Everything You Need to Know About Employee Engagement

Engaged employees are more likely to show up to work, are more likely to be productive, and are more likely to stay in the business. It goes without saying that employee engagement is an essential part of staff retention and job enjoyment. In fact, high employee engagement has even been shown to achieve an 18% difference in staff turnover.[i]

What sort of work culture do you want to build in your company? It’s pretty clear that a happy workforce is more likely to feel motivated to help the business grow, but how can you achieve this?

One effective way is through reward and recognition events. Before creating Saving Grace Events, our Founder Rebecca previously delivered effective employee engagement strategies for corporates including Virgin Media. This gave her firsthand insight and a deep understanding of employee engagement.

Five Guys are an excellent example of a company who are doing employee engagement right. In May 2022, Five Guys wanted to celebrate their team’s huge effort during the pandemic, with a three-day team reward and recognition event in Dubrovnik. We were tasked with making this happen for the company’s 450 general managers, from five different countries. The event objectives were also to reinforce what a fun, family-like brand Five Guys are to work for and to communicate their brand values.

Still not convinced about the importance of employee engagement? Here are our top five ways to engage your team:

1. Create a shared vision

A team with shared values, working together towards a goal, is a winning team. Creating a collective vision is a good way to make everyone feel invested in the business. Conferences, in particular, can be a fantastic way to motivate and involve your employees. This is a great opportunity to get everybody together, make connections, share achievements, and look at the future of the business.

 

2. Create a space for team bonding

What better way to build a sense of teamwork than with some teambuilding outside the office? Not only does getting people into a new space create a sense of fun, but it is also a way to open up and bring out the team’s personality. Being part of a strong team can bring a lot of joy and productivity to a business.

 

3. Reward and recognise

Rewarding and recognising your employee’s hard work is important for making staff feel appreciated. Employees who feel valued are more likely to want the company to succeed, and there are many ways you can achieve this, from incentives and one to ones to a fun day out. Five Guys, for instance, went all out when they took their managers to Croatia. Reward and recognition events don’t necessarily have to be as big as that to have an impact, but it does set you apart from other employers in a competitive job market.

 

4. Encourage individuality

When people feel comfortable being their authentic selves, they’re more likely to feel happy and appreciated within a business. Just showing an interest in your employee’s interests can make a big difference. One way of doing this could be encouraging new staff members to share their hobbies and interests with the team.

 

5. Let the people speak

Getting feedback from your team and adapting to it is a huge part of getting employee engagement right. There are plenty of ways you can measure this. For Five Guys, event success lies very much with overall metrics, such as job satisfaction, performance, turnover, employer surveys, and retention of staff. Even a simple feedback survey can be used!

 

Hopefully this gives you some inspiration for increasing your employee engagement. If you’d like help organising your next in-person or virtual team reward and recognition event, get in touch with us. 

Would you like to find out more about our team? Read our latest blog, A Day in the Life of Saving Grace Events Founder Rebecca Hartley.

 

 

 

 

[i] https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236366/right-culture-not-employee-satisfaction.aspx