Achieving high employee morale and a positive workplace culture should be a goal of all business owners.
When employees feel appreciated, they are more likely to interact with their coworkers and work harder for the company. In the end, investments you make into creating a more fun workplace will pay huge dividends to your company’s bottom line.
Scott Crockett is the CEO of Everest Business Funding – a company recognized with the “Best and Brightest Companies to Work for” award. In this article, Scott suggests several tips on how to reward your employees with fun activities to help improve your employee engagement and retention.
Tip #1. Hold Contests That Showcase People
One of the best ways to break down communication barriers at the office is to have people learn about each other. This allows them to relate to other people in the office based on common interests or backgrounds.
To have fun doing so, hold contests that showcase different people’s personalities. This could be something as simple as posting a spotlight story on a different employee each week or having employees paint pictures of themselves.
You can also allow employees to decorate their workspace in fun, personal ways. This will allow other workers to see their co-workers’ interests, which could spark new conversations that would’ve never happened before.
Tip #2. Celebrate Diversity
Culture is a big part of who each individual is. A great way to encourage people to share their culture in the workplace is to celebrate diversity.
Food is a great way to do this, too. Each week, you can host a luncheon that celebrates the culture of a different employee. You can even ask that employee to prepare their favorite dish that celebrates their culture.
Supplementing this with educating employees about different cultures will help further your diversity and inclusion efforts.
Tip #3. Host Learning Days
Everyone can benefit from learning something new, no matter what the topic is. Learning doesn’t have to be boring, though, and it doesn’t have to focus on just developing new skills related to your company.
To encourage learning and have fun doing it, host learning days at your workplace. This can be a set day where people can choose a topic they want to learn about and then dive head-first into it instead of doing work.
At the end of these days, you can ask employees to give a short presentation sharing what they learned to others. This will help build relationships at the workplace and potentially open people’s eyes to something new.
Employees will also appreciate that you care about their desire to learn something new.
Tip #4. Venture Outside the Workplace
There’s only so much fun that can occur in the workplace. So, Scott Crockett, Everest Business Funding’s CEO, suggests taking a company outing.
You can choose activities that are both fun and encourage teamwork among different groups of employees. One popular thing today is an escape room. These challenges are fun, and they require people to work together to complete a common goal – escaping a locked room.
There are plenty of other examples of company outings that would fit this mold, too. Getting outside the office and into a new environment also helps people loosen up and be more of their true selves.
About Scott Crockett
Scott Crockett is the founder and CEO of Everest Business Funding. He is a seasoned professional with 20 years of experience in the finance industry. Mr. Crockett’s track record includes raising more than $250 million in capital and creating thousands of jobs. Scott has founded, built, and managed several finance companies in the consumer and commercial finance sectors.