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Employee Engagement

6 engagement activities to boost collaboration in the workplace

Whether your employees work in an office or remotely, collaboration in the workplace can make or break your business.

It’s not just good for engagement and morale: organizational silos cause 67% of collaboration failures. So you need to do something to break down those walls if you want your teams to succeed.

It’s not easy, though. 41% of employees feel it’s difficult to collaborate across departments, and 56% of remote team managers struggle to foster collaboration. Something needs to change. In 2026, when there’s more technology than ever to get us to connect, it shouldn’t be this hard.

Here are our tips on how to boost collaboration in the workplace by building a more collaborative culture:

Ask employees for feedback

Without your employees, you don’t have a business. You need them to be productive to do their jobs, and collaboration in the workplace is a key part of productivity. So why wouldn’t you ask them what they think?

Asking how they feel about collaboration within your organization, and ways you could improve it, will give you insights you’d never considered before.

Employees won’t always tell their team leads what’s going wrong until it’s too late, and supervisors may not think to ask to prevent it.

Sending regular surveys to find out can give you more insights that could prevent issues from spiraling, Or stop them from happening in the first place.

With Workrowd, you can automate the sending of employee feedback surveys. So then you get regular responses. The platform also analyzes the results for you, meaning you get faster insights, too. Get in touch to find out more.

Organize group gatherings

Your employee groups encourage collaboration in the workplace between team members from different departments. They can get to know them without the pressure of work, fostering better relationships and therefore better collaboration. Why not take things a step further?

Organizing gatherings where members from all groups can connect encourages those groups to work together, too. They could meet up around a particular speaker or just for a networking event.

If you really wanted to encourage collaboration in the workplace, you could give them the budget to organize the event themselves. This gives them additional responsibility and forces teams to collaborate and compromise, teaching them new skills and growing their network internally and externally.

If you’re not there yet with your groups and think they could be working harder for your business, Workrowd gives you everything you need. Keep all your employee initiatives together in one place, making them easier for team members to find and sign up for.

Use focus groups to inform new products and services

Employee focus groups could give you insights you’d never considered before that differentiate you from your competitors.

For example, disabled employees can tell you when something isn’t accessible. This matters whether your brand is built on accessibility or not: accessible products and services work for everyone, increasing your potential customer base and therefore the amount of money you can make. But without asking someone who has accessibility challenges, you may never spot the gaps.

Focus groups can also stop you from making huge faux-pas, such as the one that Starbucks fell into in South Korea recently with a marketing campaign that backfired.

Have regular check-ins

Regular check-ins mean you can solve problems before they become deeper issues. Letting things spiral can mean that tasks need to be redone, costing time and money.

But be sensible with your timing. 9am on a Monday morning isn’t it. Nobody’s caffeine has kicked in yet. Team members haven’t caught up with their emails. Those of us who aren’t morning people are still creaky from rolling out of bed five minutes earlier.

Do it at a more reasonable time, that allows people to catch up and remind themselves what happened last week, like 10am.

Alternatively, have the catch-up on a Friday afternoon. Let’s be honest: hardly anyone does anything on a Friday afternoon anyway. So a meeting to cover what’s been done, and what needs to be done next week, is actually perfect for a Friday afternoon.

That way, you can hit the ground running on Monday morning, no meeting required. Resulting in better collaboration in the workplace with less wasted time.

Evaluate your tech stack

Is your tech stack actually helping employees do their jobs, or is it making their jobs harder?

Sometimes tools that do more are simply too complicated. Not everyone has the time or patience to learn them. More is not always better.

Your team members are the ones using the tools, so you need to know what they think. You could send a survey or ask in an all-hands depending on your team size. 

The more responses you have, the easier it is to get a consensus. It might be that they need more training, or it might be that you need to migrate to a different tool.

Ultimately, your tools should be improving collaboration in the workplace; not holding your team back.

Do a team-building activity with no devices

Relying on AI from beginning to end of any process is asking for trouble. It can’t think critically, and it can’t always problem solve. Humans still need to check its outputs. (See previous story about South Korea and Starbucks.) 

But when so many people now rely on AI to do work for them — and are encouraged to do so — how do they hone the creativity and critical thinking skills that make them good at their jobs?

Team-building activities where technological devices aren’t allowed force your employees to use their brains and lean into their own strengths. They have to get creative because there’s no other way to problem solve. Perfect for reinforcing their existing skills, developing new ones, and learning what their team members’ strengths are so that they can apply them when they’re back in the office. Not to mention boosting collaboration in the workplace.

Activity options are endless. It could be anything from an outdoor challenge to games like Pictionary. Even jigsaw puzzles can help expand problem solving and collaboration skills.

Conclusion 

Encouraging collaboration in the workplace doesn’t have to be expensive or overcomplicated. It’s as simple as asking what your employees want and getting ideas from them. They’re your most valuable asset, after all. And they’re the ones your decisions will impact. So why not get them involved?

If you’d like to find out what your employees really think, try Workrowd. Send automated surveys at specific milestones and get the responses analyzed automatically — giving you more time to act on the responses. Get in touch to book your free demo.

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Employee Engagement

Presenteeism in the workplace hurts your business: how to fix it

Presenteesim in the workplace costs US businesses $150 billion. That’s 10 times as much as absenteeism. When 90% of employees say they worked while sick during the previous year, something needs to change.

Forcing employees to feel like they have to work when they’re too sick to do so is detrimental not just to their health, but to your business, too.

