Category: Employee Engagement

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.

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.

When employees can bond over their similarities, the real magic happens. We spend so much time thinking about what makes us different, but the most important information is what we can find in common. For example, employee interest groups help employees connect over shared problems and hobbies.

Today, we will break down fifteen employee interest groups, so your team can find their work friends and be at their best.

What is an employee interest group?

First, let’s talk about what an employee interest group is.

Employee interest groups help employees get to know other people at work who share similar interests and hobbies.

As organizations grow to hundreds or thousands of workers, it becomes easy to create a siloed work environment where employees spend very little time outside of their small group of colleagues in their department.

Interest groups encourage employees to work together and build relationships outside of their department.

How does an employee interest group differ from an employee resource group?

We often talk about employee resource groups on the Workrowd blog. Is there a difference between an interest group and a resource group? Not necessarily. Most organizations use these words interchangeably when discussing a group of employees who get together to talk about something they have in common.

15 employee interest group ideas

So, now that you know why interest groups are so important, let’s dive into a few ideas for employee interest groups:

1. Reading

First, you can encourage your employees to start an interest group around reading. Reading is a hobby that many employees have, and it can be a simple way to bond at work. For example, your reading group can host a monthly or quarterly book club where they sit down and chat about the themes addressed in a book.

You can encourage your employees to read something related to work, a holiday like Women’s History Month, or something entirely out of left field.

Books will connect your staff and give them something obvious to talk about, which is key to building bonds between people who don’t know each other.

2. Gardening

If your employees like to get outside, you might want to create a gardening interest group. Gardening is a relaxing activity, and everyone has found unique ideas for making it work for them.

If you want to support your employees and their love of gardening, you could even create a community garden on your company’s campus or rent a space at a local garden for them to tend.

3. Musical instruments

Have you ever wanted to start a band? You probably already have the musical talent for it in your office. Encourage employees who play musical instruments or sing to come together and have a jam session. Your company might help discover the next big hit!

4. Volunteering

Getting out into the community to volunteer can be a satisfying experience. It can be challenging to make time for volunteering as an adult, though. Creating a volunteering employee interest group can help you introduce great nonprofits to your team and get them out to help the community.

5. Networking

Whether you are looking for your next opportunity or getting to know colleagues, networking is a fantastic skill to hone.

Your organization can create employee interest groups around topics like networking. For example, a networking group might put on a speed dating-style networking event or teach networking skills like active listening and confidence.

6. Parents

Being a new parent or experiencing a new part of parenthood is nerve-wracking. Chances are your organization has a ton of experienced and not-so-experienced parents on staff. Being able to learn and grow with each other creates a positive experience for all your people.

Consider creating a group where parents can come together and share stories, advice, and resources.

7. Location

As your organization grows, you might bring on employees from all over the country, or even farther. Chances are, you’ll start to get a couple of concentrations of people in different cities, states, regions, or time zones. You can easily create interest groups around these specific locations. Then, with those groups in place, you can plan fun in-person events or experiences for employees who live nearby.

8. Job function

Another type of interest group that becomes more necessary as you expand your team is around job function. For example, you might have hundreds or thousands of sales professionals or engineers. As a team grows, you can see silos crop up even within a department. Encourage these teams to stick together by creating employee interest groups around these roles and job functions.

9. People of color

An interest group that aligns more with an ERG is a group for the people of color in your company. People of color so often belong to underrepresented groups at work. Interest or resource groups allow people of color to come together, share stories, and seek support from those who have similar experiences.

10. Coworking

If you are a remote or hybrid organization, it can be challenging to find time and space to work together. One interest community you could build is around coworking. When you think of coworking, you might think of companies like WeWork, but that isn’t necessarily the case. Coworking means working in tandem with other people. So, you could create a group that has the sole focus of jumping on a video call and getting some work done at the same time.

11. LGBTQ+ support

Another employee resource group you might want to create is a group focused on LGBTQ+ support. It can be challenging to be out at work, especially in 2025. These support groups can act as a safe space for employees to share their feelings and know that they aren’t alone.

12. Sports

Sports is another great way to bring your team together. There are activities taking place year-round, so there’s always something to watch together.

Here are a few ideas for what to do with a sports interest group:

• Fantasy sports
• Participate in a real sports team at a community center
• Go to a game together

13. Women in X

Back to an ERG idea, you could create a group for women in your company focused on your industry. For example, Women in Tech or Women in Higher Education. Women are underrepresented in a number of sectors, and it’s a good idea to help them connect with and learn from each other.

