How To Use Corporate Events To Strengthen Employee Engagement (Guest Blog)

It’s not always easy to pull a successful corporate event off. There are complex levels of logistics to account for. Not to mention, some employees associate corporate events as drudgery.

Nonetheless, corporate events are important to overall employee engagement.

In a study done by Dale Carnegie Training *, research has found that nearly 75% of employees do not feel engaged with their company or role. Further, companies with empowered employees outperform those without by 202%. $11 billion (USD) is lost annually due to employees that do not feel engaged.

It’s evident that employee engagement is important. Employee engagement is the emotional and functional investment an employee has towards their company. Every employee functions and works harder in a workplace that’s positive and rewarding.

So how can companies use corporate events to strengthen employee engagement? It all starts with a strong company culture. Corporations with strong company cultures have benefits beyond happy, engaged employees. Clients also prefer to work with companies that boast a strong employee engagement.

After all, a business is only as strong as its best employees.

Integrate play

Incorporating playful elements to a company can boost employee engagement. A team that is engaged loves coming to work every day. This creates quantifiable results with employees going above and beyond their delegated roles. Their creative limits know no bound and employees who love their jobs tend to stay with a company much longer.

While many regard play as frivolous, time-wasting distractions, the opposite is in fact true. Happy employees are 12% more productive than unhappy ones. Adding a healthy dose of playfulness to the environment makes a workplace an incredibly satisfying place to work.

For companies with a strict dress code, introducing Casual Fridays may be the ticket to introduce engagement into the workplace. In Dubai, corporations inject fun through the introduction of various events. Color Run Dubai is a fun way incentive employee engagement. Employees strengthen relationships while getting fit.

Account for diverse learning styles

Every employee learns differently. Some are visual learners who benefit from images. While others are verbal learners. With every employee having different learning styles, companies must be capable of adapting to different individual learning habits.

Just as similarly, different employees interact differently with their coworkers and bosses. Your corporate events must understand and account for these different preferences. Companies that can personalize employee engagement according to their learning style helps aid team camaraderie.

Adapting to different learning styles removes psychological barriers that may exist between the hierarchy classes typical in most work environments. Companies that make it easier to talk to individuals such as the CEO or senior-level managers at corporate events enriches innovation and collaboration.

Sometimes corporate events are the only time employees have to interact with higher-ranking individuals in a company. This is an invaluable time where employees do not have to worry about presenting or selling an idea. These opportunities have been shown to boost employee morale and engagement.

Create an environment conducive to employee engagement

A workplace that encourages employee engagement is powerful in creating success. Employee engagement is a necessary strategy in creating a workplace that employees are more productive, customer-focused, and generate profits.

While large corporate events are an annual initiative to drive engagement, there are many opportunities throughout the fiscal year to create employee engagement.

Introducing workplace giving or volunteering initiatives positively affects employee engagement. Connecting and giving back through community initiatives has been shown to boost employee engagement. This can drive employee performance, accomplishments, and personal improvement to drive business results.

Recognizing employee contributions are other forms of corporate events that fosters innovation and company successes. Publicly valuing employee ideas is an effective strategy to increase employee engagement. Recognizing employee achievements cultivates company loyalty and drives further innovation.

Employee turnover is a costly aspect of running a company. While much of the costs are hidden, employee turnover can attribute to lower overall productivity, overworked remaining staff, lost company knowledge, and even increase training costs, through interviews, recruiting, and hiring.

It’s important then, that companies engage their employees through corporate events. By focusing on engaging events that empower employees, companies can minimize employee turnover rates. For companies who don’t know where to start, consulting with an experienced event management team can assist in planning corporate events for all occasions.

* Editors Note: Link may not work so see this link as an example of similar research.

Author Bio:
MANAGING PARTNER LEVEL PRODUCTION DUBAI: HADI AL RIFAI
Hadi Al Rifai specializes in event management and audio engineering and holds a BA in business management from the American University of Science and Technology in Beirut. Before settling down in Dubai to manage Level Production, Mr. Rifai has worked with leading national and multinational event management organizations in the Middle East where he honed his AV production skills. Among the notable projects he has worked with are the X Factor and Baalbek Film Festival.