Here are 49 tried and true employee engagement ideas that you can start using immediately. Increase engagement, employee happiness, and grow your business.
Forward-thinking businesses are constantly making strides towards improvement. And bringing a little fun to the office can go a long way. Here are some reasons why we love employee engagement activities ...
Let's take a look at the benefits of having employee profiles on your intranet, the necessary features, and how to get your employees to fill them out.
Representing over one third of the US population, the millennial generation is rapidly changing the way we do business. Learn how to understand and communicate effectively with millennials in your workplace.
Use these employee engagement best practices to improve the levels of engagement for your employees, teams, and staff.
The biggest mistake when managing generation gap in the workplace is not managing it at all. Here are 14 tips to keep you on the right track.
Water cooler talk can help grow your business. Encourage it. When you allow employees to converse about non-work-related topics, everyone benefits.
Employee engagement boils down to relationships and communication between managers and employees. Here are 20 problems linked to employee disengagement.
Particularly viewed from a productivity standpoint, music can be a true asset to anyone who is looking to get things done faster, more efficiently, and with more focus.
How to get a read on engagement levels within your organization. Here's what you need to know about employee engagement survey questions.
If you're really dedicated to improving employee engagement in your company, your social intranet may be the perfect place to start. Here are 10 easy things to get you started.
Putting together an employee engagement strategy is where many organizations struggle. Learn the benefits, get involved, and watch your organization grow.
Learn some practical advice about how to motivate employees, tools you can use, and how the most socially engaged companies keep their employees motivated.
A collection of various employee engagement quotes to provide you with some inspiration when building your employee engagement strategy.
Many managers are finding success with intranet software to host employee contests to increase employee engagement. If you're considering an intranet contest to motivate and engage your employees, the following six considerations will help.
How to improve employee engagement, communicate change, and increase awareness with employee stories. Learn the science of storytelling.
Taking breaks at work is a necessary part of the day. Breaks motivate staff members and bring employees together on a more personal level. Learn more.
There's a common misconception that U.S. employees have become "job jumpers," especially over the last decade. Whether it's a new hire, or a team member with 15 years on the job, cultivating engagement is a vital business activity. Here are 6 employee engagement tips to help you retain your best team members.
Why gamification may be the key to increasing employee engagement. Learn the Gamification Definition, Meaning, & Examples. What is Gamification?
When looking into how to motivate employees, there are many things you can incorporate. One being intranet gamification.
I gave you the bird's-eye view of the reciprocity principle in my recent post. Now I'm going to go deeper on the topic and share with you even more ways you can use reciprocity to positively influence your employees.
Here are four strong cases to take to your executive leadership to justify signing off on an intranet solution.
Social intranet software brings the power of social networking to the business world, empowering employees to contribute more, feel more connected, and be more productive. Here's how it all works.
While increasing employee engagement may be a challenge, social intranet software makes it easier than ever. Here's how.
Does your alarm clock sound like a warning bell because the workday is a scary prospect? Do you feel that you've hit a wall in productivity levels, despite endless to-do lists and multiple cups of coffee? Learn how to attain more by making simple but powerful adjustments. Here are 25 creative ways you can increase productivity at work.
Remote work arrangements can transform your team's engagement and productivity levels. There's a way to provide your team with flexibility while keeping them focused. Here are 12 simple tips for managing remote workers and maximizing their productivity at work.
Breaking the bad news could be a harrowing task, especially if you’ve never done it before. Thankfully, it’s rare that Internal Comms needs to reinvent the wheel. They have a blueprint to follow. It’s called the sh*t sandwich.
All managers have encountered employee engagement issues at least once or twice in their career. Lets take a look at employee empowerment and how this applies to your business.
Building authentic relationships at work is a key aspect of ensuring that employees are satisfied, engaged, and productive. Learn more.
Here are a few easy ways to get your employees committed to beneficial activities and consistently displaying positive behaviors at work.