Recently, I saw a post on LinkedIn from a manager, berating a new employee for taking a lunch break. Clue’s in the name. It’s a lunch break.

In fact, in some states, it’s illegal for employees to not take a break. They might be able to waive those rights, but your average office worker really doesn’t need to. Few things are ever that important.

How does presenteesim in the workplace impact your business?

Expecting your employees to be glued to their desks, whether they work remotely or in the office, is asking for burnout. It’s asking for problems to be solved more slowly, and disagreements to escalate because no one has had time to cool off.

It leads to a toxic culture that harms your employer brand and your business outcomes. 

You can’t move faster than your competition if the words on the screen look blurry to your burned-out team.

Staring at a problem for too long can make us so agitated we can’t see the solution right in front of us. Sometimes all it takes is a walk to get some lunch to realize the solution was simple all along.

On top of that, forcing employees to sit at a desk all day is bad management. It shows you don’t trust your employees to do what you hired them to do, which means they’ll feel less comfortable talking to you in general.

Some people can’t sit at a desk all day, either. For instance, if they’re neurodivergent or have chronic health issues. Some people shouldn’t sit at a desk when they’re sick, such as with a cold or the flu. They risk passing those germs on to their colleagues and taking longer to heal themselves.

Employees aren’t robots and you shouldn’t treat them like they are. Presenteeism in the workplace simply isn’t worth it. The downsides seriously outweigh the benefits.

What to do about presenteeism in the workplace

Be clear about expectations in job descriptions

There’s nothing worse than a job description that says one thing, and a company culture that expects something else.

Your whole hiring team should align on what they expect from new hires.

Sure, you might attract more candidates by sugar-coating expectations, but are those people going to be the right fit? Or will you end up re-hiring because that poor fit quits during onboarding?

Hiring shouldn’t be about how many applicants you get; it should be about attracting the right types of people for your organization.

You’ll quickly see presenteeism in the workplace from people who start a role then find out it’s different from what you sold them.

Trust your employees

If someone isn’t on Slack or Teams, don’t assume the worst. It’s actually really distracting when you’re trying to concentrate and that little red dot is staring at you. The modern workplace is making it more and more difficult to get into a state of flow, and endless notifications — and the expectation that someone must be online during all working hours— is a big culprit.

As long as someone gets the task done, isn’t that what matters? 

If you don’t trust your employees to do their job, that says something about your management style or your hiring process. Are you being overly controlling? Or are you hiring the wrong people for your company culture?

Focus on results, not time at a desk. Sitting at a desk doesn’t mean someone is getting work done. It means they’re in a chair. What should matter is an employee generating results for your business.

Time at a desk is measurement of presenteeism in the workplace, not of output.

Don’t make assumptions

Someone might be showing up at work but unable to concentrate because they’re going through a difficult time at home. Or maybe they’re sick. Or someone they love just died.

A lot of companies don’t offer compassionate leave, and they’re not going to be sympathetic to a hay fever flare up. So what do you expect employees to do? Of course they’ll show up and put little to no effort in; you’re forcing them to work when they’re in no state to.

These unreasonable expectations are a direct route to losing time and money to presenteeism in the workplace.

Accept that energy comes in waves

We’ve all felt it. Some days we’re super motivated and get all our tasks done by midday. Other days, just getting out of bed takes Herculean effort.

Remembering that your employees can’t show up with the same energy every day will help you treat them with more compassion and mean you get more out of them on the good days.

As I write this, the UK is in the middle of a huge heatwave. Not only is it considerably hotter than average, but it’s also humid. And our houses, which don’t have air conditioning, were built to retain heat. Said houses also have no time to cool down because we’re getting 16-17 hours of daylight.

Stuffy weather like this affects our ability to think. Plus it can make health conditions like asthma worse because humid air is harder to breathe in. It’s no wonder everything ground to a halt all week. Many people still logging into work have been prime examples of presenteeism in the workplace.

Let them switch off (and encourage their hobbies)

Employees deserve to have lives outside of work. Otherwise, why are they even working? They have no skin in the game when it comes to your business; they get a flat rate and that’s it. So why would they put extra effort in? Especially when some jobs right now don’t pay employees enough to cover basic living costs, let alone have fun?

Someone having diverse interests can benefit your company, too. The most innovative people in history had hobbies that were seemingly disconnected. The world’s first computer programmer, Ada Lovelace, was both a poet and an engineer, for example. Most people wouldn’t connect those two, and I doubt you’d find many people with that combination even now.

New hobbies and experiences can trigger new ideas and help us see things differently. So then as well as helping us recharge, they help us innovate, too. Without other outlets to keep them engaged, you’ll see much higher rates of presenteeism in the workplace.

Want to support your employees’ interests? ERGs are the perfect solution. Team members can connect with other employees who share their backgrounds, goals, or interests. Using Workrowd, they’re easy to manage and measure results from, too. Get in touch to find out more.

Conclusion

Your employees are human, and that’s what makes them good at their jobs. They bring human creativity, innovation, insights, and empathy that AI never can.

And much like how you can spend your AI limit for the month, employees have limited capacity too. Presenteeism in the workplace makes them more like bots with no original thought. Understanding that, and treating them with compassion rather than expecting the worst, will help you get more out of them in the short- and long-term.

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Employee Engagement

How to improve employee engagement on a budget in 2026

Welcome to part 2 of how to improve employee engagement on a budget. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to check out part 1.

Don’t use phrases like “let’s do more with less”

This is code for “we want you to work really hard, embrace AI, and burn out either way.” It’s not a healthy way to work and it screams that you only care about shareholder profits and not employee wellbeing.