14. Mentoring

Mentoring is a fantastic way to prepare the next generation of workplace leaders. However, mentoring at work doesn’t necessarily happen on its own. Sometimes organizations have to push to encourage senior leaders to connect with younger employees. Creating a group for mentoring can help you build the infrastructure you need to drive your mentorship program forward.

15. Social justice

Unfortunately, we live in a pretty unjust society. There always seems to be something to get behind when it comes to social justice initiatives. These issues infiltrate the workplace, even if some companies would like to pretend they don’t.

Creating a social justice interest community can help your team channel their feelings into advocacy for these important causes controlling our country’s discourse.

Conclusion: There are many employee interest groups to create

The ideas for employee interest groups at work are endless. If you are looking to connect your team, start building out some of these communities online. Encourage employees to join the groups that suit their interests.

Once employees begin participating in these conversations, try getting them to build structure into these groups and support them with funds to take their communities to the next level.

Before you know it, you’ll have bustling employee interest groups.

Did you know you can use Workrowd to host your employee interest groups? Our communities make the perfect home base for your ERGs and EIGs. Send us an email at hello@workrowd.com to see if we’re right for your organization.

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.

Whatever industry you’re in, teamwork in the workplace is vital to keep things moving. When colleagues don’t get along, or don’t know how to communicate, it slows processes down, stresses out employees, and costs you money. The longer this lack of cooperation continues, the more expensive it gets.

97% of employees agree that a lack of collaboration negatively impacts workplace success, too. Meanwhile, teamwork increases sales by 27%.

So, it makes sense to boost collaboration and teamwork in the workplace. The more you do so, the more it benefits your business.

Why does teamwork in the workplace matter?

One of the most common examples of this is between sales and marketing departments. Marketing departments focus on generating leads through various strategies like content, ads, or direct response.

Sales then handles the leads that come in. Or they find ways to attract leads on their own, such as with outbound sales tactics.

Even if sales concentrates on outbound, they still need the marketing department to create useful sales collateral that whets buyers’ appetites, like case studies.

When the two departments don’t work together, sales teams don’t get the collateral they need and marketing has no direction. That leaves them to essentially make things up as they go along, tracking vanity metrics, and hoping for the best.

This is pretty common, too, with more than half of US employees having little or no insight into other team’s objectives, and 41% finding it more challenging to collaborate across teams.

On the flip side, there’s a 72% boost in effectiveness when team collaboration is high, and effective teamwork in the workplace reduces absenteeism and enhances engagement.

So, what can you do to boost teamwork in the workplace?

Ways to boost collaboration and teamwork in the workplace

Organize an away day

Away days or weeks can be powerful ways to get your teams together. Employees get time to get to know one another, plan what’s happening, and discuss things that aren’t work-related.

It’s important for everyone to have down/alone time too. This is where people can recharge and naturally come together to connect without the pressure of work-related activities.

Create online events

If you have a remote team or office, providing online events ensures that they don’t miss out on opportunities for collaboration and teamwork in the workplace.

Some options include:

• Quizzes
• Book clubs
• Speakers
• Games/tournaments such as MarioKart

To encourage your employees to sign up and take part, try Workrowd. They simply need to login to see what’s happening, then they can sign up for events or initiatives with a single click.

Host networking events

As well as online events, you can also hold networking events where colleagues can meet, whether that’s in person or online. These can be vital ways for colleagues to get to know each other without the pressure of it being in a meeting.

Adding in food always works as a solid barrier-breaker and conversation starter, too. This relationship-building can greatly enhance teamwork in the workplace.

Provide mentoring

Mentoring supports everyone within your organization. It can introduce your more experienced colleagues to new concepts, while it can teach early careers employees how to navigate the workplace.

Mentors can come from any department or generation. It doesn’t have to be from someone who’s navigated the same career path. Sometimes it can be other characteristics or goals a mentor and mentee have in common, such as navigating gender in the workplace or wanting to become a leader.

Create a psychologically safe culture

A culture of psychological safety is crucial to teamwork in the workplace. When employees feel able to share their opinions free from repercussions, it creates a more open environment that encourages collaboration.

For employees to disagree with someone, they have to feel safe in the workplace—especially if that person is their leader. There’s no reason that leader’s opinions, beliefs, attitudes, or ways of working shouldn’t be challenged.

