With almost limitless sunshine and activities, keeping employees engaged over the summer can be challenging, but it doesn’t have to be. In this article, we share 6 strategies for keeping employees engaged and inspired.
The point of these strategies is to show your employees that you care. You recognize the additional challenges that may come with summer schedules and add some fun to the summer work routine. The last thing you want to do is change things up just for the sake of it and add additional stress to your team, so think about your team members, specifically, and what would light them up.
Weekly Rewards
Consider having a weekly theme, drawing, or reward of some kind. You could have a weekly drawing for a gas card, a meal at a local restaurant, or the latest company hoodie or branded beach chair. You could apply a sales or business goal to the reward, but the goal is to have fun, so don’t make it too serious.
Fridays Off
As many of you know, CCM is closed on Fridays, and we’ll probably have an entire blog post on the effects of that in the near future. If it works for your business, summer is a fantastic time to test the water.
According to an article published by MIT, “The world’s most extensive four-day workweek trial” was done in the UK in late 2022. It found that “the four-day workweek significantly increased job satisfaction, improved work-life balance, and reduced employee stress. The results also showed improved product quality and customer service, and a significant reduction in absences and sick days.” As an employer, if you are concerned about opening Pandora’s box, then use the summer as a trial. You can always go back to your standard workweek in August or September.
Encourage Creativity
One of our clients has a technology department of about 500 people. During an annual conference, they have the “Tech Olympics.” It’s such a fabulous idea. The employees create small groups to dream big and develop tech ideas related to the company. They give out medals, like the Olympics, and the company may even implement some of the ideas from the event. Serious bragging rights are at stake here, creating such a fun and collaborative environment.
Think about how you can encourage creativity with your team, even if it’s on a much smaller scale. Let them brainstorm without restriction and encourage cross-department collaboration.
Personality Tests
Our team had a ball with personality tests last summer! There are many available, so we wrote down the ones we wanted to do together and did one per month. At a weekly meeting, we took turns sharing our results and any insights. Seeing the results confirm that we are in the appropriate roles was fascinating and inspiring.
Some test ideas include Myers Briggs, Kolbe, Strengths Finder, Enneagram, The 4 Tendencies, and Human Design.
Family Picnics
How about encouraging your team to have a family picnic by providing supplies? It’s always nice when an employer acknowledges that team members have lives outside of work. One of our clients sends a Summer Box to employees each year with fun summer gifts such as a beach ball, beach towel, cooler, hat, and even sparklers.
Another client of ours is working on a Family Picnic Box that includes everything they need for a family picnic down to the locally sourced BBQ sauce and rub. Our team packages everything and ships the boxes directly to the employees’ homes.
Volunteer Together
There are many ways to do this based on your company structure. Maybe you decide on a core company mission for the summer and set up a few ways for the team to participate. If you have a remote team, give them a day off to do something in their community and an opportunity to share about the organization with the team or department.
In the past, CCM has donated to organizations chosen by team members, and we always take the opportunity to learn more about the organization and why it’s important to the person. While it’s nice to do something for the community, using the experience to learn about the team members is equally important.
Knowing your team and industry is the key to success during the summer months. Is more flexibility needed due to unstable summer childcare? Does your team race to the beach or lake every Friday at 5 pm? Does work slack off in the summer months, or is your business busier than even in the summer?
Make sure whatever you decide enhances the summer season rather than complicates it. And if you are completely at a loss as to what to do, then contact our team.
Email hello@coastal-connections.com, and let us help you motivate, inspire, and engage your staff this summer.
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