Author: Kristina Proffitt

By 2028, there could be as many as 2.4 million unfilled manufacturing roles in the U.S. This shortage of blue collar workers could lead to a negative economic impact totaling $2.5 trillion.

Organizations need to find ways to attract and retain blue collar workers so that their businesses, and the economy, don’t suffer such a huge loss.

So what can you do to boost engagement among blue collar workers? Here are some tips:

Prioritize safety

Some roles can be dangerous. Employees need to know you support them to do their jobs in a safe way. If they think you’re putting them at risk, they’re not going to put as much effort in. They’re not going to want to put themselves in harm’s way just so that they can pay the bills.

Employees have much more to lose than managers and C-Suite executives if something goes wrong. This is particularly true for blue collar workers who work at height, with heavy or dangerous materials, etc.

Provide adequate training

83% of workers have cited inexperienced coworkers as a major safety concern due to the hiring surge.

If you want to save money and reduce incidents among blue collar workers, you need to ensure everyone has the right training for the job. Otherwise, you risk accidents, fines, and lawsuits. It’s not worth it for you or your employees.

What looks like an upfront savings could wind up being a huge long-term cost.

Offer skill-building opportunities

The huge skills gap, combined with safety concerns among blue collar workers, shows that more skills training is needed.

This can help employees to future proof their careers as AI becomes more prevalent in every aspect of our lives.

Give them flexible schedules

Flexible working schedules offer benefits for blue collar workers and employers. It can mean that you have people working a wider range of hours, so you can get things done faster.

They also help to accommodate working parents, for example, who may not be able to work strict 9-5 hours but are still perfectly capable of doing the job.

Provide chances to volunteer

Volunteering is a powerful way to give back to your local community and show your blue collar workers that you care about more than just profits.

You could organize a day where everyone volunteers, contribute towards a particular cause collectively, or offer employees time to choose their own volunteering opportunities.

Offer tangible rewards

62% of employees prefer tangible rewards to recognition, praise, or growth. This could include health insurance, retirement plans, or job security.

How good is your benefits package? It may be worth examining it and asking your blue collar workers what they think to ensure it aligns with what they want and need.

Prioritize health

We live in a highly stressful world and we never know how that’s going to impact us or the people around us.

Simple things, like offering therapy or a healthy eating workshop, show you see your blue collar workers as more than automatons. You want them to be at their best all the time, so that they can be their best at work.

Make communication a two-way street

Some blue collar work can be dangerous. Being transparent and honest with your blue collar workers about what’s happening with your organization offers them some protection. It shows them you respect them, and it means they’re not worrying about their jobs while they need to concentrate to be safe.

Send a survey

Employee feedback surveys are powerful tools that enable you to find out how your workers really feel.

You’ll get far better data if you send them anonymously, as employees will feel able to give honest feedback without consequences. And, regardless of how perfect you think things are, there will always be someone who’s either struggling or unhappy. They should be able to air their grievances in a productive manner. 

Rates of loneliness, boredom, life dissatisfaction, depression, and work unhappiness are high among blue collar workers. So are rates of cigarette usage and obesity. As both smoking and overeating can be coping mechanisms for stress, this isn’t surprising.

If you really want to help your employees, you need to find out what they want.

If you’re ready to learn what your employees really think, Workrowd can help. With our all-in-one tool suite, you can send automated surveys at employee milestones so that you can find out what’s really happening within your business. We can even analyze the results for you to be available at your fingertips, giving you more time to act on your findings.

Encourage creativity and innovation

Some jobs can feel monotonous or repetitive, particularly among blue collar workers. 

Encouraging creativity and innovation helps work stay fresh and keeps your employees more engaged.

It also stops them from going into auto-pilot mode, which can lead to accidents if they’re not paying full attention. Compare that to challenging them and helping them reach a state of flow, which can improve their skills and instincts when working on the job.

Allow people to bring their whole selves to work

Too often, companies tell employees to bring their whole selves to work. Then an employee tries it, and the company backtracks, saying “not like that.”