Sometimes there are newer, better, and more effective ways of doing things that can only be seen because someone comes from a particular background. To excel as a business, it’s important to be open to hearing those opinions and experiences.

Use radical candor

Radical candor isn’t a new concept. It’s about being able to be honest and empathetic with your colleagues when communicating. It’s about providing feedback that’s valuable in a polite, straightforward way.

Radical candor is an effective way to build an open, honest culture among colleagues. It also provides a framework for giving and receiving feedback that ensures people know what to expect from their colleagues and how to talk to them.

Giving feedback, like listening, is one of those things that many of us are never taught. It can have big repercussions on teamwork in the workplace if we’re not careful.

Listen actively

There’s a huge difference between paying attention to what someone is saying and casually hearing it.

Active listening requires asking questions that draw out their point and turning it into a discussion, rather than nodding along, half-listening to them.

Use your employee resource groups (ERGs) more

If you’ve already got established ERGs, are they working hard enough for you?

If you don’t have any ERGs, what are you waiting for?

Think of an away day. How often do people naturally sit with their fellow team members? It happens every time. People gravitate to the people they know and have something in common with.

Employee resource groups are a powerful tool to bridge gaps between teams and increase teamwork in the workplace. People can connect on terms beyond just the team they’re a part of.

Conclusion 

The more opportunities you provide for your employees to connect beyond their workplace responsibilities, the better they’ll get to know each other’s strengths, can play to them, and can therefore work together more effectively.

If you’d like help organizing your initiatives and encouraging your employees to take part, check out Workrowd. Contact us to book your free demo today.

Disengaged workers cost US businesses between $450-550 billion each year. Not taking active steps to re-engage your employees and boost employee morale means you risk losing money, losing customers, and losing revenue.

So let’s dive into what you can do to counter low employee morale in your business.

Address the elephant in the room

It will be awkward. But one of the ways to show employees that you’re on their side is to address the elephant in the room that is low employee morale and whatever’s causing it. It could be mergers, acquisitions, layoffs, etc.

Effective internal communication makes 85% of employees feel more connected to their jobs. So addressing the elephant in the room is a difficult but necessary way to get people back onboard.

It also shows a level of empathy that will help reassure your employees that you’re still on their side. You get that times are tough and it’s not easy for you either.

Just remember not to make it all about you or your experiences. This can come across as insensitive and have the opposite effect, causing employees to check out even more.

Instead, consider how you can form an open dialogue with employees about what’s happened, what’s happening, and what will happen next.

And, more importantly, address the impact it’s having on everyone’s mental health. Give them space to reflect.

If you want to improve employee morale, ensuring they know you have their interests in mind is key.

Trust your employees

You hired your employees because they’re experts in their fields and you want them to do the job. So, trust their judgment and give them autonomy.

If you’ve previously given them autonomy and then take that away without explaining things, it can lead to undue stress and disengagement. They may feel micromanaged. 

It also suggests you don’t trust their skills or judgment, and you don’t want them to make decisions at work. All of which can contribute to low employee morale.

Say what you mean

There’s nothing worse than being told how to do something, doing it, then being told you’ve done it wrong. 

One of the big things that can impact employee morale is leadership hypocrisy or contradictions. 

When leadership says employees should be honest, then penalizes them for voicing their opinions, this has far-reaching impacts. Not just on the person who was penalized but on their direct colleagues and those who know about it, too.

So save the corporate speak and be upfront with your employees.

Find out what’s really going on with your team

How often do you sit down in team meetings to find out what’s happening on the ground? 

I don’t just mean sitting in on the odd sales call to find out what prospects think. It’s about actually being part of the conversation to find out how employees feel and what’s preventing them from performing in their roles.

Most leadership teams are pretty disconnected from what’s happening further down in the company. There might even be some who don’t want to hear what’s happening. Particularly if they have a “don’t come to me with problems, only solutions” mindset.

There are some problems that can only be solved by, or are better solved with the help of, leadership or HR teams. Hiring new employees; accommodating someone’s health issues; purchasing new or better tools; conflict resolution. The list goes on.

And the only way you find out what’s really happening is by being in the room with employees. Because some simply won’t feel comfortable raising topics impacting employee morale even if you ask.

Send a feedback survey

I know I said some won’t feel comfortable raising problems or challenges even if you ask, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. Especially not when 58% of employees want workplaces to conduct more engagement surveys.

