative way something didn’t work, and then share learnings for next time. It’ll take the edge off of not-succeeding, encouraging people to get creative.{emphasize}

3. Make work a place to grow

A sure way to motivate employees is when their job lets them do more than what their basic title prescribes. When work offers opportunities to develop one’s skills and learn new ones, employees know that their efforts will pay off in ways more valuable than just a salary.

{emphasize}Tip: Encourage employees to take time outside their day-to-day tasks to learn something new: a coding language or even soft-skill training like public speaking, then share their new skills and learnings with the team.{emphasize}

4. Build connection with employees

It’s nice to see that 84% of employees from our Officevibe data feel like they’re part of a team. When employees care about their team and their manager, they’re more motivated to work hard for their sakes.

Considering the times we’re in, relationships are key to getting buy in for change. If you need to communicate a new strategy, change in direction, or touchy news to your team, they will receive it better because they trust and care for you.

{emphasize}Motivation is key to engagement. Send your team our inspirational quotes to keep them motivated, engaged, and ready to do their best work.{emphasize}

How to motivate employees during times of change and uncertainty

Here are some pieces of advice and actionable tips to help you transition to the work-from-home era without losing any motivational steam.

This is a must: keep communication lines open

Keeping communication clear, authentic and constant is key to securing your team’s continual buy-in for potential changes: shift strategies, budgets, team structure, processes, etc. People appreciate being kept in the loop and feeling part of the decisions that are made.

{emphasize}Tip: Hold a “What’s New” meeting regularly that’s short and to the point: Have there been any changes your team should know about?{emphasize}

Be reassuring, but also realistic

Find the balance between taking the time to reassure employees and answer their questions, but also be real with them. If things aren’t going well for the business, don’t sugar coat it, but do explain it to them. People want to understand the reality they are in, and feel motivated when they are included in finding the solution.

Keep your eye on the prize, but also on their feelings

Informal and regular one-on-one meetings shouldn’t stop just because you can no longer grab a coffee together. Keep up with everyone individually to see how they’re faring at home without their team and colleagues. Take this time to be open about how you want to be a better motivator. Listen to each individual’s take on what motivates them. You might be surprised at some of the answers you get.

{emphasize}Try asking:

• “What kind of workdays do you most look forward to?”
• “Which way do you prefer to be informed of difficult news?”
• “What makes a task exciting to you?”
• “What makes a task difficult to begin?”{emphasize}

Recognize little wins, and make it meaningful

When you recognize a job well done, that’s intrinsic motivation at work. It should be timely and specific, not broad comments on everyone’s work over an unspecified period of time. Right now however, 40% of employees in Officevibe don’t feel recognized enough by their managers. Especially during these more trying times, employees need to be appreciated for their contributions, even if they’re not hitting the bullseye of your original goals. Let people know you see them doing their best.

Managers need motivation too

Motivation is a double-edged sword for managers. You keep your team motivated, but who’s motivating you? A lot of managers we’ve spoken with are especially worried about staying motivated in times of remote work. You’re only human, so don’t be hard on yourself, but do ensure you have the same support you’re handing out.

1. Talk to managers from your company or others. See how they’re holding up and what they’re doing to motivate themselves and their team.
2. Ask your team to share their favourite managerial moments with you, the times when you most helped them keep going and pushed them to smash their goals. Keep doing that.
3. Let your boss know what you need from them to stay motivated, whether it’s more clarity, more frequent touchpoints, or more recognition. To be a good manager for your team, ensure you have a good relationship with yours too.
4. Mostly importantly, take the guesswork out of wondering how your team is feeling and how they feel you’re doing as a manager. Keep lines of communication open with Officevibe’s insightful surveys and anonymous feedback tool. Track metrics like Relationship with Manager, Job Satisfaction, and Happiness at Work every week so you know exactly what to put on your to-do list to keep your team engaged.

Remember, your team’s performance is a reflection of yours and vice versa. And it’s motivation that functions here as a positive feedback loop, making you and your team want to work harder for each other.

If you're experiencing high turnover, you're not alone. It seems like turnover is to be expected and that there's nothing we can do about it. But how true is this, really? If you want to know how to reduce turnover on your team, you need to know what's causing it, and act accordingly.