A truly inclusive culture means you’ll get more from employees because they won’t spend energy masking or filtering themselves. This will give them more bandwidth, and mean they’ll work harder, be more loyal, and want to progress their careers with you, not another company.

Hold leadership accountable

Leadership shouldn’t be untouchable in an ivory tower. The only way executives can know what life is really like for employees is by experiencing it. It’s all very well and good sitting in on sales calls, but are you spending time with blue collar workers doing the manual work, too? Are you looking for ways to make their lives easier? And are they holding you accountable to improve those things?

Leadership can be held accountable through techniques such as:

• Employee surveys
• Reverse mentoring
• Internal social media
• External social media
• Internal emails

Initiatives like these show that you’re serious about holding leaders accountable and want to make your employees’ working lives as positive as possible.

Conclusion 

A key part of keeping your blue collar workers engaged is supporting them to perform at their best. Whether that’s through adequate safety training, upskilling, encouraging a healthy lifestyle, volunteering, or something else, the more you can show them that you value their contributions and think of them as people, not robots, the more you’ll get from them in the short- and long-term.

Want to better support all your employees? Why not try Workrowd? It’s a one-stop shop for all your employee initiatives. Get in touch today to book your free demo and find out more.

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When employees are engaged, they perform at a higher level. They want to be at work, meaning they go above and beyond and build strong team dynamics so your business becomes more profitable more quickly.

It also saves you money on hiring: 54% of employees will stay for longer if they feel a deep connection to their workplace.

Team dynamics is one of the key pillars of employee engagement. If your employees can’t work well together, it creates conflicts, unnecessary stress, and slows down processes.

So, what can you do if you want to improve team dynamics? Here are a few suggestions:

Introduce new team members to everyone

I’m not going to lie, the first time someone did this to me I felt like a dog at a show. I had meeting after meeting after meeting with people outside of my team.

But it actually worked out really well.

You see, those meetings broke the ice. We got to know each other.

And so, when I needed something from them, or them from me, a rapport was already established, and we were more likely to want to help the other person because we knew and liked them.

Starting a new job can feel intimidating, but introducing a new team member to people they’re likely to need to work with can help them settle in and feel more like a valued part of not just the team, but the company.

As a result, they’ll get more done faster and be more engaged in their roles. And you’ll see a marked improvement in team dynamics.

Train your managers

While this isn’t a direct employee engagement activity, it will make a huge difference to your team dynamics.

Fewer than half of managers receive any training before they get promoted. 30% of employees feel their managers don’t have any team-building skills. Clearly showing that employees can tell when managers don’t receive any training.

Your managers set your team culture. Without them driving it in an effective way, the whole castle crumbles.

A few hours of basic management training can go a long way toward building a more engaged, efficient, effective team.

And, while it’s an upfront investment, it will save you money in the long run. By investing in training you won’t lose as much to miscommunications and mismanagement.

Start meetings with a human conversation

Meetings can often feel boring, stuffy, and unnecessary. One way you can avoid this is to start them by treating attendees like humans first, instead of workers first.

Ask people how they are, how their weekends were, etc. This humanizes everyone in the meeting to the other attendees. It also helps you establish a rapport and find common ground, both of which are key to team dynamics.

If it’s a larger meeting and this isn’t possible, consider asking a simple question that requires a shorter answer, such as their favorite animal or movie. They can then expand on these answers in private conversations or larger ones in their employee interest groups.

Only have meetings when you need them

You want happy employees? Have fewer meetings.

How often have you sat in a meeting thinking that it could’ve been an email instead? When organizing a meeting, consider which will get you to the solution faster.

Also think about what is better suited to the person you’re talking with. Just because you prefer a meeting, that doesn’t mean they do. Some people have their best ideas when they’ve had time to percolate and can respond in writing.

Don’t leave out your remote employees

Many companies now have a combination of remote, hybrid, and office-based employees. That’s great. It opens up the talent pool to employees from farther afield and makes you a more inclusive employer. As a result, you get all the benefits that diversity brings such as greater innovation and problem solving.

However, to get the most from every one of your employees, you need to support them all equally.