Not to mention, it isn’t sustainable.

The more you push someone to do more with less, the more they’re going to stress about how they can actually do it, and the less they’ll be able to do. Pressure can not only be demotivating, but it can create a full-on block so that someone can’t function at all.

Remember that supporting employee wellbeing is still great for productivity. It’s also great for how to improve employee engagement.

Encourage team members to take breaks, take PTO, and change things up once in a while instead of focusing solely on one task. If they’re working on a big, complex project, give them some time to work on a hackathon or tag in on a larger team initiative instead, for example.

Consider the weather

As I write this, at the end of May, the UK is about to enter a heatwave. As a fairly mild country, unlike Europe, we have no laws around maximum working temperatures. We didn’t use to need them. 

But humans can’t work in hot temperatures. We can’t work if it’s too cold, either. It affects our concentration, our mood, and our physical health. 

Rather than have employees’ muscles seize up from the cold, or have them faint from heatstroke, put adequate provisions in place to protect them.

Don’t wait for the law. Prioritize their health now. They’ll reward you with their loyalty. And you’ll see positive returns when it comes to how to improve employee engagement.

Embrace remote work

There’s been an increasing trend of businesses advertising jobs as remote, only for the description to later state that it’s several days in the office each week, or worse — the candidate not finding out until they get to the interview.

This is a huge waste of everyone’s time. It’s bad for the employer brand, and it really damages a candidate’s mental health in an already difficult job market.

Increasing your applicant numbers, or reaching more people, isn’t worth it if you’re reaching the wrong people.

If a job is remote, let that employee actually work from wherever. Give them the tools to do it properly — a laptop, email, and ways to connect with their colleagues. It doesn’t take a lot. This small step can have a big impact on how to improve employee engagement.

Set up employee groups

When employees are connected, they’re 68% less likely to feel burned out at work. That’s a massive difference.

Employee groups help your people connect with those who have similar backgrounds or goals. They’re a way to improve relationships between your team members, helping them get more done and creating a more welcoming work environment. These improved connections can also help employee confidence.

However, you want to make sure that you’ve designed your employee groups in a way that makes them simple and easy to use.

That’s where Workrowd comes in.

Using Workrowd, you, and your employees, can get the most from your employee groups. They can see what’s coming up and engage with colleagues. Your leaders, meanwhile, can see engagement metrics that give them insights into what’s working and what isn’t.

Intrigued? Get in touch to book your free demo.

Actually have an open-door policy, not an “open-door policy”

If you have any open-door policy, does anyone actually use it?

If they don’t, they probably don’t believe that it’s actually an open-door policy.

You see, having a policy, and having one people feel able to use, are two different things.

Putting in the effort is worth it, though, as 85% of employees feel that effective internal communications motivate them to be more engaged at work.

Managers need to come across as approachable and human, otherwise no one will feel like they can talk to them about anything.

Some of this is in how they respond to questions or concerns, but another aspect is about how managers handle everyday interactions. If they come across as abrupt, harsh, or judgmental — even in a so-called jokey way — employees won’t feel like they can talk to them.

“Banter” is not an excuse to be rude to someone. This isn’t just about how to communicate, though; it’s also about how to improve employee engagement.

Ask for feedback

Showing employees you value them is key to how to improve employee engagement.

One way to do so is to ask for feedback. Collect the answers to questions you may not want to hear, and do so anonymously — you’ll get more accurate data.

Back when I worked full-time, a company I worked for used to send an annual feedback survey.

We’ll ignore the fact they sent this via an Excel spreadsheet — it was over a decade ago — as that wasn’t even the worst part.

The worst part was that the spreadsheet was sent by HR, but we sent it back to line managers. For them to read first.

So it was never anonymous. 

If you had an issue with your manager, you didn’t feel able to speak up. The whole thing felt like a corporate box-ticking exercise. Everyone lied on it.

Asking employees for feedback only works if they can give you useful information. Anonymity offers a safety net for those who may not feel able to speak up otherwise.

And trust me, no matter how great your company is, if it’s big enough, someone will have a problem they don’t feel able to discuss.

Need help sending better employee surveys? How do automated surveys sound? With Workrowd, you can send automated feedback surveys at specific milestones to see how you, and your team, are doing. Get in touch to find out more.

Conduct exit interviews

Do exit interviews work? Or are people too afraid to burn bridges that they don’t feel able to be honest? I know I’ve done that. I bit my tongue, not explaining the real reason I was leaving a job, or why I was so frustrated. Even now, I still regret it.

The only way your employees will feel truly able to be honest is if you’ve built a culture of transparency and honesty. 

It’s not about getting them to read Radical Candor, or some other book, it’s about everyone within your company embodying psychological safety and all that that means. Ensuring people can be honest is crucial when it comes to how to improve employee engagement.

Conclusion 

A really important part of how to improve employee engagement is understanding people’s needs. Do they work better remotely? Do they feel like they can communicate with you — and their colleagues? What can you do to improve those processes? None of these things require huge budgets, but they do require understanding and empathy. Ultimately, that’s what employee engagement on a budget boils down to: treating your employees with empathy.

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Employee Engagement

How to increase employee engagement on a budget in 2026

In today’s ever-changing business world, it can be hard to know how to increase employee engagement. But if you want your organization to succeed, keeping engagement high is essential.

When employee engagement increases, companies experience an 81% decrease in employee absenteeism.

