10+ Employee Engagement Activities For Indian Companies

Just earning a monthly paycheck does not cut it for employees anymore. They need a reason to be enthusiastic about their work and the organization they work at.

If you want to create a positive work environment and incentivize your best talents to stay, organize employee engagement activities.

Read on to see how you can implement them in your organization!

What is employee engagement activity?

Employee engagement activities are the measures an organization takes to make its employees feel passionate and committed to their job. It creates the perfect balance for everyone to give their best in the workplace every day and contribute to its success.

Why do we need employee engagement activities in an organization?

The level of employee engagement determines the success of an organization. While generating profit is an important factor, employee engagement activities are what pave the way to profitability.

The idea behind leveraging employee engagement strategies is to keep employees satisfied by creating an atmosphere of positivity. Such activities motivate employees to work better, and if they are happy, companies are well on their road to success.

Employee engagement activities increase productivity which directly impacts the revenue flow of the organization. Happy employees are more likely to go out of their way to achieve their company’s targets.

What’s more, employees who contribute their best every single day significantly impact the organization’s growth.

As per research, engaged employees are 38% more productive than disgruntled employees who only perform the bare minimum. Organizations that invest in employee engagement retain their best employees and improve overall work quality as well.

Hence, employee engagement is now a priority for organizations that seek to keep their employees satisfied.

In fact, keeping employees engaged and satisfied is crucial for employee retention. There’s no reason for someone to stay in a job where their efforts aren’t recognized, and the work culture doesn’t facilitate growth.

Is there?

Top 10 employee engagement activities that work well

Engaged employees are valuable assets to an organization compared to disengaged employees who severely affect productivity and reduce morale. So, while it is good to have engaged workers, it is also necessary to convert disengaged employees into satisfied employees.

Here are 10 employee engagement activities that help make them feel valued and accounted for.

Relevant Read: Top Factors affecting employee retention in your organization

1. Crafts and arts competitions

Craft and art competitions are a fun way to awaken your employees’ creativity. An eco-friendly way to do this is by giving employees waste materials to create delightful art. The winning employees can be rewarded in the form of corporate gifts. Examples of corporate gifts could include backpacks, apparel, or flasks.

Corporate gifts boost employee engagement as they are always something useful for them to use. It boosts productivity and employee satisfaction.

2. Outdoor tournaments

Organizations can host inter-team outdoor tournaments in the form of paintball, football, or cricket championships. Not only is it a mental refreshment, but it is also a good form of physical exercise. It results in positive thinking and enhances team coordination.

Winners will be delighted to receive corporate gifts with their names and the company logo printed on them. This may serve as a reminder that they are valued for their role in the company.

3. Awards night

Giving out corporate presents during award nights is a wonderful way to give the organization as well as the employees the boost they require. A good way to go about this is by asking the employees what good award categories would be. This way, they will feel that the special evening is all about them.

Recognizing the employees for their accomplishments with tangible apparel can be very beneficial to the success and growth of the organization. Making them feel valued enhances the experience of working in the organization. Disengaged employees will also want to be rewarded, and thus, they might make more efforts to succeed in achieving their targets.

Relevant Read: Find 20+ employee engagement statistics

4. Yearly festivals

Everyone loves celebrating festivals such as Holi and Diwali together. This is a great way to boost employee engagement and get them to be more involved in their organization’s affairs. It allows them to refresh and unwind from their daily tasks and enjoy the moment. They will feel more productive and be more enthusiastic about their jobs.

5. Board games

Board games invoke a sense of nostalgia among players. People remember the fun times when they played board games for hours on end. Hence, bringing board games to the workplace is a perfect team-building activity that employers can look into. There are a lot of benefits to board games in the office.

Not only do the employees get a break, but it is also a stressbuster. Board games are a good exercise for the mind, and it improves their thinking capabilities, apart from boosting their morale.

6. Meditation + Yoga retreats

Yoga and meditation are positive employee engagement activities during work from home. Employees who cannot make it to the office feel more disconnected than their office-going peers.

Yoga and meditation improve the mind’s fitness levels and also bring a sense of peace and clarity. Hence, organizing these sessions can be refreshing for employees and help them begin or end their day positively.

7. Volunteering activities

Organizing volunteering activities for the employees is a great way to engage them. For example, employees could volunteer to clean their community or spend a day with animals at a shelter. Volunteering brings joy and will assist them in rejuvenating themselves.

