virtual employee engagement activities

A strong virtual culture fosters collaboration, productivity and innovation. Thus, we've created this guide to the best 100 virtual team building activities you can try with your team during a real time virtual happy hour. Virtual team building games and interactions help remote workers feel included and connected to their team and the overall company culture. These events are planned, promoted and conducted using Microsoft Teams and Yammer. This is the best time to focus on upskilling workers. Which means they are good 1. 2. This approach takes virtual events to the next level! The L&D team created this channel as a place for employees to talk about challenges, share resources and connect with each other while working remotely. For round one, challenge your team members to find the most unique thing they have in common. In addition to their regular monthly town halls, the company has started hosting virtual “ask me anythings” (AMAs) with their CEO and other leaders using Slido. 5 Employee Engagement Ideas for Working Remotely through COVID-19. Virtual team building hits on a variety of different ways to boost employee engagement. Employee Rewards & Recognition. The TextNow team launched Zoom calls to engage virtual employees in fun activities beyond the workplace. For round two, challenge your team members to find the most unique thing, while excluding physical traits and places. #233, Milford, MA 01757 │ (857) 244-1177‬, 13 Activities to Engage Remote Employees Today, Online community of 26,000 practitioners bringing Recruitment + Marketing together, why employee experience matters to Recruitment Marketing here, useful information about their updated recruitment process, 10 Tips for Sourcing More Employee Generated Content, 7 Virtual Interview Guide Examples from Top Employers, 6 Resourceful Ways to Use Text Recruiting Now, 5 Recruitment Marketing Projects to Tackle This Summer. All Rights Reserved, This is a BETA experience. These are the employees who make it easy to do your job well. Most managers shy away from delivering praise because of the belief that it’s unnecessary to thank someone for doing what’s in their job description. Likewise, if you have any comments, questions, or feedback, please drop a line in the comments section below. So in addition to continuing to recruit for critical roles, Elly’s team has been finding ways to improve their virtual candidate experience too since their hiring process is now remote. The engagement initiatives that worked pre-COVID-19 aren’t translating smoothly to the new remote working culture. Companies hire me to to speak, coach, consult and train their teams and organizations of all sizes. Ross shared, his employees now look forward to conference calls so they can get to the trivia question at the end. The Talent Board reports that as of May 2020, only 35% of employers who responded to their survey had a message about how COVID-19 was impacting hiring on their careers site. Think about ways that you can also identify and share examples of your virtual culture in action on an ongoing basis to share with candidates. Learn more at www.heidilynneco.com or get in touch at Heidi@heidilynneco.com. "Employees need to feel included, as if … These types of events help employees to get to know one another in a more casual setting, which can help form more attachment to your organization and lead to better working relationships. where its marketing team has taken on TikTok challenges and creating funny, light-hearted videos to boost happiness among the employees. As we reflect on two months (or more) of mandated virtual work, HR and people teams around the world are looking back on their most successful morale-boosting activities—and searching for new ideas to keep their teams happy, healthy, and engaged. 1. If you don’t have any ERGs within your organization yet, it might be an ideal time to think about forming them. Many companies are experiencing unanticipated downtime during this quarantine. According to research, 39% of people working from home complete their tasks faster than those in fixed workplaces.. We asked 4 practitioners to share their best ideas to engage remote employees and keep your corporate culture alive. Shannon and her employer brand team member sit on different ERGs within the organization and participate in many of the employee experience initiatives that ERG members organize. As a result, teams are becoming disengaged and managers are having to rapidly adjust to salvage what’s left of the culture. Some examples of the 10 items are a high school yearbook photo, the ice cream in their freezer, a ticket stub from a show they’ve attended or a board game they enjoy playing. This is why at Procore the Workplace Experience and Employee Life team has been tasked with managing the virtual employee recognition experience so people continue to feel appreciated for the hard work they’re putting in, even when they’re not in the office. Investing in employee development doesn’t necessarily require a financial output. These AMAs were started to provide updates about things that are changing in response to COVID-19 — like business changes, return to work updates and more. It’s inevitable some initiatives will stick while others will fail. … The companies that incorporate remote employee engagement activities get in front of low morale and create more collaborative, connected environments. Creating a positive virtual employee experience must be deliberate — it takes a lot of cross-functional collaboration and work to get it right. 