Companies with engaged workforces are also 21% more profitable and have 17% higher productivity.

And 71% of executives feel that employee engagement is a huge contributor to success.

The stat that stood out to me the most, though, was this: US companies lose between $450-550 billion per year because of disengaged employees. Just one disengaged employee could cost a company $3,400 in lost productivity for every $10,000 of salary.

So whatever your company goals are, employee engagement still matters. And you don’t have to spend a fortune to keep it strong.

Here’s part 1 of how to increase employee engagement on a budget in 2026. Keep an eye out for part 2 next week!

Update your onboarding

Your onboarding is the foundation on which your entire employee relationship is built. If it’s messy or disorganized, employees will associate those traits with the rest of your business, too. They’ll also be more likely to leave, forcing you to go through the costly hiring process again.

While tools can help you organize your onboarding process, you also need to periodically review it.

No matter how great your onboarding was when you put it together, it doesn’t take much for things to become out of date. It could be that the company values have changed, leaders have moved on, or society at large has shifted.

If you have a formal process that includes guides for employees to read, make a note to review them at least once a year.

If someone leaves, try to update their details as soon as their replacement is hired to keep it fresh. This will also show your new hires your company’s attention to detail.

Out-of-date information makes you look slow and behind the times. No business wants those traits associated with it.

Also in your onboarding process, introduce employees to their colleagues.

There’s nothing worse than being the new kid, needing something from a colleague you’ve never spoken to before, and getting ghosted because they don’t care about your deadline.

If that person has already spoken to you, they’re more likely to care and therefore more likely to respond when you need them to.

Those little interactions before you need something go a long way to improving employee communication. They’re also important to factor in when you’re thinking about how to increase employee engagement.

Update — or create — your policies

As well as keeping your onboarding up to date, you need to keep your policies up to date, too. If you don’t have any yet, it’s far better to create them before you need them than have to scramble to create something because suddenly you do need it.

Things like:

  • Sick pay/benefits
  • Maternity leave
  • Paternity leave
  • Bereavement leave
  • Death in service

The more of these you cover now, the more protected your business — and your employees — will be if the unexpected happens. Knowing everyone is taken care of in this way is important for how to increase employee engagement as well.

Plus, with the advent of AI to help you put these policies together, there really is no excuse to not have them in place if you have more than a couple of employees.

Act as a mediator

A leader’s job should be to mediate any conflicts before they spiral. That requires them to keep their own emotions in check and read other people’s.

It doesn’t take much to start finger-pointing when there’s a disagreement, or for things to escalate unnecessarily. The right leader can prevent things from escalating by interpreting what people really feel and what the best course of action is.

There’s no need for anyone to be rude to each other just because they disagree on something.

Managers also need to lead by example here, by remaining calm and keeping their emotions in check when they disagree with someone.

Not only does this make for a calmer, more welcoming work environment, it also means employees with conditions like PTSD or C-PTSD are less likely to be triggered in the workplace.

These conditions can happen because of workplace stress, bullying, or pressure. So be sure you’re mindful of that and remember that your actions have consequences. This is key when it comes to how to increase employee engagement.

Train your managers on people management, not just technical skills

More than half of managers never receive any formal management training. It’s no wonder some people are so bad at it.

Whether it’s micromanagement, workplace bullying, saying something offensive, making the atmosphere unwelcoming, not answering questions, or something else, a manager’s attitude has a huge impact on an employee’s ability to do their job.

That’s why training them is so important.

Soft skills like communication and empathy don’t always come naturally, and it’s really easy to fall into bad habits with them or take them for granted. We’ve all done it when we’re busy or stressed.

Management training can help managers spot these signs before they have a ripple effect that damages employee wellbeing and company productivity. Both of which are central to how to increase employee engagement.

Don’t shy from negative or uncomfortable topics 

Why is society so afraid of negative emotions?

Bottling up emotions like anger leads to more issues, at work, at home, and in our heads. 

Expressing anger in a healthy, constructive way (like poetry, or dance, or even just mindful walking) is freeing. 

If a colleague has annoyed you, sit with it. Don’t impulsively take it out on someone else. Ask yourself why you’re annoyed. Is it something they did, or did they push a button from your past?

While being “triggered” is starting to feel like an overused concept, it is a thing. We all have our triggers, and it’s important to understand what ours are so that we don’t take them out on other people. Especially when we’re in positions of power.

A little self-analysis goes a long way when it comes to how to increase employee engagement. It’s a step people rarely take, though.  

Do something about workplace bullying

Workplace bullies often get away with their bad behavior because they’re good at one element of their job, or they hold a lot of power so no one will speak up against them.

But acting like they don’t exist and no one has ever been bullied in your organization has consequences.

I was bullied at work and stayed silent for years.

Even now, I still struggle in work environments and with managers because I assume that they’re going to be controlling, not trust my judgement, and micromanage me.

When actually, I excelled when I had a manager who listened to me and trusted my judgement. We trusted each other’s feedback and showed each other empathy and compassion. But her type of leadership is sadly too rare.

Don’t ruin someone’s life because you’re too afraid to stand up to a bully. Brushing it under the rug doesn’t do anyone any good. And it certainly doesn’t help you when it comes to how to increase employee engagement.

Conclusion 

When you think about how to increase employee engagement, it doesn’t require a huge budget. Instead, it requires an understanding of your people and what they need from you. All that takes is a little listening — and acting on what you discover.

To ensure your employees can access what they need, and to find out what they really think, try Workrowd. Get in touch to book your free demo today.

