5 Winning Employee Engagement Ideas to Improve Your Corporate Culture

Employee engagement is a challenging task to master.

Try too hard, and your efforts may look a bit cheesy. However, if you fail to focus enough on employee engagement, your workplace will lack corporate culture, and the toxic work environment will turn your employees off. 

Employee engagement is detrimental to the health of each company. It's something that executives and HR specialists need to master in order to keep the working environment atmosphere positive and affluent.

By making your employees' individual goals and overall well-being the foundation of your corporate culture, they'll understand that what they do matters, and you'll notice their happiness reflected in the work they conduct. Consequently, your entire company will benefit. 

To help you get started, we've come up with five winning employee engagement ideas to improve your corporate culture and get your team members excited about coming to work each day.

Celebrate Work Anniversaries 

According to a study done by Reward Gateway, more than half of all surveyed employees believe that their bosses could do more to appreciate their hard work. Furthermore, 47% of employees state that they would leave their company if they don’t receive the recognition they feel they deserve.

For that reason, celebrating work anniversaries is a fantastic way to start prioritizing employee appreciation. Besides, keeping track of employees’ anniversary dates is pretty easy and can help motivate others toward longevity in their job position. Other benefits of celebrating work anniversaries include fostering a positive work culture of appreciation, reducing turnover, and improving the employee experience. 

A simple handwritten thank-you note accompanied by a well-put-together wine gift box can go a long way for each employee that celebrates an anniversary in your company and add a personal approach to the celebration. 

In addition, presents like this have the power to highlight that the employee is doing well in the company and why their strengths are valued and appreciated.

Treat Team Members to a Motivational Speaker 

In today’s world, there’s no such thing as too much inspiration. For that reason, you can hire a famous motivational speaker to work their magic on your team members a couple of times a year. Like mentoring and coaching, an excellent motivational speech, team-building activities, and creativity workshops can do wonders for your employees and company. 

When selecting the motivational speaker, take the time to acknowledge what your employees are into and what’s really important to them. Then, tailor the speaker to your employees’ needs and company culture, sit back, and see the results.

Encourage Volunteering and Charity 

You can also improve employee engagement and appeal to the general public by volunteering and doing charity work. Most employees love the idea of working for someone who gives back to the community because it makes them feel good about themselves and their organization. In fact, philanthropic companies tend to have very high levels of employee engagement and superior corporate cultures. 

For example, your company can donate money to a local nonprofit organization of your choice or sponsor a charitable event. Also, give the possibility to your employees to volunteer a few hours each month for causes they support or make volunteering teams to serve local nonprofit organizations.

Employee Awards 

In case you have a team made up of genuinely competitive people, contests and employee awards can be a terrific way to enhance employees’ engagement while recognizing and appreciating the hard work of your team members. To do this, you may consider implementing an employee of the week program or some other type of corporate gamification structure. 

Whatever you opt for, make sure that you’ll set clear rules and conditions for the rewards system because when not done right, employee awards can quickly lose their purpose and meaning. On the other hand, when well thought and continuously awarded, employee awards can help inspire and motivate your employees like no other technique. 

Start a Company Wellness Program 

Last but not least, consider taking a break from the regular working environment and host a wellness day or wellness breaks into your standard schedule. Wellness events are a fantastic way to build a sense of community with your workforce while getting to know them better outside the office at the same time. 

In addition, wellness programs promote a healthier work environment that will enhance employee engagement and improve the overall health of your employees.

Final Thoughts 

We went through our favorite five employee engagement ideas to improve your corporate culture, but there’s so much more you can do. 

Employee engagement is all about experimenting with methods that work best for your employees and your company. Whatever you do, remember to keep it real, natural, and all about your employees.