Looking for fun Employee Engagement ideas?

Let’s focus on staff who can’t work from home during COVID.

 

Let’s look at ideas for Employee Engagement for factories, hospitals, logistic workers…

When it comes to practical ideas for Employee Engagement, we showed corporate philanthropy examples to keep morale high.

We also gave tips from leaders who nailed engaging remote employees during the COVID pandemic.

But what about the workers on-site?

Those blue-collar workers, or essential workers!

They still physically go to work every day.

What can leaders do?

 

It doesn’t matter if you lead a small team, if you’re a Line Manager or leader for the whole manufacturing plant.

People want to see their leaders.

Hey, they need to see visible and accessible leaders.

(And yes, they might be secretly glad that some bosses work from home, but that’s for another article.)

Employees have a much higher desire to be recognized right now.

According to Gartner’s research, this increases by 30% during tough times and challenges.

What’s cooking right now?

How’s the mood this week?

If you measure employee morale continuously, use that insight as a starting point for your informal conversations.

Perhaps the cycles of cleaning annoy your staff, as it interrupts work?

When you talk with your team you might realize that there’s resentment from workers that are physically on-site.

That resentment might be towards the office workers who are STILL ‘safe’ at home.

Or resentment like “I get paid peanuts to come in to work meanwhile the office staff is at home, making a lot more than me“.

Address it carefully.

Perhaps have the employees who work from home send a message to the on-premise workers?

Or give a small part of their salary to the ones on-site?

Or scramble together to get yummy muffins delivered. Actions are louder than words.

Visualize as often as you can.

Take into account informal leaders that you might need to be win over within the company.

Many leaders adapt the way they communicate to make sure they reach each group.

It’s not the same to come to work for someone who is in a risk group.

Or someone who battles with mental wellbeing, or who has recently lost a loved one due to Covid-19.

Let’s stay humble.

OK, let’s look at more practical ideas for employee engagement:

Check-in with your employees. Every day.

If you’re a team leader or line manager, adapt daily shift meetings if you haven’t already.

Take the first couple of minutes to talk about how people are doing.

This is a leadership skills example that Martin Minaric, Production Manager at METZO, uses. It’s a simple way to get his employees to open up:

“We have a daily operational meeting where we discuss yesterday’s mood results. We try to see if we understand the situation. What we learned is that you have to care about, and discuss it daily.”

Face-to-face meetings do wonders when connecting with employees.

Perhaps think of something fun to remind your employees of the recommended distance between them?

I.e. if you’re a supermarket manager, grab sweeping brushes.

Use the size as an example so your team can get a feeling for how big - or small - that distance really is.

Further down you’ll find more practical and fun ideas for employee engagement activities.

Make sure your team members feel comfortable speaking up.

It could be:

• With you

• Their nearest manager

• Someone else they trust at work

• Also, make sure your internal ‘whistleblowing’ systems are operational and effective

 

In conclusion, when you use quick feedback loops you stay close to what is happening.

You can quickly see if one shift is responding differently if you’ve got access to the shift breakdown of your employee engagement data.

 

 

How engaged are your employees during Covid?

You need to communicate more than you think and repeat the messages a lot more in times of crisis and low morale.

When people are part of the solution, they are more likely to feel responsible for the outcome.

And get more engaged during the process!

For instance, one takeaway from BASF was related to the management team’s response time to people’s concerns.

Not giving regular updates made employee engagement go down:

“It helped our management understand that we need to talk more with our employees about the changes we’re implementing“, the site manager said.

Because when managers go silent, employees pick up the slack and invent news instead. That news doesn’t tend to be very positive though…

How are employees finding out about news where you work?

From a posted message? From their nearest manager? Or over a shared cigarette at the loading dock?

Do they feel that you, as a company are doing enough?

And as a manager?

What do YOUR employees need most during this Covid pandemic?

Delta, Omicron… Obviously, your employees are worried.

They’re worried about getting sick, about the safety of their loved ones, bringing COVID back home to their spouses and kids, the vaccine…

What do YOUR employees worry most about during Covid-19?

Older people might have more concerns. Or employees with auto-immune disorders that they may - or may not - have disclosed to HR or their manager.

Perhaps their husband lost their job. And they worry about income.

Many managers reassure their teams.

Safety concerns are obviously a big chunk. We’re not gonna get into that here. Just make sure you follow your region’s health and safety laws and WHO recommendations.

And prepare for post-trauma effects like depression and anxiety (particularly for those who were sick with COVID).