Unfortunately, 41% of remote employees find it hard to integrate with their company’s culture. And just 33% of remote companies take even basic measures to create a sense of community.

So, how can you include your remote employees and boost team dynamics organization-wide?

If you’re hosting a meeting that not everyone can attend in person, don’t overlook the people joining remotely. Get someone to act as call coordinator, keeping everyone looped in and acting as tech support to help everything go smoothly.

Having one person manage the call ensures the meeting host doesn’t have to worry about it, but remote participants still have a point of contact throughout the meeting.

Simple things like including everyone in meetings shows people they’re valued members of the team and that you want their thoughts on important topics.

Set up employee groups

Employee groups are one of the best ways to connect employees from different teams within your organization. 

These communities enable people to find common ground even if they’re based in a different country or are part of departments that don’t usually interact. 

They also connect your remote and in-person employees so that wherever someone works from, they still feel included in your business.

Want to get the most from your employee groups? Workrowd could be just what you need. We can help you organize your employee groups, programs, and events, boost engagement, and track your impact in real-time.

Conclusion 

Team dynamics play a pivotal role in employee engagement. They’re responsible for your employees’ happiness, which in turn is responsible for employees’ mental health and productivity levels.

Failing to consider how team dynamics impacts these things means your business will suffer long-term from high employee turnover and the roadblocks created when people don’t know how to collaborate. As a result, you’ll lose revenue.

Want to prevent that from happening? Workrowd can help you get more from your employee initiatives. Whether it’s ERGs, events, knowledge sharing, or something else, we can help. Get in touch to book your free demo.

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Previously, we looked at the ways employee interest groups can affect team performance. Now, we’re going to explore how you can use employee interest groups to build high-performing teams, starting from the basics right through to the real differentiators.

Encourage employees to join

Obviously the first step is to get people involved. Just having employee interest groups isn’t enough to build high-performing teams. You won’t see results if people don’t join or don’t get benefits from them.

If you’re serious about employee groups, you need to embed them into every part of your company.

Let someone know about them when they join; send email reminders; run recruitment drives; host events; do as much as you can to spread the word about your groups. 

The larger an organization gets, the more difficult it will be to spread the word, so the more you tell employees about them, the better.

Get leaders active in them too

Leaders set an example. If they don’t seem interested in your groups, employees probably won’t see the point in them, either.

When leaders are active in employee interest groups, it humanizes them to their team members. They feel less like the Wizard behind his curtain and more like someone on the journey alongside them.

This then makes it easier for employees to have tougher conversations, hold leadership accountable, and feel heard when they have an opinion to share. When your people have trust in their leaders, it makes it much easier to build high-performing teams.

Set up a range of interest groups

No one specific type of group will appeal to everyone. Setting up a range of groups, from pop culture interests to demographics, ensures there’s something for everyone.

Get a range of different people to run them as well, as this will ensure employees across the organization feel welcome to join. When people can see themselves in leadership positions, even informal ones through employee interest groups, it helps motivate them and sets you up to build high-performing teams.

Share the benefits

If your team members come from organizations that don’t use interest groups, or you’re only just setting them up, they may not know how these communities can benefit them.

You therefore need to educate your team on how joining could help them personally and professionally.

Make sure they’re aware of how employee interest groups can help with:

• Knowledge sharing
• Networking
• Making friends
• Discussing their favorite hobbies and interests
• Meeting like-minded people
• Getting support
• Improving their confidence

While you may feel like you’re belaboring the point, it’s unlikely that every employee within your organization will read the email when you announce your groups. They might be on vacation, out sick, or just too busy to read it.

So regularly sharing that these groups exist is important because the more you mention it, the more likely people are to want to be a part of one (or more). 

And it shows them that the groups won’t become a forgotten initiative in six months’ time. Capitalizing on these benefits will help improve individual employees’ performance, and help you build high-performing teams.

Encourage employees to create them

Your groups are only as good as the people leading them. You need engaged employees who are interested in the group’s topic to host. That way, they’ll be motivated to recruit new people, start conversations, and organize events.