Before undertaking a months-long planning process or software-deployment project to boost engagement, try these 10 simple ways to boost employee engagement.
Thank God we are still a free country where everyone is entitled to the relentless pursuit of his own pettiness. And if I am not ready to kick mine, how can I demand it of others? So, how do you solve pettiness?
You may have heard the term ‘social knowledge management’ and wondered what it is, why it matters, and how it relates to the work you’re already doing. Or maybe not. Here's a 10,000 foot view ...
Mindfulness is not a magic bullet, but it's an accessible way to approach the world in a way that enables you to live a better work-life. Here are six tips that can help you be more present and mindful at work.
Considering that we spend 40 hours a week with our employees and coworkers, "liking" is vitally important in the workplace. Read on to learn how to use the liking principle of persuasion for positive effect in the workplace.
Today's young professionals are fresh out of school, well-versed in technology, and ready to rock and roll. The problem? They don't stick around too long. Here's how to reduce millennial turnover.
Times have changed, they always change. Because change is the only constant. We’re living in a virtual economy now. Don't get left behind. Learn how.
Recently, we've asked the question: who is the best person in your company to solve the employee engagement problem? And the short answer is—
In relationship economics, there is a cognitive limit to the number of people with whom you can maintain stable relationships. It is called the Dunbar number. Let's take a look at how this plays a role on your intranet.
Something is going on inside HR departments. Is it part of a larger trend to get creative with job titles? Or could it be that HR is looking to reinvent itself to give us a more engaged higher-performing employee?
The hospitality industry—hotels, restaurants, cruise ships, casinos—is one of the toughest places to train a customer-service professional. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. So, how do the best hotel chains train their employees?
As a manager or leader within your organization, you're in a position of authority. Learn how to use the authority principle of persuasion to positively influence people at work.
All of my friends, family, and many others have snubbed their noses at every single piece of advice I am about to give you, and you are welcome to do the same. Just know that it works...
Positive thinking is huge for any individual or company. Not fake positive. Real positive. If you’re not sure you can get to real positive, your first step is to sell yourself on positive thinking. This is how it’s happened for me.
Most of what I write on this blog comes straight from the challenges people share with me. Every post, I share my thoughts on real-life work challenges submitted by readers just like you. Here's why I started this new blog series...
I keep getting the same request over and over again: "Tim, how do we measure employee engagement?" It's an obvious question, especially coming from a manager. How can you manage something if you don't know where it stands and where it's trending? So, here's an obvious answer:
As healthcare gobbles up an ever-increasing portion of our economy, more of us try to solve its many problems. I’ve heard from a number of medical professionals who responded to The Biggest Challenge at Work. I’ve included some of their concerns in the general employee engagement topics. However, healthcare jobs come with a unique set of challenges, and it’s time we looked into them.
Change in the workplace gets a bad rap. There are so many ways employees can thwart the good intentions of their leaders. One, they can misunderstand the change. Two, they can understand it and still resist it. Three, they can understand and give their consent and still get it wrong. What can you do?
If you thought disengagement stats were bad, wait ‘til you hear this. Seventy-five percent of employees have admitted to stealing from their employer at least once. Employee theft is responsible for 33 percent of all business bankruptcies in the US and totals $50 billion annually.
There’s never been a better time for big and bold HR initiatives. And while some companies are plunging in head first, others are waiting on the sidelines. What are they waiting for? Is employee engagement good for the bottom line?
All companies and businesses have a culture, no matter how subtle it seems. How though can being social help you grow and strengthen your belief system?
Engagement highs and lows happen more often than every few years. In fact, you’re likely to hit several in the course of a single assignment. Project fatigue is much more common than hard-core disengagement. It is also harder to spot. Most employee surveys don’t register it—because there’s nothing wrong. You still love your company. You still love your job. You just don’t want to do it.
If my theory is correct, any fail-proof employee engagement strategy must include Blair Warren's five principles. Here's what they are and what each one looks like inside a workplace...