There are also things you can do to protect employees’ identities. For instance, allowing them to fill in the feedback form anonymously.

Collect a balance of qualitative and quantitative feedback when you send a survey. That way you can look for trends and get more detailed responses on what’s going wrong and possible suggestions on how to fix things.

Using Workrowd, you can send automated feedback surveys in response to programs and events. The process of sending and analyzing your surveys becomes easier, giving you more time to act on the responses and create a better work environment that will improve employee morale.

Connect your teams

Whether through team activities, employee groups, or other initiatives, connection is more important than ever when employee morale is low.

Encourage team members to connect with their colleagues through shared interests and activities.

Workrowd can help you organize your employee groups and initiatives so that they’re easy for employees to find and sign up for.

Focus time

Conversely, you also want to give employees time to focus. This could be time to reflect during periods like layoffs. Or it could be time to concentrate on their work without worrying about Slack notifications.

Focus time plays a pivotal role in our mental health and productivity, in addition to impacting employee morale. Unfortunately, we seldom get enough of it any more due to the constant influx of notifications from every direction. Focus time allows employees to reflect, concentrate, and do their jobs.

61% of employees feel overwhelmed by relentless demands and are at risk of burnout. Giving them this focus time, free from all the requests, helps them get back on top of responsibilities and clear their heads.

Conclusion 

Low employee morale can happen for a variety of reasons. What really matters is that you reassure employees you’re still a team and can work together to overcome what’s caused the challenges you’re facing.

One way you can find the information you need is by sending an employee feedback survey.

Workrowd helps you automate your surveys so that you can send them at important touchpoints. Beyond that, the platform will also analyze the data for you, so you get the results all ready to go. That way, you can concentrate on improving employee morale.

Get in touch to find out how our all-in-one platform can help supercharge your organization.

Trust in the workplace doesn’t always come easy. A third of people don’t trust their employer. Ouch.

The higher up someone is on the corporate ladder, the more likely they are to trust their organization. I’m going to assume that’s because the higher up someone is, the closer they are to decision making. And the sooner they find out what’s going on. Which means they feel more control in their roles, too.

But there’s no reason every employee in an organization shouldn’t feel trust in the workplace. 

Highly-trusted organizations have 50% higher employee productivity. Their employees take 13% fewer sick days and have 106% more energy at work. 

And if that wasn’t enough, companies with higher trust levels outperform those with lower trust levels by 186%.

Those are some pretty impressive numbers.

So what can you do to build trust in the workplace and boost engagement?

Check your culture

What’s your company culture really like? How open are your leaders with your employees? 28% of employees would extend their tenure if people at every level were transparent.

28% of employees is a huge number when you take into account time and cost to hire, onboarding, etc. Retaining those employees could make a significant difference to your profit margins. That’s even before you factor in the difference in productivity that can come from trust in the workplace.

So it’s time to take an honest look at your culture (perhaps through a survey, which we’ll discuss more below).

What do your employees think? Can they be honest? Do they trust leaders to be honest? Do they know what direction the business is heading in?

Simple questions—even answered in multiple-choice format—can lead to big breakthroughs and epiphanies on how to boost trust in the workplace.

Be transparent

Sometimes information should be kept on a need-to-know basis. But if you keep employees entirely in the dark, it can lead to organizational anxiety and a lack of trust in the workplace.

The more you share what’s happening, and you’re honest when you don’t know what’s going on yet, the more likely employees are to trust senior leaders and HR teams to be honest with them when the going gets tough.

Keep your promises

A third of employees would stay longer if a company’s leaders kept their promises. Broken promises can make a huge dent in employee morale, and therefore productivity.

If you have to break a promise, you need to explain why. Then, find a way to make it up to them.

It’s not an easy thing to come back from, so if you can’t promise something, make sure not to promise. Sometimes it’s better to say that you hope something will happen but you can’t make any promises, than to make promises and renege on them.

Apologize if things go wrong

Part of developing trust is accepting that no one is perfect and that we all make mistakes. That starts with everyone being able to apologize when things go wrong. Whether that’s for making a mistake, not replying to an email, or even being in a bad mood.

You don’t need to apologize for every little thing like many of us do. Occasionally saying sorry for a mistake though, shows that you’re human and that it’s okay that your team members are, too.

And because of that human connection, you’re more likely to develop trust in the workplace.

Connect employees

When employees are connected with each other, they’ll naturally find out more about what’s going on. They’ll also feel more comfortable being themselves. Both of which are key to building trust in the workplace.