Stay tuned for part 2 next week!

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Employee Engagement

10 tips for how to keep a global team engaged and build culture

One of the criticisms around remote work is that it’s really difficult to keep employees engaged. And that becomes even more complicated when you’re thinking about how to keep a global team engaged. But what if it actually isn’t that hard, it just requires a rethink of how you’re operating?

Running a remote team—especially a global one—is very different from keeping an office-based team engaged. Your team members each experience the working day very differently. What’s more, there aren’t the same opportunities for casual encounters that you get when someone goes to grab coffee. Instead, you have to create opportunities for those encounters.

It’s important to do so, too. Lost productivity cost the global economy $428 billion last year. The overall employee engagement level is just 21%.

For different types of working, engagement currently sits at:

  • 19% for employees who work on-site and can’t work remotely
  • 23% for employees who work on-site and can work remotely
  • 23% for hybrid employees
  • 31% for remote employees

If you’re forcing your employees to work solely from your offices, not only do you risk missing out on great talent, but you’re also sacrificing employee engagement and productivity.

So here are some tips for how to keep a global team engaged:

Introduce people

When I first joined a previous role, my manager organized introductory meetings with anyone I might need to work with. Low-stakes, no-pressure discussions. Just so that they knew I’d started, who I was, what I could do, and so we could come up with ways to work together.

At first, I wasn’t sure about this concept. There were a lot of people to meet.

But having those initial meetings meant that it became easier for me to talk to colleagues if I needed something. And in an age where many coworkers won’t meet in person for months if not years (or even ever!), making introductions early can be a game changer for how to keep a global team engaged.

Make meetings a thing but not A Thing

If you have an async culture, then suddenly start organizing meetings, employees may worry that they’re in trouble.

Instead, meetings should be a regular occurrence so that employees feel comfortable and don’t start panicking.

Having standing meetings also ensures that they can come in prepared, rather than like deer in headlights.

When employees don’t have in-person interactions to rely on for context, these sorts of touch points can help. Keeping everyone informed and on an even keel is key when looking at how to keep a global team engaged.

Have regular check-ins

If they wanted to get some steps in, they could do this over the phone and go for a walk at the same time. This is great for creativity and a nice screen break, too.

Managers need regular catchups scheduled with their employees. Ideally, this should be a recurring meeting.

These regular meetings keep everyone on schedule. They also mean employees can ask for help if they get stuck. It creates a two-way conversation in real time, which can feel more personal than a quick message.

This human-to-human connection can go a long way when thinking about how to keep a global team engaged.

Remember: technology is your friend

You’ve already got plenty of tools for organizing your (likely async) workflows. Why aren’t you using the same or similar technology to encourage connection?

For instance, you could:

  • Host a virtual quiz on Zoom
  • Post a poll on Teams
  • Get employees to share their LinkedIn profiles so that everyone is connected beyond the work ecosystem
  • Share Spotify playlists
  • Have a topic of the week on Slack or Workrowd

All of these are little things that don’t take much effort, but create a greater sense of connection and belonging between colleagues.

They may seem insignificant, but can actually make a big difference when it comes to how to keep a global team engaged.

(Virtual) watercooler chat

Many businesses have a virtual watercooler, but how many businesses post in there regularly?

This space is the perfect place for employees to showcase what they’re interested in and find people who also like the same music, movies, etc.

It can also introduce them to new interests, which is another way for employees to get to know one another. It’s an easy, and low pressure way to bridge geographic divides. And a great tool in your arsenal of how to keep a global team engaged.

Don’t forget breaks

It’s really easy, when working remotely, for employees to forget to take a structured break because they’re so busy. Their notifications keep going off, they want to do just one more thing, etc.

But without a structured break, they don’t get the same amount of time to recharge. This can lead to errors and increase employee stress.

So, encourage employees to go take a break, especially if it’s a nice day where they can take a lunchtime walk. 

If they work outdoors in a place where hot or cold temperatures impact their health and safety, this is even more important. The weather can dramatically reduce their energy levels and potentially make things dangerous for their colleagues.

So remember that building in breathers isn’t just important for workplace wellness. It’s also essential for how to keep a global team engaged.

Respect cultural differences

There’s a recent viral post from a council in the UK. The council posted wishing people a happy Eid before a happy Lent, and someone replied with a critical comment regarding the order of the posts.

In a very matter-of-fact way, the council’s social media manager replied stating that Eid started first. That’s why they posted it first.

By creating posts to celebrate different cultures, it shows that your business respects and understands the different holidays your employees and customers celebrate. It makes them feel included and seen in a very subtle way.

And calling out the people who criticize this shows your business is educated and not just paying lip service. This helps prevent future comments, and could just go viral on social media (so great for brand building).

Little things like this are easy to overlook, but can actually make a difference when considering how to keep a global team engaged.

Understand cultural context

The joke is that the UK and the US are two countries divided by the same language. As well as using different spellings and grammar rules, we also think differently.

For example, the US is a low-context culture. People say what they mean and they’re pretty upfront.

France, meanwhile, is a high-context culture, so there’s a lot of subtext reading required to understand what someone means. (Emily in Paris does not reflect this.)

The UK sits somewhere in the middle, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it becomes more low-context as we’re exposed to more US media and content because of the internet.

Being mindful of these things allows you to adapt your communication style based on whom you’re talking to. If in doubt, the simplest thing is to write in plain language for a low-context culture. That way, it’s less likely that people will misinterpret your meaning.

Cultural competence is an essential component on the list of how to keep a global team engaged.