This will most likely affect their job performance and employee engagement levels too.

Which brings us to one of the fears we hear most of:

Do I still have a job here?

Pretty much every industry is hit by a COVID-effect, one way or another.

Depending on your sector and financial health, your employees might have nothing to worry about.

Or the very opposite.

Your employees will judge you by how honest and transparent you are.

Show short-time company goals, try to make people feel proud (see next point on how to do this).

Let your people know that you NEED THEM. Now more than ever.

What do your employees talk about over coffee at work these days?

This is the fear we hear most of: Do I still have a job here?

What are you as a company doing to handle and improve the situation? Are you using credit lines, internal funds, government help, etc?

How about giving high-level numbers for your cash flow situation?

Then best or worse case scenarios to help your team plan? And reassure them?

One company chose to take a pay cut for everyone, instead of firing team members.

 

“We decided to move ahead and furlough everyone in the same way. This way everyone is financially impacted a bit. But no one loses their job.

After the discussion with our employees, we had a very green day. This affirmed us that the approach we took was the correct one from everyone’s perspective.”

 

Their current employee engagement level is 83%.

That is remarkable for a manufacturing site even without a COVID-effect.

Another interesting business recovery aspect is what your coworkers can bring to the table.

Maybe they have some solid ideas?

One of our German users saw a whopping 80% of implemented improvements come from the mouths of their employees. Perhaps there are additional ideas to be considered?

Maybe you can’ get into the nitty-gritty details of your plans, but if you plan to shift production from one facility to another, etc… remember that rumours spread. Fast.

Your employees may have to do other tasks or be asked to do stuff they normally don’t.

Thus, the more you make them feel involved and informed, the higher chance you’ll get them on your side.

Involve the works councils too and get everyone to think about:

• What should we stop, start and continue doing?

• How do they see X happen?

• Or Y improved?

Explain WHY you took certain decisions.

Why were the work schedules changed for the third time this month? The majority will understand the need for flexibility and change.

It’s about how and when you communicate it. Well, and sometimes WHO communicates it.

And if you haven’t made a decision yet, that is news!

I.e. “We are still working on it”.

Good leaders are not afraid to repeat their messages.

When it comes to the people who matter most, make sure you get their feedback and input.

Not just the input from the loudest ones.

Did one of your big customers just go bust?

People will quickly find out, and rumours will spread.

Even if they aren’t closing down, the market is very shaky. This breeds fear.

Again, be as transparent as you can be. Control the message or your employees will just make up their own news and start rumours.

If your sales and customer services teams are in regular contact with your customers, you could have them explain how things are going.

Get your departments to share how they are dealing with supply chain planning. Or market developments. Or how they dealt with the impact of production stops at a provider, etc.

Not everyone will be interested in this but hey… being transparent as possible, you and your company’s got nothing to hide.

Perhaps also avoid coming across as someone who has all the answers.

With COVID, it’s clear the situation still isn’t under control, and we simply don’t know how things will pan out.

But we still make plans though, right? Keep staff in the loop.

If you don’t know an answer, just be honest.

You can always come back with an answer, or a better answer, later.

Let’s look at more ideas for employee engagement:

A lot of managers think they already know what their people need, or want.

Many get a surprise when they actually ask, and find out that they were wrong.

Their employee engagement tip is to be curious! And to be open to listening.

Well, and learn of course.

Open up the conversations.

Ask your team what would help them. Small things matter!

How can we best support each other, as a team? What do you wish I or your team leader was doing right now?

There might be individual needs that are greater.

Perhaps organize a surprise food delivery to Jake’s parents that he hasn’t seen in 2 months?

Or are they asking to keep windows open for better ventilation? Or anti-fog masks? Or N95 masks?

Are the face shields uncomfortable compared to the last model?

Do you need to change or disinfect more often?

Or perhaps they have an idea to do the temperature checks in a different way? Either when they enter or leave your workplace.

Is the feedback based on needs or worries?

Address it either way. This is what people will be talking about when you’re not around.

If it’s an issue for them, it’s an issue for you and your business.

Do employees feel you do ENOUGH in terms of protecting their safety at work? If not, ask them to think of specific occasions when they feel like their safety isn’t a top priority.

Good leaders not only repeat that they care about their staff. They share how they practically show it.

I.e updated safety processes, checking temperatures, furlough conditions, etc.

Another aspect is if your managers lead with compassion. Is there time for the human aspect at work? Do people have a buddy at work to check-in with?