Employee groups are essential tools that enable employees to connect with their colleagues who have shared interests, backgrounds, or goals. This not only fosters a greater sense of belonging and connection at work, but because they feel like more of a member of the team, they’re more likely to trust their colleagues and the organization, too.

Make information easy to find

If information takes forever to find, it can suggest that the business has something to hide.

Or worse, it’s disorganized and no one actually knows what’s going on and when.

Which naturally slows everyone down because they can’t find what they need.

When everything is easy for employees to find, it saves them time. It also puts their minds at ease, reducing anxiety and stress.

Workrowd can help you share the latest information your employees need in one central location. They’ll know exactly where to check for updates, making their lives and jobs easier.

Ask for feedback

Hearing what employees have to say won’t always be easy. But it’s a vital way for companies to grow and develop trust in the workplace.

Part of fostering a sense of trust is ensuring people’s voices are heard. Employee surveys are an easy way to make that happen.

Workrowd can help you send automated feedback requests to employees based on specific triggers. That way you can focus your time on making a difference.

Act on feedback

Feedback surveys don’t mean anything if you don’t do anything with the results. And sadly, most organizations don’t. They see collecting employee feedback as a box-checking exercise.

But the real way to build trust in the workplace is to do the work to show your employees that they matter.

Listen to their feedback and address their concerns, whether that’s through an all-hands meeting where they can ask questions; by letting go of people creating a toxic workplace; changing organizational structures; or something else.

Some changes will be quick to enact, others will take much longer. But it’s these changes that hold the real power and will do the most to build trust in the workplace.

Conclusion 

Trust in the workplace is vital to your employee engagement and retention efforts. Many of the ways to build it require simple changes, like communicating openly with everyone.

If you’d like help boosting trust in the workplace in your organization, Workrowd’s all-in-one suite of tools can help. You get a knowledge hub to keep everyone informed, and a community hub to keep everyone connected. Plus, automated surveys and analytics ensure you always know what’s working and what’s not so you can build a culture your whole team loves.

Contact us today to learn more and see how Workrowd can help you reach and exceed your goals.

While effectively measuring employee engagement at your organization can be a challenge, it’s undeniably important. Low engagement costs the global economy $7.8 trillion every year.

Yet, with so many businesses turning their backs on DEI initiatives—which are proven to boost engagement—is employee engagement really still a priority?

Prior to the pandemic, employee engagement and well-being had been rising globally for almost a decade. Now, they’ve stagnated.

Just a fifth of employees are engaged at work, and only a third are thriving in their overall well-being.

Work now feels pointless to many and they don’t feel hopeful for their futures. I mean, can you blame them? Given the current state of the world from every direction?

Businesses need to be mindful of the impact engagement can have on their bottom lines, and how both company culture and external factors can impact employee engagement and productivity.

Failing to consider these factors means risking a decrease in employee engagement, innovation, productivity, and profit.

Which is risky, when you consider that engaged employees lead to a:

• 10% jump in customer satisfaction rates
• 17% productivity bump
• 20% sales increase
• 21% profitability boost
• 31% reduction in absenteeism

To be able to improve your employee engagement rates you need to measure them, though. How do you do that?

Here are our tips for measuring employee engagement:

Automate feedback

Automation is a key part of making your, and your employees’, lives easier.

When it comes to measuring employee engagement, if you automate it, there’s no forgetting to send that feedback survey or not having enough time to do so. The right tool can do it all for you. So you can collect more data in less time.

Want to automate your employee feedback surveys? Check out Workrowd. We can help you send automated, bite-sized surveys so that it’s easier for you and your employees to discuss what’s happening in your business in real time. And did we mention we can automatically analyze the results, too?

Make feedback opportunities bite-sized

The more effort you make something for someone—especially a busy employee—the less likely they are to do it.

Think about those feedback surveys you get from a coffee shop or doctor’s office that say they’ll just take ten minutes for you to complete. How often do you actually want to fill them in? And how often do they offer some sort of reward/prize to incentivize you to do it?

Yeah, that’s so that you focus on the reward not on the effort you’ve got to put in to fill it out.

Sure, one-time, in-depth answers can be useful. But if you collect data regularly, you’ll get more actionable information because you can spot trends more quickly.

Meaning you can pivot faster if something’s going wrong or capitalize on what’s working quicker.