It’s also encouraging for employees to see other employees in a different style of leadership. The skills and connections employees build through these groups can go a long way towards helping you build high-performing teams.

Centralize your learning

Having one location where employees can find all your learning and development opportunities means that anyone interested is less likely to miss out. If they want to know what’s coming up, they can simply check out the relevant interest group.

Or, if they have a suggestion, they can place it in the group to gauge if anyone else is interested. This is particularly useful if someone wants to bring in an outside speaker and see if it’s worth it.

Workrowd can help you keep all your employee initiatives in one place, from your L&D opportunities to your employee interest groups. Want to find out more? Get in touch to book your free demo.

Develop a mentoring group

Too often, businesses assume that mentoring will happen organically. But this is rarely the case.

Your senior leaders are busy. They may not have even thought about mentoring someone.

Your younger or newer employees, meanwhile, may be too shy to speak up. If anyone is confident enough to do so, this may mean that your shier, more capable employees get left behind simply because of a lack of confidence.

So then they either won’t reach their potential or they’ll leave because they feel unsupported.

Having a place where mentors and mentees can come together is therefore crucial to supporting your internal learning and development goals. In turn, it’s essential to building high-performing teams

Your employee interest groups are vital places for employees to meet people outside of their everyday colleagues.

Having a place where highly motivated employees can come together and network ensures that whether they’re remote, in the office, over the other side of the world, or new to your company, they can meet people who can encourage and motivate them.

Conclusion 

Ultimately, to get the most from your employee interest groups, you need to put the work in. You need to educate employees on their benefits, encourage them to join and organize groups, and continue to promote them, not mention them once then forget about them. Do this and they can boost your employer brand, support employee learning and development, create a more loyal workforce, and improve your bottom line.

Employee interest groups are one of the most powerful, underestimated tools for building and supporting high-performing teams. They’re pivotal to improving teamwork across your organization and making newer employees feel like a part of the team sooner.

If you’d like help to better organize, or even create, your employee interest groups, try Workrowd. Contact us today to find out more.

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Interest groups at work connect employees with something in common. That might be their backgrounds, interests, skill sets, goals, or something else.

Anyone can set up an interest group for just about anything—that’s part of what makes them such powerful tools!

In fact, they’re so powerful that social technologies like them can improve knowledge workers’ productivity during interactions by 20-25%.

However, one study found that only 20% of executives feel their team is high performing. Perhaps those teams need to invest in their employee interest groups?

Let’s dive in to the difference interest groups at work can make for your team, whether it’s high-performing or not…

Interest groups at work build human connection

86% of employees blame a lack of workplace collaboration or ineffective communication for workplace failures. 

On the flip side, 37% of employees say that a great team was their primary reason for staying with an organization, as well as a motivator.

Think about it: if you like spending time with someone, you’re going to want to be around them. And you’re likely to work well with them, too.

Finding those team dynamics is incredibly challenging, but when you get it right…it’s magic.

Interest groups at work enable your employees to connect beyond their daily working lives. This humanizes them to their colleagues and vice versa: something that’s key to an engaged, supportive, happy company culture.

Employee interest groups improve communication skills

97% of people feel a lack of alignment in a team affects tasks or project outcomes. And why wouldn’t it? If not everyone is on the same page, it’s going to slow the whole project down because those one or two people who disagree will challenge every decision or drag their feet when doing things.

This might explain why 75% of employees would prefer to speak to colleagues like they would their friends. It also shows a need for more authentic communication.

Being able to be ourselves at work is powerful. It allows employees to not have to worry about masking or hiding, something which can be incredibly draining and affect our ability to perform in our roles. Interest groups at work help break down barriers and improve communication both within, and between teams.

They encourage teamwork

Teamwork and collaboration is “very important” to three in four employees.

When employees get along with their colleagues on a human level, they work better together. It’s always easier to work with someone we know and like, right? 

When we don’t know someone, it can create resistance. They’re more likely to think about their own needs and goals first, rather than considering what’s best for everyone involved.  

This is increasingly pronounced in companies that focus on individual performance-related metrics.

If your company encourages a culture of competition, why would employees do things that help others—even if not working together is detrimental?