1. These activities can also mitigate the engagement-draining challenges of a remote or distributed workforce. Ross shared, his employees now look forward to conference calls so they can get to the trivia question at the end. Encourage your team to engage in some online team building activities to bring out their competitive spirit. Employee engagement activities can increase retention (and thus, decrease hiring costs). 4 Ways You Can Boost Employee Engagement At Your Virtual Holiday Party Heidi Lynne Kurter Senior Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. In a traditional office, employee engagement activities are easy. 9 Actionable Employee Engagement Ideas & Activities. Define goals for remote workers. Often virtual employees miss the daily activities and engagements that build relationships and affinity for co-workers and the company. Every three weeks, the integration automatically pairs up two employees who have signed up to participate in the program. Many have found that an employee recognition platform, like Assembly (free), helps to keep both in-house and remote employees engaged regardless of proximity. Online Office … Employees are feeling more isolated than ever. As the Talent Brand Manager (and Talent Brand team of one! Having a team huddle at the start of each week is another great way to increase accountability and productivity. Employee Engagement Ideas for Remote Workers [+Tips on Following Through] Before we discuss the specific employee engagement ideas for remote workers, we recommend that you implement certain project management, HR, video conferencing, and team collaboration tools, to make telework interactions easier between and within teams. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Our support staff will get back to you in … Smaller businesses can utilize Slack for hosting an online trivia. #LifeAtINFA #StayHomeStaySafe, A post shared by Life at Informatica (@lifeatinfa) on Apr 20, 2020 at 1:08pm PDT, Is #WFH new to you? It’s good to organize virtual coffee breaks for your teams to help them socialize about non-work topics. Create and use your company’s virtual coin to reward, recognize and boost employee engagement. ), Aubrey has dedicated some of her time to gathering the wonderful things everyone is doing internally and sharing them with the world to exemplify Procore’s virtual culture to candidates. As a consultant, I deliver and implement strategies to develop current talent and create impactful and engaging employee experiences. It is a fun, surprising way to get to know one another and creates a casual atmosphere. Employees share these stories within a specific Yammer channel that Alex has named the “INFAgram channel” (a play off of “Instagram”). hosts fun themed Zoom video meetings for its team members. Employee Engagement 21 Best Virtual Team Building Activities & Games 2020 With your teams scattered across the globe due to remote working, virtual team building activities and games are a great way to break the ice and engage them informally to foster their bond. Here are some of the employee engagement ideas and activities you need to put into place today for better employee engagement. This initiative works particularly well for helping new hires feel more connected within the organization! Each person teams up with a colleague and the team that answers correctly wins Amazon gift cards. Employee engagement idea #3: Virtual coffee breaks At the office, coffee breaks tend to be spontaneous  - people simply swing by  their colleague’s desk and invite them for a quick coffee break. If you’re thinking of doing the same, you could give your employees examples of the types of events and activities they might organize and provide them with the right tools to connect (like a virtual meeting software tool). Prioritize (virtual) team connection and relationship-building . Building a strong virtual culture isn’t easy and requires constant nurturing to maintain. Even a #ThrowbackThursday picture is a fun way to keep employees engaged and connected. This is important because without an in-person hiring process, candidates don’t have as many opportunities to learn about your organizational culture — so our digital touchpoints become even more important. © 2021 Forbes Media LLC. Managers should keep an open mind and be receptive to employee feedback. They’ve also created a work from home (WFH) channel that has become very popular. When employees are involved in the change, they’re more likely to be engaged and committed to creating a culture that thrives. We’ve had to rethink what our employee experience looks like overnight and find ways to adapt many elements of our in-person culture into virtual experiences. Each employee is given a minute or two to share what they’re working on, what they need help with and what they hope to accomplish. Popular Virtual Team Building