What’s more, it is beneficial for the organization, as it earns them some goodwill.

8. Potluck lunches

While employees would usually prefer to drift away from the workspace during lunch, potluck lunches can be fun. It can be organized at least once a month. It allows all the employees to showcase their best cooking skills and bring something new to the table.

This increases employee engagement as it increases team bonding and helps them display their creative side.

9. Karaoke

Setting up Karaoke events in the office is among the top employee engagement fun activities in the office. This gets employees (especially the introverted ones) to come out of their shells and sing their favourite songs.

Apart from creating pleasant memories, employees learn to become extroverted, improving their efficiency at their job and work better.

Relevant Read: Corporate gifting for new employees

10. Employee Celebrations

Lastly, HR activities for employees also include employee celebrations such as work anniversaries, birthdays, etc. It helps in uplifting their mood and makes them feel that their organization cares about them. It is very easy for small occasions like these to get overlooked, but it can affect the employee negatively.

Celebrating special occasions together makes the work environment happier and results in positive employee engagement.

Employee engagement activities in TCS and other Indian companies

TCS is recognized for having the best employee engagement strategy in India. They ensure that their employees have a perfect work-life balance at all times. They also believe in healthy competition and productive relationships with colleagues.

Hence, TCS routinely organized sports events to keep their employees motivated.

You can do the same with your employees – It could be fun runs or marathons, the goal is to bring together employees, so they participate in fun activities collectively.

When employees work together as a family, they are determined to give back to the organization in a meaningful manner.

TCS understands that employees can get overwhelmed and has launched ‘TCS Cares’ to reinforce engagement in the workplace. With timely interventions in the form of professional counseling sessions, employees are taken good care of.

The hallmark of a good organization is to keep its employees engaged at every step, even if it is by soliciting feedback and valuable input to projects. This makes employees feel worthy and take more initiatives to get involved in the organization’s end goals.

Relevant Read: Employee onboarding process to follow

A great example of employee engagement activity by Capgemini

Capgemini has a rewards and recognition program through which it nurtures employees to pursue challenging tasks and attain leadership roles.

Capgemini’s employee engagement strategy allows employees to ditch the formal wear for casual dressing on… wait for it… Mondays!

The idea is to beat the ‘Monday Blues.’ As Capgemini itself puts it, “This programme further resonates with our philosophy and culture of minimum governance. Formal dressing makes the staff feel uptight and imperious. Since fun is our core value, we decided to take it forward by initiating casual dressing on Monday.”

Plenty of top companies gift their employees expensive gadgets on holidays or work anniversaries. The same applies to new joiners and farewell gifts.

Given the recent change in the workplace due to the pandemic, companies have gone above and beyond to make their employees’ work-from-home ventures comfortable and satisfactory.

You may also consider buying corporate gift cards such as Amazon, Myntra, and more.

How do you engage employees working from home?

Communication takes priority. Communication with employees working from home is important, especially during the pandemic, as they may feel disconnected and lose focus pretty often.

So, the good idea is to stay connected with them through meetings, be it virtual morning “huddles” or follow-up meetings to keep track of progress. In fact, it is recommended that HR representatives schedule one-on-one sessions with employees to learn about challenges they might be facing.

Other employee engagement activities during work from home include sending employees relaxation or care packages. Give them a chance to wind up with some gourmet healthy snacks and shop from their favorite brands using the gift cards you send them.

Your gifts can also include apparel and other equipment with their name and company logo. This will lead to a sense of belonging.

Creating and scheduling memorable online Zoom events where they could talk about anything not work-related can boost their morale and make them cared for. Managers should check in with their remote employees proactively and routinely.

Organizations can also have team group chats where they can all share jokes or interesting content. Interesting conversations lead to greater team bonding. This way, employees working from home can also be very productive and diligent with their tasks.

Relevant Read: Build a custom company store for your organization

Keep your employees engaged to retain them

Engaged employees are ideal for all organizations. An organization’s success greatly depends on how motivated and satisfied its employees are.

Hence, managers should set aside time, a budget as well as resources for employee engagement activities.

This way, organizations can retain their best employees and improve productivity too.

Srikanth Acharya

I am Srikanth Acharya, CEO at TheHomeOffice.in & OffiNeeds.com. TheHomeOffice helps professionals work more efficiently from their homes and at Offineeds, we help companies create #BrandAmbassadors through #CorporateGifts.