Do they have the autonomy to make reasonable shift changes? Be clear on HOW you make decisions in your company.

Be light on missteps. Sometimes we are quick to judge coworkers.

But remember, we are battling different types of challenges. No one is perfect (no, not even YOU do everything perfect hehe).

Forget what they say, observe what they do.

 

Encourage people to look after their mental wellbeing.

It’s OK not to be OK.

When you strike a conversation with someone who’s struggling, they might not have the answer the first time you ask.

Let it sink in and then ask again a bit later.

Or even the next day.

Encourage them to speak out when they’re ready.

Perhaps they realize that it WOULD be a good idea for them to ask to work a less crowded shift?

Or perhaps they feel more in control if you give them their own products to clean their workspace? (“I don’t trust that sloppy janitor!“)

Or using their own hand sanitizer?

Share stories of how other employees in your company have coped by asking for help.

 

Depending on what type of manager you are, you’re gonna love or hate some of these ideas.

What employee engagement activities fit your leadership style?

Pick those your employees will like!

 

1. Draw a smiley on your face mask.

Quick and fun!

Or write a new word every time you change your mask?

Could be something fun, inspirational, or related to recent events. Or write clues to some new activity you’re planning for your team.

 

2. Buy different masks for each of your line workers.

Who on your team always wanted a beard..?

3. Crazy sock day. What’s not to love about this idea? A great morale booster activity during Covid.

Surprise your team!

 

 

 

4. Leave fun reminders

Hand hygiene is key. Leave fun reminders where the hand sanitizers are to help them remember.

Use tasteful jokes on post-it notes? A health and safety quiz?

Or generate your team’s favorite song online.

5. Post-it days.

Leave post-it notes in fun places. Give clues to a riddle that they only solve if people work together. Make sure it’s something where everybody wins.

Arrange an activity like Hot-dog day when your employees have 40 post-it notes combined?

See point 10 below.

 

 

6. Post-it Note Wall.

Get some inspiration from The Subway Therapy.

This was an initiative to promote stress relief. Their goal was to build community and inclusion, using peaceful expressions.

Get employees to contribute with their own thoughts, ideas, or messages.

Give company feedback when appropriate.

7. Offer meditation or yoga sessions.

Either a coworker with enough experience can lead the session, or use a big screen.

 

8. Get lunch boxes delivered.

In line with workplace health, safety, etc. of course. If your team is small, ask discreet questions and surprise them with their favourite food. Or vote on which restaurant the food should come from.

 

9. Do something for your local community.

Dedicate work time to a new charity? Get involved with a food bank? Something related to the pandemic?

Get your team to suggest ideas, vote, and decide. A great way to motivate during difficult times.

 

10. Organize a Hot-Dog Day.

A great idea to boost employee engagement.

And hey, pretty low-cost too if you’re short on cash.

11. Change your Covid face masks regularly.

Here’s the one to wear for HotDog Day:

12. Music to engage people?

Let the team put together a Spotify list.

Put up a fun note at the entrance to let your supermarket customers know who picked it!

Aka who is to blame for the terrible taste in music hehe.

 

13. Breakfast with the CEO.

With social distancing!

Build bridges at your workplace, during an informal meal.

Ask for general feedback to see how your employees are doing lately at work. What do they need help with?

How are new employees doing?

 

14. Training or learning session.

Pick something unrelated to pure work tasks. Anything that your team would like, that isn’t COVID-19 related.

It’s on everyone’s mind either way Ask 2-3 people what type of online training they think others would appreciate.

Suggest 3, let your team vote, and then organize the winning one.

 

15. When you just CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE

My fav idea!

Tired of leading and being a good manager?

Upload a photo of your face and print a mask.

Send your neighbour, dog, or kid to take your place at work.

“The masks are uncanny and awkward. Especially if people mix and match faces,” says Danielle Baskin, the creator of the Covid masks.

“N95s are kind of boring and dehumanizing.”

 

So those were our ideas for employee engagement!

Small actions can have a great impact at work.

Employee engagement has always been a marathon, not a sprint.

Looks like the same is the case for COVID.

Hang in there

 

A shorter version of this article was published on Thomasnet.com.

 

Hej! I’m Rebecca, cofounder at Celpax. We manufacture simple tech tools to improve workplaces. And build a better society while at it. Let’s talk more ideas for employee engagement feedback on Linkedin? Header photo by freepik.com