Organize periodic meetups

Meetups don’t work for every business, but for some, meeting up once a year helps people develop the relationships they need to grow in their careers. It can also help with problem solving and innovation, and even lead to promotions.

Not to mention seriously helping your case when it comes to how to keep a global team engaged.

Set up employee groups

One of the best ways to support your global workforce, connect them with their colleagues, and help them grow in their careers, is with employee groups.

When your employee groups are organized with a tool that’s easy for employees to use, and run by people who want to do it, everyone is more likely to take part and be engaged. And that’s especially important when it comes to how to keep a global team engaged, as your team members won’t be seeing each other as frequently.

Workrowd can help you get more from your employee groups. From feedback surveys to data analysis, it’s got everything you need to re-engage your workforce.

Conclusion 

When thinking about how to keep a global team engaged, it isn’t as complicated as it seems. Really, it’s about understanding different cultures, using the right technology, and creating moments for employees to connect so that they don’t feel isolated from their coworkers.

If you’d like help connecting your employees with colleagues, why not use Workrowd to organize your employee events, programs, and groups? That way, everyone has easy access to every part of your employee experience that’s available to them, and you always know what it is and isn’t working. Get in touch today to find out more.

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Employee Engagement

How to turn the tide on job hugging and reengage your team

Confession: I hate the term “job hugging.” The term and its definition don’t match. Hugging implies something cozy and comforting. Job hugging is someone staying in their role longer than they want to out of a need for financial security. Not exactly a cozy or comforting image. And definitely not comforting or cozy for your business.

That being said, it’s kind of unavoidable in this climate. There are fewer jobs out there, which means more applicants for each job. Plus, it’s easier for someone to find a job when they’re already employed.

But in an ideal world, you want people to stay because they enjoy working for you, not because they need the paycheck and health insurance.

So how can you reengage employees who might be job hugging? Or better yet, prevent them from doing it in the first place?

Why “job hugging” isn’t the good thing it sounds like

Sure, you save money on hiring costs when employees stick around. But if someone is only staying because they’re worried about financial security, do you really think they’re going to be engaged?

Or are they more likely to do the bare minimum to stay under the radar and not get caught—or let go?

They’re going to do whatever makes them feel secure, which means no experimentation, no innovation, and no real feeling of psychological safety at work. They’ll be too afraid of losing their jobs and coming out with no healthcare, no retirement account, and no prospects.

Despite this, only 7% view job hugging as negative. 49% of people view it positively and 44% view it neutrally. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it. But is it ideal for your business? Those employees who stick around aren’t necessarily loyal, they might just feel backed into a corner.

The employee risks of job hugging

When employees stay put due to job hugging, they risk missing out on higher pay and career advancement. At the same time, they’re more likely to burn out.

28% of employees would leave for higher pay and better benefits, while 18% would go elsewhere for a better work/life balance. Another 14% would leave for remote work opportunities. There seem to be fewer remote opportunities around these days, too, meaning employees will stay at the companies that offer it.

How to re-engage your team and limit job hugging

So, what can you do to reengage employees who might be job hugging?

Offer flexible work

Like I said: there seem to be far fewer remote work opportunities advertised these days. This means employees who can’t afford the high cost of living in cities miss out on roles purely because they want the (sometimes) lower costs, slower pace of life, or lack of pollution that comes with living outside of a major metro.

Just because someone prefers a less urban setting, that doesn’t mean they’re not the perfect fit for a role. Knowledge isn’t exclusive to city living.

By being flexible around when employees work, and focusing on how well they work instead, you’ll get more from them and avoid job hugging. They’ll feel more trusted to do their jobs and therefore work harder because they want to repay that trust.

Provide training—and encourage them to grow

Many workers who aren’t job hugging leave for new challenges, but what if you could offer new opportunities? What if you trained your current employees to move teams, or get a promotion?

It’s a simple solution to reengage someone who has tons of internal knowledge you can’t afford to lose.

Offer the market rate, not the bare minimum

Employees shouldn’t have to change jobs to get better pay, yet that’s why most people leave.

By offering your best workers more, you’re going to reward their loyalty and keep them engaged for longer. All without risking them checking out and simply job hugging.

Support their health

From health insurance to mental health counseling, supporting employee wellness is an effective way to keep your people engaged. There are the obvious things, like healthcare, but also less obvious, like additional maternity leave or bereavement leave.

The more you can do to make an employee feel like you value their contributions, the more they’ll stick around because they want to, not because they feel like they have no choice and are job hugging.

Connect them with colleagues

We don’t talk about how important employee connection is as much as we did a few years ago. That doesn’t mean it isn’t still important, though.

If people feel isolated from their colleagues, or like their colleagues dislike or don’t appreciate them, why would they want to put any effort in at work? They’ll simply mail it in while job hugging until something better comes along.

It’s not even about remote vs in-office—it’s a case of using the right tools and techniques to support your team members.

For instance, employee groups can connect colleagues with shared interests or backgrounds across the globe. Done well, they can help employees to learn new skills, meet new people, and grow in their careers.

They’re often difficult to manage, though.

That’s where Workrowd comes in. Using Workrowd, you can manage all your employee initiatives in one place. That way, employees can easily find the right groups, programs, and events for them. They’ll be more inclined to participate, so then you’ll get more out of your employee experience investments and so will your team.

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

Conclusion  

Job hugging puts businesses at risk of disengagement. In the current climate, it may be inevitable. That doesn’t mean you can’t reengage employees who feel disconnected and stay for the sake of security, though.