Communifire increases employee engagement. Take a look at the features and how they work together.
Even if your new hire is not sure how the job will turn out, all the happy noises from family and friends—who also have no clue—give him a temporary high. How temporary? It depends on many factors. Most importantly, his new boss and his coworkers.
Nothing kills a project like a lack of sharing and collaborating on standard processes and procedures. And, having spent my whole life in IT, I’ve seen the proof of this firsthand.
Most managers agree that employee engagement is huge. Or do they? Are they willing to walk away from an impressive resume because the passion is not there? Do they put their time into inspiring employees or turn it over to HR? We’re so used to seeing disengagement at work that sometimes we forget what we are leaving on the table.
Where does all the shitwork come from? And why is shitwork always plentiful, no matter how much of it we outsource?
Who doesn’t like to chat? Complain about your problems. Brilliantly solve them for other people. Confirm your superior knowledge. You know there’s a ton of chatting going on in your company right now. You try to channel it into your brand new intranet, and... radio silence.
Today, our Communications Manager is facing two communication challenges: size and spread. First, let’s ask ourselves why these are a problem. Then, let's see if we can come up with a solution...
As a leader, you can use social proof to benefit your team. By understanding how this principle functions within your workplace, you can influence your team and shape how employees influence one another.
People don't respond to what we do as much as to why we do it. They can smell our hidden agendas. So, here's something to consider. What is it that keeps you from showing your feelings at work?
“Yes!” I thought when I found this brave little challenge in the sea of productivity and negativity complaints. Here’s a person, I thought, who is not out to brainwash and slave-drive her coworkers. But to refresh and entertain!
Procrastination is not the enemy we think it is. It's only the messenger. The message is that we've disengaged from the work we need to do. Here's how to get back on track.
When I started writing Who the Hell Wants to Work for You?, I wanted to find out what sets America's favorite employers apart from the rest. I ended up with something wacky in every chapter! Whether it's performance management, employee feedback, or the floor plan, the companies everyone wants to work for do something outrageous in every domain.
Nobody needs to hate their job. Hating your work is a habit. We learn it as children when we choose to do what impresses others rather than what makes us happy. And, like any habit, it can be unlearned with mindfulness and intention...
Communication is often our first line of defense against disengagement. A manager asks: "What can I say to my employees to get them to work better?" When the problem is company-wide, it’s the job of Internal Communications to craft and deliver the message. Can they get it done?
What does quality have to do with engagement? You might say, well, that depends on your definitions of quality and employee engagement. However, if you know the history of the quality movement in America, you understand the deep connection between quality and engagement.
Most sales managers I’ve come across understand the power of employee engagement. Unfortunately, the reverse is also true. Many are feeling the devastating effects of disengagement among their troops. How do you fix disengaged salespeople?
In the office, you can use "scarcity" to motivate your employees. It can reinforce positive behavior, create increased desire to accomplish tasks, and promote a little healthy competition. Read on to learn how to use this powerful principle of persuasion in the workplace.
Are good people quitting your team? Is your workload increasing, despite your best efforts to delegate? Ultimately, keeping and engaging employees is a manager’s first call of duty. If people quit—physically or mentally—you have to do all the work yourself. Here are some thoughts on how to reduce employee attrition…
Our President and Co-founder, Tim Eisenhauer, talks with Christina DesMarais of Inc. Magazine and shares 5 Tips on Motivating Millennials.
The new job “honeymoon” phase can last from a few hours to a couple of years. It is the time when the employee feels successful for having landed the job. He is impressed with his new colleagues and feels like he’s learning a lot. The honeymoon itself isn’t a problem. The problem comes next…
Incompetent employees are every manager’s worst nightmare. Even one such individual can cost you your quarterly bonus. Can you imagine the pain of this being a systematic problem?
So, what can you do about employee engagement? The first thing to do is to realize that they don't owe it to you. Employees get paid for their time. But all the magic that makes their time worthwhile happens on a whole different plane of existence.