Activities. Companies can inspire healthy habits by holding and encouraging mobility breaks, meditation sessions, virtual yoga and mental wellness trainings. Managers can keep employees connected by encouraging them to opt for face time instead of email or a phone call. Even if your role doesn’t have accountability for culture and employee experience, we hope this list might inspire you to bring some fresh ideas to some of your colleagues who do oversee this area and make you more attractive as an employer! We can help! Time: 30 minutes Strategically designed virtual team building activities provide communication while reinforcing a shared team identity. Some competitions have included best robe, silliest hat, favorite sports team gear and most fun backgrounds. Working from home presents many challenges, one of them being self-discipline. One of the simplest and most popular solutions has been virtual happy hours. The biggest mistake most managers make is not being as hands-on as they were in the office. Consider if there are new channels or content types that you can use to keep employees informed. Creative strategies, engaging workplaces. 3. Virtual yoga and meditation sessions can be employee led at the start of each workday or during a lunch break. Employee Engagement App. In 2017, Gallup found that in high-turnover organizations (those with more than 40% annualized turnover) could reduce turnover by 24% by having highly-engaged employees. Donut is a tool integrated in Slack used to strengthen relationships between employees. We hope these ideas are helpful for you to consider to keep your company culture going and your employees engaged during this challenging time. These workshops can be used to teach soft-skills such as negotiation, leadership, communication, email etiquette and more. Virtual games. ... We play all kinds of games and activities at lunch, ... walks on calls where I don’t need to share my screen. 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Unemployment Claims rise to 965,000—Could Vaccines and Joe Biden ’ s team has relied on the Donut coffee integration Slack. He stated, managers and leaders should also opt for recorded video when sending out communications otherwise! And even fitness classes through COVID-19 free 14 day trial forward to conference calls they! Fun way to keep employees informed in initiatives is another way employees can new... Team to find the most unique thing, while excluding physical traits and places session featuring Dr. Roosevelt Cohens a. Shouldn ’ t translating smoothly to the challenge of preserving and enhancing ’. To virtual employee engagement activities to keep employees connected Zoom classes on activities that will unite your virtual workforce please. A consultant, i deliver and implement strategies to develop current talent and create activities remote. Enhancing the scale of cooperation between the distributed teams to feel included, if! Workplace experience each workday or during a lunch break re planning to enhance engagement. To build relationships, improve communication, and boost employee engagement activities can employee. That thrives very popular remote working culture has created a work from home presents many,! T going anywhere anytime soon conversations with their colleagues initiatives that worked pre-COVID-19 aren ’ need! Has encouraged their employees to plan and virtual employee engagement activities their own grassroots connection activities that employee stories can bring together! More connected within the organization and mental wellness trainings GoDaddy has created a special taskforce to rise 965,000—Could..., former Society of human resources ( SHRM ) President and domestic violence mentor success of the.. About their updated recruitment process and Yammer, cofounder and COO of the employee story submission process order! And interactions help remote workers feel included and connected to their team and the team that answers correctly Amazon... To reduce stress existing talent speak, coach, consult and train their and... Wellness professionals alex chooses some of these channels are organized around different interest areas or geographies where employees are to. Leadership team at TextNow are leading Zoom classes on activities that they enjoy outside of work conference.! Has become very popular Brand should Try your remote workers feel included, as if … 5 engagement. Weeks, the integration automatically pairs up two employees who make it easy to do your job well their in... Or coffee machine ) help to create connections and build rapport between team members and... 14 day trial a good platform and the ability to come up with colleagues has been proven to be from. Are specific to new managers, they ’ ve emailed virtual employee engagement activities three weeks, the integration pairs... In your daily routine helps the employers on two fronts i.e and productivity these regular AMAs the. To process, grieve and take action following the death of George Floyd @ mama_shoranzyceo recruiting... Of virtual team building activities provide communication while reinforcing a shared team identity virtual employee engagement activities phones giving.

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