Luckily, interest groups at work can help improve teamwork and collaboration by uniting employees around what they have in common.

Employee interest groups reduce workplace conflicts

Another benefit of interest groups at work is that when colleagues have common ground and communicate well, it reduces conflicts in the workplace.

There are fewer conflicts to resolve and when they do happen, they can be resolved in a faster, more diplomatic and respectful, way. So no one loses face or their temper.

Employee interest groups can also help employees understand different people’s communication styles, so they can meet them in the middle rather than assuming someone’s blunt tone is because they’ve done something wrong. This then reduces the risk of misunderstandings stemming from conflicting communication styles.

Interest groups at work reduce hurdles

When employees can collaborate better, it reduces the hurdles that happen when trying to get a project over the finish line.

It also reduces conflicts of interest because everyone is rowing in the same direction. Because of this, people can be more willing to compromise so long as they achieve the end goal. Building relationships through interest groups at work helps keep everyone aligned.

Employee interest groups can offer training opportunities 

Training is one of your most powerful employee attraction and retention tools. It’s also vital to high-performing teams. 74% of high-performing teams have access to these opportunities.

Interest groups at work are crucial tools for elevating your training and development opportunities. They’re a low-cost way to level up your employees by enabling them to share their knowledge and helpful resources.

You can also use them to organize your training and mentoring initiatives, keeping everything together in one, easy-to-find location for your employees.

Want help organizing your interest groups at work to offer more training opportunities? Check out Workrowd. It’s a one-stop employee engagement shop, with everything you need to organize your employee initiatives. Get in touch today to book your free demo.

They can help with goal setting

We often take goal setting for granted as a skill, but it isn’t always that simple. Employees who are new to the workplace, or new to your workplace, may find it hard to identify goals that align with your business. For instance, if they’ve never used OKRs before, how will they know what to do?

You can use interest groups at work to teach your employees about goal setting, why it’s important, and how they can set and achieve their own. This is important as 85% of high-performing teams have well-defined goals, so you need to ensure that they’ve got something to aim for. 

The right goals, designed in the right way, keep everyone moving in the same direction. Employees can then view every decision they make through the lens of whether it helps them, their team, and your business, get closer to those goals.

Interest groups at work can help you collect employee feedback

Employee feedback is a key tool to help you determine whether you’re on the right track or if you need to change course.

Employees may not always feel comfortable speaking up in meetings or in front of decision makers, but they may be willing to share with their colleagues in an interest group.

Collecting information about what’s happening with employees is vital. You need every person to be engaged and onboard to stay ahead of the competition. Otherwise, it can slow processes down and mean you risk falling behind.

Workrowd’s automated surveys can help you find out what your employees really think. Then, our real-time dashboards help you visualize your results in real-time. That way you can just focus on how to take action. Get in touch to find out more.

Conclusion 

Interest groups at work improve team communication and collaboration. As a result, every member in your team can play to their strengths and perform at their best, both individually and alongside their coworkers.

Keep an eye out for the next part, where we’ll discuss how you can use your interest groups at work to build high-performing teams.

Want help organizing your interest groups? Get in touch to book your demo.

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Motivation is a fickle thing. It’s hard to find and easy to lose. Seemingly small, simple things can cause our motivation to plummet even if we don’t consciously realize it. That’s why it’s so important to identify ways to motivate employees that actually work.

So what can you do to ensure your team feels motivated? And that they stay motivated?

Practice psychological safety; don’t just say you do

A culture of psychological safety isn’t just a nice to have. Saying you have it also doesn’t mean that you actually do.

You have to actively practice psychological safety. Encourage your people to take risks. Don’t punish them for mistakes.

To paraphrase Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren racing, making one mistake is fine. Just don’t make the same mistake twice.

Mistakes are where learnings lie. If no one within your organization has ever made a mistake, or they’re afraid to make them, neither your employees nor your business will grow as fast as they could.

Value EVERYONE’S opinions

We’ve all had times where we feel powerless. Voiceless. It’s disheartening. Demotivating. Demoralizing.