As you might suspect, I wrote a book on employee engagement. It’s called Who the Hell Wants to Work for You: Mastering Employee Engagement. Since the book came out, I’ve been talking to journalists who like to interview authors. I get the same questions again and again, so I put together a cheat sheet to cover the main points ...
Google is full of first-world problems. Many former employees are quick to point them out on Quora, Glassdoor, and various tech forums. But for all the sour grapes out there, Google is lucky to have these problems—and can afford to have them—but many smaller or financially weaker companies can’t. If yours can’t either, you may have a leg up on Google. Let’s talk about how you can keep it that way.
If you are a manager, you carry a double responsibility for keeping yourself in high spirits and protecting your employees from unnecessary drudgery and fun-killing pressure. Here's why...
Do performance goals help employees focus and deliver superior results? Or do they just add pressure and subtract motivation? Do they give meaning to our work or take it away?
You can't solve a problem until you frame it in a way that invites a solution. Saying "I don't have time" does little to point you in the right direction. When productivity is a challenge, train yourself to ask a different set of questions.
You’ve done your research. You’ve watched the demos. You’ve negotiated the deal. You’ve plowed through the installation. Now it’s about time management patted you on the back for all the ways a social intranet makes their lives easier and more fun. Wait, what intranet?
Sometimes it takes a Learning and Development Manager to point out that there’s no learning or development. So, what does a Learning and Development Manager do at a company that is stuck in a rut?
Business forums are swimming in advice on how to change corporate culture. It’s easy to get the impression that a winning culture is a matter of top execs getting together with HR and hammering out a few values. Next, they hand off the values to Corporate Comms to be plastered all over the inter- and intranet. And voilà! Work culture transformed!
The human brain is wired to categorize people into groups with shared identities. You can use this wiring to bring together people inside your organization. Read on to learn how to use the persuasion principle of unity at work.
You need your boss’s consent to proceed with your most important work, but he doesn’t need yours. Although logical, this setup can feel very wrong, for example, when you’re a technical expert, but your boss isn’t. Usually, it’s not a problem because bosses are trained professionals who ask for and take competent advice. But what if yours is not one of them?
The perfect manager is a lie. So is the perfect employee. In reality, it’s neither necessary nor sufficient for everyone on the team to be perfect to do good work and enjoy it. What’s needed is—
If anyone knows how to manage diverse personalities, it's the companies that make Fortune's 100 Best Places to Work for in America year after year. See how these companies decide what their employees want, and whether or not to give it to them.
Unfortunately, more and more workplaces look like busy, understaffed kitchens these days. I mean you have to be motivated to work there! So, what’s a manager to do?
What do engaged companies know that others forget? And what do they do that we don’t? In the most general terms, it’s the link between engagement and sales. When engaged in the right way, your company can act as a giant people magnet. Here’s how…
Whether they write code, save lives, or serve beer, managers always want employees to step on the gas. It’s a common problem that invites a common solution: pressure. However, if you over-rely on pressure, you may break things that are hard to fix—like your reputation, or your company's.
Poor leadership is a serious matter. Incompetence at the top can create more problems than Internal Communications is willing or able to solve. That said, it’s always easy to blame the guy not in the room. Today, let’s focus on something Internal Comms can do to improve things up and down the chain. Here’s a simple recipe...
Once upon a time there was a company who decided to do something about employee engagement. Every day they got together and brainstormed ideas. One day they created an Employee Engagement Council. Because of that, each department nominated a representative. Because of that, they started to think a little harder. Until finally, the Council convenes in the big conference room—and this is where it goes off-track...
This guy just couldn't wait to get his hands on 22 Surefire Ways to Boost Employee Engagement. The missing link was possibly right there in front of him. One more keystroke, and he'll know exactly how to get his employees and coworkers to give him the dedication and respect he deserves. He clicks on "Download" and...
As managers, we are taught to look after work results and let people figure out on their own how to rest. And yet the best managers seem to do the opposite. They train their people to take care of themselves and trust them to get their work done.