Little and often can be much more effective than one and done. Especially when it comes to measuring employee engagement.

Combine data points from a variety of sources

Imagine you’re collecting employee feedback on your company culture and want to improve response rates. Consider:

• Reaching out to people from multiple teams—and following up if a particular team has a disproportionately low participation rate
• Requesting feedback more often—to obtain more real-time data
• Getting feedback from people throughout the organization, not just at a particular level or in a particular role

To get even more useful data throughout the year:

• Ask for feedback on multiple initiatives rather than just one or two
• Include employees in decision-making processes (or at least ask what they think of certain decisions so that they feel heard and valued)

The more data you have, the more in-depth your results will be and the more useful they’ll be for measuring employee engagement.

Make data collection ongoing

Many companies still send one large feedback survey per year. This allows them to track changes over several years.

But in the modern world, where things change so quickly, is yearly enough?

When you make data collection an ongoing initiative, you get an evolving, holistic picture of employee sentiment, rather than a point-in-time snapshot. Meaning the data you get is more accurate, precise, and actionable.

So you won’t just be measuring employee engagement for appearance’s sake. The data you collect can actually lead to positive changes across your organization.

Leverage tools

The right tools are a key part of any digital employee experience. They’re also key to measuring employee engagement. If you want to collect actionable data that can help you drive change within your business, having the right tool is even more important.

Using Workrowd, surveys will automatically go out after employee initiatives to see how team members feel in real time. You can set them to go out after certain milestones, too, and the software will analyze the results for you. That way, you don’t have to rifle through all the responses to find the data that matters.

Instead, you get more time to spend improving employees’ working lives and supporting your organization.

Conclusion

Employee engagement is a key metric that can foreshadow challenging business times, or help you adapt to upcoming challenges. High employee engagement can mean that it’s easier to weather storms, while low engagement is a sign of stormy seas ahead.

Measuring employee engagement is therefore vital if you want to be able to successfully navigate the modern business world. It shows your employees that you support them and listen to them, as well as helping you see how your decisions impact your employees in real time.

If you want to collect more feedback with less work, check out Workrowd. You can automatically send surveys and view the results once they’re already analyzed, meaning you have more time to drive change and support your employees. Get in touch today to book your free demo.

2025 is here. Which means it’s time to start thinking about the best ways to support employees over the coming year. And, more importantly, the best talent engagement strategies to implement.

Even companies with highly engaged employees need to actively work on keeping those employees engaged.

Otherwise, as trends move on, employees can become disconnected from their roles and the company mission. And end up quiet quitting or leaving completely.

So let’s dive in to some talent engagement strategies to maximize your results in 2025:

Development opportunities

Providing learning and development opportunities is going to top the list of talent engagement strategies for the foreseeable future.

LinkedIn data suggests that 57% of Gen Z employees want learning and development opportunities at work. So if you’re not providing them, you’re likely missing out on a massive pool of talent.

Not to mention that by not offering training opportunities, you risk falling behind your competitors from a knowledge and skills standpoint. Which means that both your business and your profits could suffer.

Career progression

Tying into the professional development topic, employees are far more likely to want to learn if they have a path laid out for them.

It gives them something to work toward—a purpose—and a goal to achieve.

Knowing that if they put the work in there’s a promotion waiting for them is a good way to retain your top talent, too. Building career ladders and lattices is a key element of successful talent engagement strategies.

Purpose 

More and more, employees want to feel like they’re contributing to something bigger. They want to feel empowered and do something that speaks to them on a deeper level, rather than just something that pays the bills.

Having a deeper company mission is one way to connect with your employees. It’s also one of the most important talent engagement strategies.

But purpose can also be simpler than this. It’s can be about clear communication. What do you actually need your employees to do? What is their purpose within your business?

The more connected employees feel to your purpose—and the reason why they’re there—the more you’ll get out of them. And the happier they’ll be to work for you.

AI

AI is here to stay, but using it in the right way is key to making sure it supports your business.  Employees need to be taught how to use it effectively and how it can help, not hinder, their roles.

Otherwise, they either won’t use it, or they’ll fear it’s going to steal their job.

For example, they need to learn things like how to fact check any stats AI provides to confirm they’re accurate (it usually doesn’t link to an original source even when you ask it to); how to write prompts effectively to get the end result they want; and how to use it for idea generation. 

They also need to keep in mind that while it’s good for bouncing ideas around, it’s essentially a regurgitation tool. So if they want something truly original or creative, they have to use it as a virtual assistant and still do the legwork themselves.

