In recent years, there has been an increased focus on employee engagement and satisfaction. Nowadays, top talent not only requires decent salaries and job stability, but they also desire a sense of belonging to the company they work for. This comes from positive work experiences and an overall culture that keeps people at the heart of processes.
To achieve this environment, there are several steps that organizations can take, one of which is to prioritize employee engagement. By focusing on the wellbeing of their employees and bringing an element of fun to work, organizations can increase productivity levels and retention rates.
If you are an organization with a hybrid working model or have remote teams, you need to put extra effort into keeping them all connected and engaged to maintain team synergy. Here is a list of fun virtual activities that you can plan with your remote teams.
Introduce Virtual Knowledge Sharing Sessions
When planning engagement activities, you should strike the right balance between fun and educational experiences. One of the best ways to bring your people together is by arranging virtual knowledge-sharing opportunities such as a virtual lunch and learn session. These should be led by peers and team members and is an excellent way for them to showcase their skills and add value to their colleagues.
You can arrange weekly, or bi-monthly team connects where employees sign up to teach a group about a new skill. For example, a data analyst could host a session to teach the fundamentals of building dashboards and reports. This way, employees can walk away with a new skill and can also understand and appreciate the work being done by the data analytics team. Such activities increase a sense of connection and productivity.
Host Virtual Celebrations
Gathering together to celebrate an occasion or a big win is an excellent way for employees to bond and rejoice over each milestone achieved. While it may be difficult for everybody to come together in person, you can easily take the party online.
Make a calendar of upcoming events and send out team invites for virtual celebrations. You should include major holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas and even throw in employee birthdays and significant moments. You can plan games and share virtual drinks in celebration of that particular event.
These virtual parties are an excellent way for employees to interact with one another outside of the daily mundane work meetings. They are perfect opportunities for organizations to recognize efforts and make their people feel appreciated.
Run Virtual Wellness Sessions
A big part of employee engagement should be a focus on health and wellbeing. This is particularly important in the current climate, where there is so much uncertainty and stress due to the pandemic that employees may be feeling extremely overwhelmed. Companies recognizing this and taking steps to support their people goes a long way in creating overall satisfaction.
You can run different virtual sessions around health and wellbeing to help employees unwind and destress. Mental health seminars are an excellent way to create awareness of its importance. You can also get trained psychologists on board to run sessions on practicing mindfulness. Such events will equip employees to deal with stress more productively and healthily.
Because staying at home is detrimental to physical health as well, you can run virtual yoga or training sessions three to four times a week along with a company-wide fitness challenge. Incentivizing such a challenge is a great way to give people that extra push towards adopting a healthy lifestyle.
Organize Virtual Talent Shows
Who doesn’t love a good old talent show? Organizing one for your teams is one of the best ways to bring people together for an evening of fun. It’s a perfect ice-breaker where employees get the spotlight to showcase their hidden and unique talents. Even the introverts at the office can come forward and put on a show. Those who don’t participate can still enjoy watching the performances.
You can easily plan this event online by creating a registration link for all employees. Once you have enough sign-ups, you can set up a virtual event where the registered employees can come online and perform their acts. Because this is a competition, an online poll at the end of the event can determine the winner. Be sure to place an attractive prize that will encourage participation.
Parting Thoughts
Employee engagement is a low-hanging fruit that can help organizations make a significant impact on their workforce. Even if your company has a remote team, don’t let that stop the fun and give our recommendations a try. By taking a break from work and bonding over virtual activities, your employees will feel energized and motivated to win big for the company.