Does your company's leadership motivate and inspire employees? Do they practice what they preach? If you're struggling to build a positive workplace culture, you're not alone. Here's some help and advice from the front lines.
A stereotype of a disengaged employee is one that doesn’t care. He comes to work late, leaves early, and doesn’t do much in between. That would be plenty of evidence that something’s wrong, but your employees are probably too smart to be that obvious. Here’s a more likely scenario.
Now that everyone who reads my blog can find their files, it’s time to ask the next question. What do you do with those files? And, more importantly, where do you do it?
The HR department should be the resource for your people. Why, then, has it historically been detested by many employees? The biggest problem is their approach. How your HR department addresses issues or questions will determine their relationships with staff and the outcomes of difficult conversations. Let’s take a look at pivotal mistakes to avoid within your business.
Employees concerned about using all of their technical abilities are not the slacker types. They have the potential of being the brightest stars in their field. So, what can you do when they're not feeling they are using their best skills?
In many ways, our virtual office space has become more important than our physical one. It’s true in part because many of us don’t drive to work every day anymore—but also because it’s easier to adapt our virtual space to our needs and wants.
For experiment’s sake, take a task you enjoy and often perform without being reminded—and set a deadline to it. Make it doable, but tight. Great. What happened to your motivation?
A new job comes with a lot of excitement, but also with some awkward moments. Will my coworkers like me? Will I make a good first impression? Will I fit in? Great companies know how to make new hires feel at home and keep the excitement going. For the rest of us, the opposite is often true: the novelty wears off, but the awkwardness lingers and becomes part of the job. Here’s how to shake it off.
Culture has been in the spotlight for years, and many employers think they’ve nailed it. We haul new hires into a room, sit them in front of a screen, and hand them over to a corporate trainer. So far so good, but be mindful of how the training lands with your people. Here are five common culture-training mistakes and what you should do instead.
Do employee engagement surveys work? Can you make them work? In this post, we dive deep into the art of drafting, reading, and responding to employee surveys.
A shared passion could be the most bonding experience of all. That’s why so many engaged companies go out of their way to support employees’ favorite pastimes...
Want to hear a startling statistic? The average worker spends 28% of the workweek managing emails and 20% finding internal information or people. Your document management system will either save your business from this productivity-crushing vortex or push you further in. I compiled the ultimate checklist to determine if your current system is helping or hurting your business… and how you can fix it.
We often make it sound like employee engagement is the end-all of people management. But anyone who’s owned a company knows we need to take it a step further. We need to train people to think like we do.
Attention HR leaders! Are you looking for a cheap perk that means everything to a large portion of your workforce and prospective hires? Here’s an idea: let them bring their pets to work.
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Get an in-depth look at the in's and out's of business and company intranets. You'll learn what they are, different ways to use them, the common features, and the benefits your business can experience from having one.
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Get a high level view of how an intranet will consolidate your company's needs into a single, secure, online hub. You'll witness how a company successfully utilizes an intranet -- and the mishaps of a company that doesn't.
Building an intranet for your company is easier than ever. With a little bit of planning and forward thinking, you can be up and running in a few days. Here's a list of best practices for a smooth implementation.
Below you will find a collection of our most popular articles and employee engagement resources, ranging from information about employee engagement, corporate communications, document management, enterprise social networking, and more. There are many possible challenges you may face when attempting to increase employee engagement. Use these resources to guide you to best results possible.
Employee engagement is particular state of mind held by an organization and it's employees. It's a symbiotic relationship that is realized when employees are enthusiastic about their work, fully absorbed in their workday, and provide a positive outlook toward their employer.
Companies that have learned to sustain, connect, and communicate engagement in their ranks and throughout their company as a whole have created something larger than the sum of its parts - an engaged workplace.
Help departments work beautifully - no matter where they are - with an intranet that does more than just store old HR docs. See what is truly possible with Communifire's modern, flexible intranet solution.
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