💡 As much as the world has changed, there's still a lot you can do to retain talent. You don't have to stand on the sidelines until things settle. You can shift the perception of your current employees, make them see a future at your company, and improve employee retention.

We'll discuss the main factors that are causing people to leave their jobs, and review 5 top strategies that will be your guide in knowing how to reduce turnover in your team. And in doing so, better employee retention.

Keep reading to learn...

• What are some of the causes of employee turnover?
• How to reduce turnover - our top 5 modern strategies
• Get closer to your team

What are some of the causes of employee turnover?

10 common factors that result in employee turnover

According to a recent article by Oracle, the main factors that affect employee turnover are:

1. Lack of employee purpose
2. Poor compensation
3. Being overworked
4. Poor relationships between employees and their direct manager
5. Little to no feedback and recognition
6. Poor work-life balance
7. Boredom
8. No opportunities for growth and development
9. Poor onboarding processes
10. Toxic or negative company culture

These factors have always influenced whether or not employees stay at a job. We know that all teams are different and that you're limited to what your organization offers (high pay, cool perks, an exciting benefits package, etc.). But this is exactly why it's important that you can somewhat quantify the weight each of these factors has on your employees.

👉 Reflect: Which ones are strengths in my organization, and on my team? Which factors are mostly influenced by my role as a manager?

As a manager, your job is to properly communicate to your team the factors that make your organization a competitive place to work, and support them as much as possible in the ones that aren't that competitive. We'll discuss a retention strategy for each one later in this post.

Post pandemic - what employees expect today

Flexibility in the workplace

The ability to choose when, how, and where people work is extremely important for employees today. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, companies went hand-in-hand with employees to make remote work function. It was a necessary measure for companies to keep running.

Now that the world is slowly transitioning to what it was before (to a certain degree at least), changing the narrative doesn't seem right. What we mean by this is, a degree of workplace flexibility shouldn't be a perk or exploratory measure. Employees expect to be able to keep the routines, schedules, and advantages they had for the past year and a half.

A 2020 survey report by Deloitte U.S. showed that 94% of respondents said they "would benefit from work flexibility."

Workplace flexibility survey, Deloitte US

Managers who work hard to offer the right work flexibility to their teams, will better their employee retention.

Employee autonomy in the workplace

According to our employee pulse survey software data, 1 in every 5 employees feels like they don't have enough freedom to do their job. When we speak about employee turnover rate, this number is important.

Our data shows also a strong correlation between how much freedom people feel they have to do their work and levels of employee happiness in teams. If you don't offer the right amount of employee autonomy to your team members, it will affect how they see their job and the levels to which they connect to it — independently of whether they work from home or at an office.

Burnout

In Deloitte's Workplace Flexibility survey, one of the main advantages people appreciated from their organizations was reducing their stress levels. And when it came to burnout, a recent survey showed that company leaders really struggled in the past year in making a long-lasting impact to help their employees manage it.

Burnout can come from uncertainty, stress, too much work, not enough time off, lots of changes in your organization, shifts in company culture...

Poor understanding of the levels of burnout in your team and a lack of strategies to mitigate it will certainly result in a high employee turnover rate.

Poor work-life balance and lack of focus on wellbeing

Somewhat related to burnout, people need to be able to better integrate their lives and work in ways that one doesn't cannibalize the other.

According to Officevibe's data, 39% of employees report negative feelings about their work-related stress. That's 1 in every 2-3 employees! However, interestingly enough, when asked about how much employees think their managers care about their wellbeing, 85% of them feel their managers care. This shows how managers have the ability to support their employees and turn up employee's satisfaction around work-life balance.

How to reduce turnover - our top 5 modern strategies

1. Keep a close eye on employee engagement, and act preventatively

Like we mentioned before, you can't cover all the factors that influence whether people stay in an organization or leave. However, knowing what is going well and what is primarily reducing your team's devotion to the company is the right place to start.

You can develop a survey and ask your team the right questions to measure employee engagement, and then use the results to evaluate what you should be focusing on.

Employee engagement tools like Officevibe send weekly pulse surveys to your employees. In just 5 short questions backed by science, Officevibe reviews the factors that influence employee engagement. In a matter of weeks, you receive a report with your team's level of engagement, and an analysis of what's going well and what you should focus on.

When you tackle issues as they appear, you'll be able to offer your team support before they lose hope and decide to leave your team. The key here is to remain preventive, not reactive.