Feeling like our voice matters, like it’s being heard, is among the best ways to motivate employees. It also encourages us to be more creative. Which in turn makes us better problem solvers, means we have more innovative ideas, and makes us more fun to be around.

You never know where the next great idea for your business will come from. Your office cleaner could be great at B2B TikTok; your IT guy might be a talented writer.

Sometimes all you have to do is ask and make it clear that you do want people’s opinions. Even if those ideas are outside of their usual remit. Those can often be where your most creative ideas come from.

Get some face time

Whether it’s in person or on video, seeing others can remind people that they’re not alone. And working remotely can be lonely. So can working from a cubicle. Either can lead to employees feeling isolated and like their colleagues don’t listen to or care about what they have to say.

Meetings, or even just casual coffees, help employees connect. This makes collaboration easier when it comes to work-related projects. It’s one of the quickest ways to motivate employees.

Set up employee groups

Another way you can help your employees connect is with ERGs. These groups enable people to get to know their colleagues beyond what they do at work. This improves workplace dynamics, facilitating communication between teams that need to collaborate but don’t always see eye to eye, such as sales and marketing.

If you’d like to get the most from your ERGs, get in touch today to book your free Workrowd demo.

Offer reverse mentoring

Reverse mentoring is when a junior employee mentors someone more senior. This is useful for bridging generational divides, spreading digital literacy, and holding leadership accountable.

It can also be hugely motivating. It gives younger employees something to work towards because they can see what’s possible.

In addition, the mentor and mentee can support each other to achieve goals, which is a big deal when it comes to ways to motivate employees.

Gamify objectives

Workplace competitions rank high on the list of ways to motivate employees. You could offer different rewards, from branded merchandise to a day out with their family to a voucher for their favorite store.

Some employees will feel motivated by competing with themselves, while others will be motivated by competing with their colleagues. 

For example, you could have a leaderboard that rewards points for specific actions. A company trying to gamify social selling could give points for different activities online. This encourages employees to act while giving them a benchmark against themselves or their colleagues to compete with.

You could also take a note from apps such as Peloton, and have a way for employees to track their daily or weekly streaks. A sales team could have a streak for sending outbound emails, for example. It’s an opportunity to get creative around ways to motivate employees.

Shake things up

When a role feels repetitive or monotonous, it can be debilitating and draining. Our brains disengage and we stop putting in effort. 

To prevent this from happening, find ways to make roles more interesting and less repetitive. You could give employees challenges, run competitions, or try different strategies and techniques.

Encourage creativity

We live in a world that’s increasingly outsourcing creativity, but at what cost?

Creativity is part of what makes us human and what makes life interesting. By relying on AI to do the heavy lifting, we risk our critical thinking skills, problem-solving skills, and creative muscles.

Empowering employees to be creative in their roles, however that may look for them, helps them exercise their creative muscles. This can then lead to stronger creative and problem-solving skills in the future that make them better employees, too. It’s one of the ways to motivate employees that has the most staying power.

Make friends

When we like the people we work with, it’s a lot easier to go into the office every day. It’s easier to open our laptops and sign in.

Friendship is a simple but powerful tool that fosters loyalty, engagement, and interest in what someone is doing. It enables people to feel valued and helps ensure they’re heard by others in the organization.

Online or in-person events are one of the best ways to encourage workplace friendships. ERGs are another great way to connect your employees.

Whether you’re running an event or want to set up an ERG, Workrowd can help. It’s an all-in-one employee engagement tool designed to make everyone’s lives easier and help you and your people perform at your best.

Everything employees need to know can be stored in one place, ensuring they never miss what’s relevant to them. It helps you highlight all the ways to motivate employees you offer, in order to maximize your ROI. Get in touch today to find out more.

Conclusion

Finding ways to motivate employees in 2025 can be easier said than done, especially with everything that’s happening in the world right now. With these tips, you can help your people stay engaged and motivated so that they’re always bringing their best selves to work.

Top tips for building a people of color employee resource group

Setting up an LGBTQ+ ERG: Why you should and how to start

Building a disability employee resource group that drives impact