Providing them with the right supports, from networking to growth, ensures your employees want to work for you, rather than feeling like they have to.

If you’re ready to step up your efforts to reduce job hugging in your organization, learn how Workrowd can help you keep engagement high and employees happy.

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Employee Engagement

7 employee engagement trends for 2026

2025 is coming to a close. Which means it’s time to explore what happened over the past year and what’s on the rise in terms of employee engagement trends for 2026.

Some emerging trends may seem surprising, but when you dig into the data it makes a lot of sense.

So, without further ado, here’s what to watch out for when it comes to employee engagement trends in 2026:

DEI

Yes, despite all the backlash at the start of 2025, DEI still matters. It’s a key differentiator for businesses looking to hire the best talent and it still leads to better business outcomes.

Diverse businesses earn 2.5x the cash flow of their less-diverse competitors, and diverse teams are 35% more productive.

This is because having diversity on your teams fosters diversity of ideas. This also comes with a side of creativity, innovation, and enhanced problem-solving. So it should come as no surprise that this remains one of the employee engagement trends for 2026.

Belonging 

91% of employees who feel like they belong at work are engaged. This is compared to a measly 20% of those who feel like they don’t belong.

Creating a sense of belonging is more challenging when you have a remote or hybrid workforce, but it isn’t impossible.

Tools like Workrowd help you connect employees with each other. At the same time, leaders who have a remote-first attitude and look for ways to foster inclusivity regardless of where someone works will create an environment that’s more appealing to everyone.

Employee groups

Employee groups are one of the most powerful ways to support your team members. They enable employees to connect with colleagues from similar backgrounds and experiences.

When they’re well-run, they’re not just great for networking. These communities can also support employee career progression and business growth. Which explains why they’re high on the list of employee engagement trends for 2026.

Learning and development

Not everyone wants to progress through traditional career paths. This is particularly true for younger generations. They’ve noticed that Millennials were promised they could have everything if they just worked hard enough, only to experience wage stagnation.

What’s the point of working hard if the financial rewards never come?

That doesn’t mean anyone wants to feel stuck, though. Your people still want to learn and grow.

There are lots of ways you can support your employee learning and development. From employee groups to development days, to coaching and mentoring, helping your team learn new skills is among the most important employee engagement trends for 2026. 

Internal progression and mobility

As I’ve mentioned, not everyone wants to progress in their careers in a traditional way. If your employees enjoy working for you and want to stay, offering different progression opportunities could be the best way to retain your top talent and internal knowledge.

It doesn’t have to be through traditional employee to manager career paths, either.

You could offer other options such as the ability to move into a different role in another department. Or, they could become a subject matter expert within their current area.

Several people I know have successfully moved from one department to another. The took their transferable soft skills and growth mindsets with them. It better played to their strengths, making them happier at work and enabling them to grow faster.

So many skills are transferable. From marketing to sales, or QA to development and beyond. Unfortunately that seems to be less and less appreciated.

But it’s often our external experiences and soft skills that lead to the greatest innovations. It can also identify gaps that you might not otherwise have noticed.

Ensuring your team members are positioned to stay with you long-term not only boosts retention but is central to the employee engagement trends for 2026.

Bringing back the human touch (with AI’s help)

AI and technology’s greatest strength is streamlining the boring tasks no one wants to do.

By streamlining those, it allows you to spend more time on human tasks like providing candidates with feedback after an interview, or solving employee issues. AI is top of mind for many people, so it certainly takes a place on the list of employee engagement trends for 2026.

Taking a proactive approach

So much of HR can be reactive. With the increased use of AI and other technologies though, it’s easier than ever for you to take a proactive approach instead.

For example, if you’re hiring for a new role, instead of posting to job boards and hoping for the best, you could get hiring managers to call several of their contacts to see if they, or someone they know, might be interested.

This leads to candidates coming in at a higher stage of awareness than someone who’s applied via a job board. It can therefore lead to greater success in your hiring efforts.

Likewise, when it comes to solving employee challenges, actively sending regular feedback surveys can help you spot challenges before they become something that’s harder to fix.

Using Workrowd, you can automate your employee feedback surveys and track the results in real-time with your easy-to-read dashboards. Giving you more time to act on the findings instead of having to administer the survey and wade through the data yourself.

Bridging the generational divide

“They’re so lazy! They have no work ethic!”

Sound familiar?

It’s now a common refrain against Gen Z, but older generations said the exact same thing about Millennials in the 2000s and 2010s.

Now Millennials are the burnout generation.

Millennials and Gen Z-ers want different things from work, but that doesn’t mean their work ethic is low.

I mean, it takes a certain type of person to write a 1,000-word essay on why they want to work for a bakery chain (see video). A role that previous generations could’ve gotten with a polite word and a handshake.

Not to mention, many new graduates are now applying for hundreds of roles only to get ghosted.

Sounds to me like there isn’t a work ethic problem, but a generational divide (again).

Younger generations—who struggled through Covid, global warming, and the rise of AI during their formative years—are getting the blame for the consequences of problems they didn’t create.

We need to remember that, regardless of someone’s age, we have more in common.

We all crave the same love and security. But that goal is further away for Gen Z than it ever was for previous generations.

When The Simpsons was created in the 1980s, they were designed to reflect the average family. Now, owning a house, having children, and even finding a partner are pipe dreams for many.

A little empathy and understanding goes a long way.

