Generally speaking, the most successful and fast growing companies are those that have focused on employee engagement techniques. It has become a truism that a more engaged employee is more productive. But, despite the obviousness of this statement, things are not so obvious when it comes to implementing effective employee engagement techniques within the workplace.
This article is intended to assist those leaders for whom the employee engagement pillar is an important part of their company's architecture.

When we talk about employee engagement, three broad context-related areas should be considered.

First of all, there is the general context of the work environment, which is determined externally by the market and the field of activity, and internally, by the nature of the company's organizational culture.

Secondly, in the last two years, there has been talk about this particular new context generated by the pandemic COVID. According to statistics, 45% of people say that their own lives have been greatly affected by the dramatic situation created by COVID. Leaders had to rethink their employee engagement strategies to ensure continuity and stability.

Thirdly, during the course of a year, there may be several specific contexts that correspond with certain times of the year - holidays, reporting, celebrations etc. For the winter vacations, as an exemple, which occupy a special place in the minds of employees, we will try to offer some suggestions to boost engagement in the workplace. The time is quite critical in terms of performance, as employees think more about the holidays than about work.

But first, let’s review some important facts about employee engagement in general.

Employee engagement is often confused with job satisfaction or happiness. For example, a person may be happy working in a modern office, with colleagues they enjoy spending time with, but that is no guarantee of a high employee performance. Instead, engagement lays the foundation for a healthy structure within the company.

Engaged employees are not only satisfied with their work, but they also find a real fulfilment in what they do and are willing to add value to the company.

How companies benefit from actively engaged employees

Engaged employees are always committed to the work they do, and they understand and support the company's mission and vision. They are motivated by the company's values and always strive to do their best to achieve the goals of the company they feel they belong to. Regardless of the hierarchical level within the company, they identify with the company's vision and strive to contribute to its development.

How to increase employee engagement

In order to have engaged employees, it is extremely important that their daily motivation is strong.
Therefore, a company's strategy must encourage this motivation, emphasize the value of employees' work, and support their success. Leaders have a duty to clearly communicate the company's goals in order to create a transparent and healthy work environment.

What promotes employee engagement

Purpose:
Without a clearly defined purpose for their work, employees’ motivation levels will lower.
Transparency:
Employees need to know, understand and identify themselves with the mission, vision and values of the company they work for. Therefore, these elements must be clearly communicated, in a language that is easy to understand.
Active participation
In many cases, identification with the company's goals and values leads to a desire to be actively involved in the decision-making process. It is extremely important to make employees feel heard, to give them the opportunity to provide feedback and even let them set their own goals so that they feel valued and encouraged to actively participate.
Trust
Engaged employees tend to go that extra mile to achieve better results, even when they are not being monitored or supervised in their tasks. In situations where managers control employees' every move, employees will not feel valued and will quickly become frustrated.

Encourage employee engagement over the holidays

The winter vacations are special for everybody. The formal framework of the organization takes on a more informal, personal feel. People are more open, relaxed, and even more willing to give a little extra energy to the company.
High on the list of employee engagement activities reported by successful companies are photo contests. One explanation is that employees like to share the experiences they have immortalized in photos with other work colleagues: the best family photo, the funniest snowman, etc.
Another activation revolves around the symbol of the winter vacations, the Christmas tree. Most of the time, companies organize a party and thank their employees with gifts. The Christmas tree is a great occasion for joint actions - decorating the tree together - or for competitive actions - a competition between departments in decorating the tree.
Gifts, whether from the company to employees or from employees to each other in the form of a Secret Santa, are also an action that brings joy and encourages engagement. This action can have a fun character or a specific theme to guide the selection of gifts in a direction that is considered beneficial to the company.
Since people tend to be kinder and more attentive to their fellows during holidays, companies can partner with various organizations to set up social engagement programs.
Last but not least, cooking contests can be organized. During the winter vacations, cooking traditional dishes is an important part of employees' lives. The company can show its support for this cause of people by creating culinary activities: cake tasting, cake contest, photo contest "the most beautiful holiday meal" etc.
All these actions can be launched through the Co-Factor digital platform for employee engagement. In a very user-friendly and intuitive way, the platform helps to increase employee engagement in any type of action. People feel closer to the company and the company gains a high level of engagement, which is reflected in the business results.
Co-Factor platform allows to immediately launch an engagement initiative, intuitively called a "photo challenge". It can be activated at any time of the year and addressed to the entire company or only to a group of employees. This initiative is linked to a voting mechanism (through ratings or polls), and the top places are highlighted in the leaderboards, and can be awarded and publicly recognized.