That said, ensuring they have the tools and skills they need when it comes to new technologies ranks high on the list of talent engagement strategies.

Recognition and gratitude

Employee recognition never goes out of style. And it never falls off the list of top talent engagement strategies.

People want to feel seen and like the hard work they put in is recognized. A little thank you or virtual high five goes a long way.

When you thank employees for their hard work, they feel appreciated and like they belong in the workplace. 

It doesn’t have to be about a shiny bonus or even a celebratory meal. Sometimes it’s just about getting a shoutout in a meeting or on your employee experience platform. Simple things that make employees feel more connected to your business and the people in it. And that show someone has noticed and appreciated their hard work.

Office returns

The sad fact is that the mass return to office that’s been happening over the last couple of years is unlikely to end.

While there are lots of reasons behind these office returns—and they make businesses less inclusive—there’s too much of a cultural desire to return to the world pre-Covid and act like it never happened.

There are upsides to seeing people face-to-face. It can change how employees engage with each other and enhance professional relationships.

But balance is key. Hybrid work is among the talent engagement strategies that allow you to attract and retain people who can’t (or don’t want to) come into the office every day, but who can still contribute to your business.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion

It worries me that more and more, DEI is experiencing a backlash.

Big companies cutting their DEI budgets or roles; people complaining that everyone is too sensitive these days and how we can’t accommodate everyone; DEI businesses closing their doors because they’re not attracting enough business anymore.

I truly hope this doesn’t continue. But unless we’re actively working to create a more inclusive world, things can and will go backward.

Including one person doesn’t mean excluding anyone else. In fact, more diverse businesses have more engaged employees. And make more money as a result.

Championing diversity doesn’t mean making huge changes, either. It’s about having an open mind and finding ways to support everyone.

For instance, I’m lactose intolerant. Organizing an office lunch somewhere I can eat doesn’t mean anyone else misses out: we can all eat there.

It simply means I don’t get left out because everyone else can eat there but I can’t.

There’s no downside to including more people, so long as we remember not to exclude anyone—accidentally or otherwise.

Diversity benefits everyone, and definitely belongs on your list of talent engagement strategies.

Conclusion

These are just some of the talent engagement strategies to focus on in 2025. Several, such as recognition, are classics that never go out of style. Working on them and prioritizing them for your employee initiatives ensures team members always feel like a valued part of your business.

Newer additions like AI and purpose tap into current trends in the wider world. They’re things that are unlikely to go away any time soon, so the more your business can do to demonstrate attention to these areas, the more engaged your employees will be.

Discover what talent engagement strategies work best for your team

Want to find out what your employees want from you, and what could make them more engaged? Workrowd’s all-in-one suite of tools can help.

With a central hub for your employee experience including automated engagement surveys and real-time analytics, you’ll always have the data you need to maximize your impact. Get in touch today to book your free demo and find out more.

A little recognition can go a long way towards improving company culture and employee morale. So if you’re looking for some creative employee recognition ideas, you’re on the right track.

An employee who’s received recognition is 63% more likely to stay for the next three to six months, while a lack of recognition and engagement contributes to 44% of employees quiet quitting and/or changing jobs.

Recognition is a great way to reinforce positive attitudes, behaviors, and habits—far more effective than punishing someone for doing something wrong or making a mistake.

92% of employees are more likely to repeat an action if they receive recognition for it.

And, to top it off, 40% of US employees would put more effort into their work if they received more recognition. That’s a lot of employees who feel undervalued and underappreciated. And therefore aren’t working as hard as they would with the right culture.

If you’re seeing this in your business, implementing some creative employee recognition ideas can help you turn the tide.

Do you have a culture of recognition?

Whether someone has landed a new client, built a product really quickly, worked especially hard on a new project, or something else, celebrating them should be a no-brainer. It makes them feel like a valued member of the team and like they belong at your organization.

At most of my previous roles, no one ever said thank you like they meant it. It was always a quick “thanks” at the end of the day/week, when someone was going home. It felt more like an add-on or a courtesy rather than something someone actually meant.

Those places simply didn’t have cultures where employees’ hard work was recognized. Or at the very least, vocalized well. In fact, some people in positions of leadership genuinely admitted to feeling uncomfortable giving praise. Not a great example to set, I’m sure you’ll agree.