Consider setting up mentoring programs (or even try reverse mentoring) to connect your older and younger employees. Alternatively, you could mix up groups when doing team activities or simply get employees from different generations to share their stories.

Stories are an essential tool to help us connect. It’s only through sharing them that we’ll really understand what it’s like for other people.

Conclusion 

The employee engagement trends for 2026 are all about bringing the human touch back into HR while reducing the need for humans to do menial tasks.

If you want to inject more humanity into your business, both through high-touch efforts and increased connection, Workrowd has your back. Our all-in-one tool suite automates core elements of your employee experience, so you can focus on the work that really matters.

Plus, with real-time insights into employee sentiment, you’ll always know where to dedicate your time and resources to get the most bang for your buck. And we all know that boosting your ROI is an employee engagement trend that never goes out of style. Get in touch today to learn more about Workrowd.

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Employee Engagement

Employee net promoter score: what it is and why you need it

Many businesses track their net promoter score (NPS) to monitor customer sentiment. A high NPS is seen as a sign of a well-run, well-liked business that usually ends up with higher profits and happier customers. But what about employee net promoter score (eNPS)?

I worked somewhere once that tracked this. The company’s declining eNPS correlated with the increasing unhappiness of employees through times of leadership changes and layoffs. The company culture completely changed, and not for the better.

As a result, the business started losing employees it wanted to keep alongside those it had laid off. It was not a pretty picture or nice place to be.

If the company had acted on the downward trend in its eNPS, it may have been able to prevent some of the decline in culture and profits from the changes.

So let’s dive into your employee net promoter score and the real impact it could have on your business.

What is an employee net promoter score?

It only takes one question to start measuring your employee net promoter score. Just ask team members: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our company as a workplace?”

Their responses will fall into promoters, detractors, and neutrals:

  • Promoters: Rated you 9 or 10
  • Neutrals: Rated 7 or 8
  • Detractors: Rated 6 or below

To calculate your employee net promoter score, subtract your detractors from your promoters.

So, for example, let’s say you had 150 employees. If their responses showed 100 promoters and 50 detractors, your eNPS would be 50.

Your score could be anything from +150 to -150 depending on how your employees responded.

The final score reflects your company culture and internal trends.

It can act as a canary in the coal mine, revealing how employees feel before negative sentiment leads to declines in productivity and culture—and therefore profits.

When I first heard of this scoring system in my early 20s, I always thought the ratings for promoters seemed really high.

But the more I thought about it, the more I considered how I rated companies. Those I was most likely to rave about I would rank with either a 9 or 10.

If I gave it a 7 or 8, I probably wouldn’t speak badly about it, but I wouldn’t necessarily go out of my way to promote it to others, either.

If I rated it 6 or below, I was basically indifferent (or worse). So the rating system makes perfect sense. The more promoters you have, the more opportunities you’ll have for positive exposure via word-of-mouth.

Why does your employee net promoter score matter?

Right now, we’re in an employer’s market. This is a stark shift from the employee-led market we were in before the pandemic. However, your employee happiness still impacts your business growth (or lack of it).

For every point your eNPS increases, your company’s finances can benefit by up to $470,000. With just a one-point increase.

But that’s not all. A one-point increase can also lead to financial growth of around $940 per employee. That’s because happier employees are more productive, less likely to leave, and provide better customer service. So not only do they make you more money, but they save you money, too.

A “good” employee net promoter score is one that falls between 10 and 30. In 2022, the global eNPS was 21.

Average scores can vary significantly between sectors.

For example, in 2024, professional services had the highest eNPS with a score of 35. In the technology sector it was 25, and in healthcare it was 22. 

The benefits of a higher employee net promoter score

Here are more of the benefits you could experience with a higher employee net promoter score.

Decrease turnover

Increasing your employee net promoter score could reduce company turnover by up to 10%. In turn, this could save you up to $600,000 per year when you factor in the annual costs of recruitment, training, etc.

Improve employee happiness

When companies run quarterly eNPS surveys instead of yearly ones, they see increases in employee happiness. Regular sentiment surveys show you, in real-time, what’s happening across your business and how employees feel about any changes.

Need help running regular surveys?

Using Workrowd, you can automate employee net promoter score surveys. What’s more, as the responses come in, you’ll be able to see your results live in your personalized dashboard. Yes, that’s right; we’ll analyze the results for you, too.

That way, you have more time to spend acting on feedback and making changes to improve employees’ working lives.

And increasing your employee engagement, which could lead to a 23% increase in profits.

Outperform competitors

All businesses want to beat their competitors, right? When companies improve their employee net promoter scores, they can outperform their competitors by 202%. Small changes can lead to big differences.

Conclusion 

Your employee net promoter score shows you how employees really feel about working for your organization.

It can impact everything from company profits to employee productivity. It can even tell you how likely you are to outperform your competitors.

A low or decreasing eNPS can also act as a signal that something isn’t working in your business. Knowing what’s happening means you can fix it before things go drastically—and irreparably—wrong. This protects your company culture, employee productivity, and your bottom line.

Track employee sentiment

Tracking how employees feel doesn’t have to be time-consuming. Instead, you can use Workrowd to send regular employee feedback surveys after programs and events, or at various points throughout the year.

Our software can then analyze the results of these automated surveys. That way, you save time on tedious tasks and get more time to spend supporting employees.

To find out more about how you could use Workrowd to monitor your employee sentiment, book your free demo today.

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Employee Engagement

12 strategies to boost engagement among blue collar workers

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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Employee Engagement

6 employee engagement activities to improve team dynamics

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.