The world of work is changing, from how and where teams do their jobs to what new generations expect from employers. Some changes are resoundingly positive; the Covid-19 pandemic made companies more flexible, it increased workplace transparency, and helped leaders uncover important new cost-saving options.
Then there’s the negative, starting first and foremost with plummeting employee engagement — and more reason to improve it. Employees report feeling less engaged with and committed to their employers than they did before the pandemic. In one study, up to one-third of respondents reported feeling disengaged with their employer. Is remote work to blame? Not necessarily. Responses showed that remote versus hybrid versus in-office work requirements had no effect on the sentiment.
A likely explanation? Increasingly evolving workplace expectations — particularly among younger workers. Young millennials and Gen Z have adopted a mindset of “quiet quitting.” According to The Wall Street Journal, this means “rejecting the idea of going above and beyond.” The WSJ reports that workers born after 1988 report exceptionally low employee engagement levels.
How can you improve employee engagement?
These trends don’t mean you should throw in the towel with your employee engagement strategy. Far from it. The more engaged your employees, the more passion and dedication they’ll put into their work. That’s why it’s critical to invest in quality employee perks—and we’re talking about perks they actually want and will use.
What do those look like? There’s summer Fridays, or anniversary sabbaticals. There’s employee discount programs like Adorama Business Solutions’ Employee Engagement Program, which is free to employers — and reaps serious cost-saving rewards for employees. There are also childcare services, tuition support, and mentorship, to name a few.
Ready to improve your own team’s employee engagement program? Here are five ideas to start reengaging your teams, based on some of the most beloved brands’ employee-engagement strategies.
1. Support Ongoing Education
To get your staffers to invest their time and energy into your company, try investing in their dreams; offering ongoing education support is a great way to do that. Adobe sets the gold standard in this category. It gives employees $10,000 each year for everything from tuition and courses to graduate programs and even books that support their ongoing-education program criteria. The Adobe Learning Fund also offers employees reimbursements of up to $1,000 each year for conferences and workshops.
2. Employee Discount Programs
Another way to keep employees excited, engaged, and rewarded? Discounts. Initiatives like Adorama Business Solutions’ Employee Engagement Program let employers surprise and delight their teams without spending a dime. It’s free for businesses to sign up for this program. There are also no membership fees, minimum required spend, or user limitations. Once companies sign up, employees receive discounts on gear sold at Adorama, including items from top-name brands, such as Apple, Canon, DJI, Google, Nikon, Sony, Panasonic, Xerox, and more. Hundreds of organizations are already reaping these free rewards, including Fortune 500 companies in the technology and broadcast industries.
3. Paid Volunteer Time
Your team members have lives and passions outside of the workplace; one of the best ways to engage them within the office is to support those out-of-work passions. Airbnb shows how to put this into action. The company offers four hours of PTO per quarter for volunteering, according to Glassdoor. It also donates $20 per hour to the chosen organization for those volunteering outside of work hours. According to Candor.co, Airbnb lets employees choose where they’re volunteering, so they can support their individual passions.
4. Sabbaticals
Few perks incentive employees like time away from the screen. That’s why top brands like work-management platform Asana offer sabbatical programs, where team members can receive six weeks of paid sabbatical after four years. This rewards employees for their hard work and tenure while also letting them recharge with time away, be it important family time or ticking off that travel bucket list. In addition to celebrating employees, sabbaticals help employees get a sense of that freedom of the freelance and gig lifestyle — without having to leave their full-time jobs.
5. Flexible Work Schedules
Some employees work better in the morning. Others are night owls and do their best work after dark. Employers like Netflix let staffers build their own schedules, both with day-to-day workflows and even parental leave. According to the Netflix jobs page: “We don’t have a prescribed 9-to-5 workday, so we don’t have prescribed time off policies for salaried employees, either. We don’t set a holiday and vacation schedule, so you can observe what’s important to you — including when your mind and body need a break.” By doing this, and rewarding work completed versus time on the job, Netflix keeps its teams engaged and feeling supported.
All of these strategies to improve employee engagement take time, effort, and resources. Plus, of course, buy-in from leaders and members of your organization. But when it comes to recruiting and retaining top talent, these perks may just make the difference.