There was never a high-five (virtual or in person) around a job well done. When someone said “thank you” it felt like an off-hand, mandatory comment. Asking someone if they were making a pot of coffee was often said with more enthusiasm.

On the other hand, I can tell that people at Workrowd genuinely mean “thanks” when they say it. 

How? 

It’s in how they say it. The language usage; the timing; the detail; the fact it’s not the same words every time.

Even employees who don’t read into language as much as a writer like me will pick up on subtle cues. 

And that will affect how they feel about work and how much you get out of them in the short- and long-term. So let’s get into some creative employee recognition ideas to help you delight your team.

9 creative employee recognition ideas

If you want to establish or reinforce a positive culture, how do you show your employees you appreciate them?

Here are 9 creative employee recognition ideas:

Shoutout channel

This is a simple one that anyone can do: create a channel on Slack or Teams, or dedicate a krowd on Workrowd to celebrating people’s hard work. And use it!

If the space is quiet, people may feel uncomfortable reviving it. If it’s used regularly, employees will be more likely to want to give their colleagues a shoutout. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It starts with managers leading by example: if they create a culture of virtual high-fives, employees will follow suit. This might start with employees reacting to the posts, then it can escalate to them posting their own shoutouts too.

As creative employee recognition ideas go, this one costs nothing and can pay real dividends.

Meeting shoutouts

If someone has done something particularly well for the team, why not give them a shoutout in a meeting?

Sure, they might get a bit bashful, but they’ve worked hard. Don’t they deserve for the rest of the team to know how great they are?

When it comes to creative employee recognition ideas, something as simple as verbal acknowledgement can go a long way.

A day off for their birthday

Giving employees a day off for their birthday shows that you value their time. Make it clear you don’t expect them to work on a day that should be spent how they want, not how their employer chooses.

Decorate their desk for their birthday

If you give employees a day off for their birthday, you can do this the day before or after.

Balloons, streamers, a sash or a hat are all fun ways to show employees you appreciate them. And of course, it makes for some fun social media content.

You could also get them their favorite treat for everyone to munch on and celebrate as another creative employee recognition ideas option.

Celebrate them on social media

If an employee uses social media, why not give them a shoutout?

You could put together a montage of some of their achievements (if you already take lots of photos/videos) or write something heartfelt about the difference they make to the team.

Don’t just do this when someone is leaving! By then it’s too late.

Instead, use it to celebrate milestone achievements, special occasions, or even have an “employee of the week” feature where you celebrate someone different each week. These types of creative employee recognition ideas can make team members feel truly special.

Offer sabbaticals

Even if employees love their roles, that doesn’t mean they don’t still need a break sometimes. But it can be scary to go on a long-term break if you don’t know that you’ll have a job when you get back.

Allowing employees the chance to take a sabbatical shows them that you understand how hard they work, that they deserve a break, and that you value them enough to want them to come back after they’ve recharged.

It’s one of the creative employee recognition ideas that will truly set you apart from the competition.

Give extra PTO to long-term employees

Why not reward your long-term employees with extra days off based on how long they’ve worked with you?

This could help with retention too, as employees will want to stay to get the extra paid time off. Plus, those who’ve got it won’t want to give it up.

Offer training opportunities 

Employees understand better than ever that learning is a lifelong pursuit if they want to be at the forefront of their industry.

More than half want to develop skills that will put them in a better position for new opportunities in their current role, but only 32% are satisfied with their employer’s L&D perks. 

39% will likely leave within a year for a role with better learning opportunities. So if you’re not implementing creative employee recognition ideas that support your team’s future development, you’re risking high turnover and expensive hiring costs.

Connect employees with their colleagues

Work can be isolating, especially for underrepresented talent or people working at home.

Connecting employees with their colleagues using a platform like Workrowd helps them network, learn new skills, and discover new opportunities. It’s a powerful tool in your employee recognition and retention arsenal.

Get in touch to book your free demo and find out more.

Conclusion

Employee appreciation doesn’t have to involve grand gestures. But implementing some creative employee recognition ideas to show your team that you value them giving you their time and energy each day helps keep them motivated to serve you and your customers.

Ready to put some of these creative employee recognition ideas into action? Workrowd has the tools you need to make it a breeze. From setting up a dedicated space for recognition to monitoring employee feedback with automated surveys, you can do more in less time.

Which frees you to come up with even more creative employee recognition ideas. Drop us a note to schedule some time to talk at hello@workrowd.com today.