Why Employee Engagement is Essential to Your Morale and Culture – and How To Encourage It

Now more than ever, organizations and leaders are looking for ways to attract and retain top performers by increasing employee...

June 22, 2021
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How would you describe your job to a five year old?
What season would you be?
What is a weird food you have tried? Would you eat it again?
What is your favorite holiday tradition?
Would you go in the mother-ship with aliens if they landed on Earth tomorrow?
What is your favorite season?
Do prefer working from home or the office?
What is your earliest memory of this job?
What is the best thing you have bought so far this year?
What is the earliest book you remember?
If you had to move to another country, which one would you choose?
You are the best criminal mastermind in the world. What crime would you commit if you knew you would get away with it?
What is your favorite movie genre to watch?
What was the last thing you ate?
What person from history would you add to Mount Rushmore?
What is a weird fact you know?
What is your favorite part of working from home?
Were the Spice Girls a good team?
Imagine you can instantly learn any language. Which would you choose?
If you could live in any state, which state would you pick?
Which fictional team is the best team of all time?
What did you want to be when you grew up?
What do you usually eat for a quick lunch?
What simple food will you never eat?
Show us the weirdest thing you have in the room with you right now.
Would you rather stay at a hotel or an AirBNB?
What is your favorite movie genre to watch?
Are you more productive in the morning or at night?
Who is someone in your community that makes a difference?
Who was your most unique pet?
Choose one famous person from history you want on your team during a zombie apocalypse.
What is a good way to give back to the community?
Which song could you listen to over and over again?
Is Hugh Grant funny?
What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?
Would you want to have an imaginary friend today? Did you have one as a child?
What actor or actress would you want to play you in the movie about your life?
What is the best super power?
What is your New Years resolution?
You can only eat one food again for the rest of your life. What is it?
What is the best work holiday?
What is the first gift you remember receiving?
Would you rather join Metallica or Backstreet Boys?
What is the best example of a community you have seen?
What is an easy way to do something nice for someone?
Show us your phone background and tell the story behind why you picked this image.
What was your first job?
Pick any band to play at your funeral.
If you could have an unlimited supply of one thing for the rest of your life, what would you pick?
Which superpower would you give to your arch enemy?
What is the most obscure superpower you would want?
What emoji best describes how you are feeling right now?
If you could live in any country, which country would you pick?
Would you rather live in a city or a town?
What is your favorite holiday?
What is something you accomplished as part of a team?
What is your standard office lunch?
What is your most used phone app?
What is your favorite season?
Have you ever won something as a team?
Imagine you are a professional baseball player. What is your introduction song?
Beach holiday or ski trip?
Have you ever been to a funny comedy show?
Would you rather live at the North Pole or the South Pole?
What is your favorite song to sing?
If you could live in any state, which state would you pick?
Imagine you could teleport anywhere. Where would you go right now?
What is the most unusual job you have heard of?
What was the last thing you ate?
You can visit any fictional time or place. Which would you pick?
What do your family and friends think you do all day?
What movie do you wish you could watch again for the first time?
Show us your most-used emoji.
What was the most unique style or fashion trend you ever embraced?
What movie defined your generation?
You are stranded on a remote desert island. Are you alone or with your worst enemy?
What is your favorite knock-knock joke?
Have you ever told someone Santa is not real?
Do you know how to speak more than one language?
On a scale of 1 – 10, how much of a team player are you?
What is your #1 recommendation in this city?
What is your favorite holiday?
What bucket list item do you most want to check off in the next six months?
What is your favorite mythical creature?
What was the first way you made money?
If you could be great at any Olympic sport, which would it be?
Which song could you listen to over and over again?
When did you start liking/hating mushrooms?
Where is your favorite vacation spot?
Do you take your PTO all at one time, or another way?
Which show do you remember most from your childhood?
Which beverage goes best with pizza?
Would you want to have a personal assistant follow you around everywhere and do what you asked of them?
Have you ever met your idol?
What did you want to be when you grew up?
Would you rather live 100 years in the past or 100 years in the future?
What is your hobby?
When you are alone in the car, what volume is the music at?
Imagine you no longer have to work. How would you spend a Tuesday?
What is your favorite type of sandwich?

Now more than ever, organizations and leaders are looking for ways to attract and retain top performers by increasing employee productivity and morale. As a recent Gallup poll has found, employee disengagement levels have never been higher.

Over 50% of workers surveyed indicated they feel unattached to their company and, while they put time into their work, they do so without passion or interest. They're also on the lookout for better opportunities and will leave for a better offer without worry.

Out of those respondents, the majority of them also indicated that employee engagement efforts at their company were not present or not accessible. Given this, how can a company's culture of employee engagement contribute to retention and morale?

The Impacts of High Engagement

According to the Gallup poll, employees define engagement as feeling clear about their roles and having opportunities to do what they feel they excel at. Having access to development opportunities at work and enjoying strong relationships with coworkers and team leaders are also noted factors.

Gallup also reports that organizations that focus on creating high-development cultures are most likely to see increased engagement rates. If employees can see their impact on the organization and its clients through their work, they are more likely to remain engaged with their work and company.

So how can your organization foster a high-engagement culture that encourages employee retention and boosts morale? We've identified three core ways.

Start From the Top

Employees are not going to rally behind an organization whose purpose and brand are not well-defined. Everyone wants to know that they're making a difference – and how they are doing so. The responsibility to convey this falls to company leaders.

Leaders should actively model for lower-level management the expectations that come along with building solid employee engagement strategies. This can take many forms: consistent communication about the company vision or regular check-in meetings where leaders speak to employees one-on-one. The important part is showing that the organization chooses to prioritize employee understanding of their shared mission, which goes a long way in ensuring engaged teams.

Encourage Consistent Management Training

"The way we've always done it" is not a valid reason for continuing to uphold the same standards and methods of management and manager training. By encouraging and empowering managers to train one another in the ways that best suit their individual and team needs, you're enabling and encouraging them to own the trajectory their work will take moving forward. And, by encouraging that ownership, you are also encouraging them to buy into your shared mission rather than blindly following training guidelines.

Organizations should also encourage regular management training that focuses on coaching managers in the various areas they may be deficient or interested in. If a manager struggles to lead a team across the finish line, company leadership may coach that manager accordingly. However, if managers have identified a management style that produces results, their coaching can focus more on professional growth and development. The ultimate goal should be to encourage managers to own their teams and prioritize finding better, more efficient ways to lead and grow.

Maintain a Culture of Accountability

The fastest way to fight passivity is with accountability. If your company's culture is one of holding people accountable for low and high performance, you're already on the right track to solidifying a company culture that encourages high engagement. Because accountability requires that managers and teams be active participants, that culture is counterintuitive to disengagement. After all, how can you work on a team that expects transparency and communication and be checked out? It's impossible!

Gallup reports that companies with the highest engagement levels approach employee engagement and recognition as a way to develop and encourage employees to reach new levels of success. Rather than only requiring accountability for what went wrong, they also prioritize celebrating what went right. Doing this is another way to signal company values.

The percentage of engaged employees nationwide is still far too low, but your organization doesn't have to reflect that. By prioritizing initiatives that encourage engagement and ownership of your mission and goals, you will be able to solidify teams who value the work you do.

Browse our Free Employee Recognition Guide

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Employee recognition guide