2. Master one-on-one meetings, and learn to lead tough conversations

If you're not having one-on-one meetings with your team already, you need to start now. They're also very important when you onboard new members. Here is where they connect with you, ask all their questions, and feel the right support as they join their new team. A manager connection-first approach has proven to positively influence the overall employee experience.

According to our data, 1 in 6 employees feel like when they reach out to their manager, they can't devote time to help them. When we looked at how this affects an employee's ability to feel part of the team, we saw that the two were strongly correlated.

Making time for your team is very important. And one-on-ones are the perfect place to do so in a personal way. But it doesn't end there, you need to learn how to have difficult conversations. Lead the conversations around the key factors that might cause them to quit. Questions like:

• Are they bored?
• How do they feel about your management style?
• Are they happy with their salary?
• Do they perceive a toxic or negative company culture?
• Do they feel like there is a place for them to grow within the organization?

Making time to have real conversations will make your team feel important. It will show them that they can work with you to fix what's causing them to question their place on the team.

Don't let your conversations fall flat

Make sure your conversations lead to action items, are collaborative, and schedule follow-ups. Having real conversations with your team and not acting on them can be counterproductive to help you reduce employee turnover. Keep your notes organized, make a plan, and allow your employees to add their own discussion points.

👉 If you need best practices to host proper one-on-one meetings, visit our one-on-one meetings guide.

3. Nurture a culture of feedback

Do you want your team to feel heard and important? Create a safe space for feedback. A lot of managers spend lots of energy and stress trying to figure out all the answers. But often, the best solutions come from your team directly. When you create a place for feedback and you act on it, your relationship with your team improves and you increase their engagement.

💡 Tip: Take feedback to a whole new level by offering your employees a space to share anonymous feedback. Employee engagement tools like Officevibe focus on offering the best and most safe space for your team to share their thoughts, and put it all together in a conversational setting to help you dig deeper.

Feedback on their work is as important. Good constructive feedback helps people grow and stay motivated. Grow the habit to tell them what makes them valuable and what they are really great at. Direct them on the things they can do better. If you become the guide and mentor of their professional development, they will most likely choose to stay.

4. Build a culture of employee recognition

Don't wait to recognize your team for their hard work. People who feel valued are more likely to stay in their jobs. Our employee recognition data shows a very strong correlation between employees' levels of happiness and the frequency at which they receive appreciation.

Match the recognition to the efforts

We suggest that you take the time to match each recognition moment with the level of effort and input your employee had to put in to get there. Some examples of recognition include:

• A public message recognizing your employee's work
• A personal recognition message (with or without visibility to upper leadership)
• An increase in responsibilities
• An opportunity to assist events or experiences
• A change in title and seniority
• A shoutout at a team meeting
• A bonus
• A pay increase

Make sure that the recognition you choose to give properly celebrates the person's accomplishment.

5. Revisit employee benefits and perks

Like we mentioned at the start, the needs of your employees have changed.

3 in 4 employees want employers to provide mental health programs, benefits, and solutions.

A recent report by Headspace

The same Headspace report stated that "employees in 2021 valued benefits that helped them manage the disruptions in their lives more than traditional benefits like retirement or dental insurance."

People had lots of time to rethink where they spent their time and what they do for a living this past year. It's important that you meet employees where they are, and adapt your benefits to what matters the most to them.

"I am not in HR, so what can I do as a manager?"

Maybe you don't have the power to change things at an organizational level. So take time to reflect, what are some of the perks your team gets from having you as their manager? Are these perks still relevant and important to them? How can you adapt your managerial style and practices to better assist your team?

There is also leverage in the data you can gather from your team. Ask your team what they no longer find beneficial and what they want to see more of, what they need in terms of company culture, and bring that up to the leaders of your organization.

Get closer to your team

At the end of the day, to reduce employee turnover on your team, most of it comes down to making time and space for them. People tend to leave people, not organizations. Managers hold strong power and influence in the overall employee experience.

Your day-to-day can get very busy very quickly. But if you stay proactive at making space for your team to speak up and be heard, you can reduce your employees' turnover rate while improving retention rates. The secret is to work smarter, not harder. Find ways to incorporate tools and mechanisms to stay close to your team, and focus on what matters most.