Happy employees bring results. We know this, right?
But what makes an employee happy? Is it pay, benefits, the work environment, motivation, or something else? Often, it is a combination of these factors and one more thing. And that is engagement.
People like to feel useful and to be a part of a group. Most people who choose to be employed rather than be a freelancer or self-employed professionals do so to work in teams.
Employee engagement processes have changed drastically over the past couple of years with the working conditions. The COVID-19 pandemic revamped the global work culture and brought remote work to the forefront faster than anyone imagined. Remote work has been a blessing due to its flexibility and accessibility to many. But it does have its challenges, primarily employee engagement.
So how do you engage an employee working from the solace of their home and make them feel a part of the team?
Let us dive in and take a look.
Remote work is convenient for employees and employers. With it, employers can focus on the work and building autonomy within teams, while also living life without worrying about the logistics.
But the catch is too much autonomy can make employees feel like they are working alone. Studies have shown that working in teams, contributing to projects, and brainstorming ideas impact overall productivity.
Virtual team building is definitely the need of the hour for engaging your employees and giving them a sense of belonging.
And there are many avenues to do so.
Keeping the communication lines open can go beyond Slack, Teams, or Zoom calls. And let’s face it, pulling everyone into a call does not always sit well with the team.
That is why we believe that company newsletters have the potential to build a cohesive employee engagement program.
When we think of corporate communication, we instantly think of emails. They have dominated this space for a few decades now, and with good reason. Emails allow the user to peruse the communication at their own pace, are extremely non-intrusive to the workflow and are easy to personalize over other platforms.
Traditionally, corporate newsletters have helped :
Did you notice a pattern?
These mostly seem to be one-way communication channels and leave very less scope for engagement. Employees may likely take a cursory glance and forget the information minutes after consuming the content.
What employees need is to give them a break from their daily schedule while also engaging them in the company’s values.
We believe newsletters can do with small tweaks and some great ideas.
Our next section deals with how you can leverage newsletters for enhanced employee engagement in a remote work environment.
We love checking our emails. But when you work in a company, that ping from an email-related notification can brew dread, indifference, or curiosity. The aim of these newsletter ideas is that we want to make employees excited about seeing new emails from the company.
For that, you must approach employee engagement newsletters similar to how you would approach a content marketing strategy. Your employees become your customers, and the goal is to keep them engaged and invested in your journey.
Company updates are a regular staple for internal newsletters. But the trouble with them is hardly anyone reads them. Or they read, but there is no engagement or interaction. 74% of workers agree that they miss out on important news that the company shares.
You have to tilt the table on this indifference and work on creating an environment where these updates don’t go missing.
Now, building an employee’s personal brand is important for any organization and can spread brand awareness. Social media is a terrific medium for this.
So why not boost employee engagement by encouraging them to spread the word on social media? Create built-in plugins that lead to a predesigned caption for a particular news item.
This way, you can generate buzz on social media and get some movement from your teams too.
Now, not everyone is social media savvy, and sometimes employees need a little push when it comes to posting regularly. And to get that rolling, you can use your company newsletters to feature employee-generated content.
Seeing their peers do it and get recognized will push the other employees to do it too.
And with this, you also make them invested in the company’s progress and help them associate with its goals positively.
To do this you can conduct online challenges, contests and other virtual activities that encourage participation even from the introverted employees in your company.
Often, feedback-related conversations are very run-off the mill and can be a one-way street. Very rarely do employees get a chance to weigh in on a company’s products and services unless it falls in their job description.
Design thinking is a process wherein you include everyone in the organization and are open to all suggestions and possibilities.
This becomes possible when you invite your team members to share their feedback on your latest products and services.
It also makes the employees feel valued and can build a stronger connection with the organization.
Listicles work well in company newsletters. You can help your employees get the most value by sharing information on :
While it is easy to skip a generic newsletter, something of value will always get bookmarked. It will also energize the reader since they feel the company cares and wants to see them excel.
Other than this you can also use video in your employee newsletters. Because video content comes in handy for skill-boosting measures. So, combine your email marketing with a strong video strategy for better results.
Gamified content has been a game changer in content marketing with its ability to rope the reader in to spend more time with the brand. So there is no reason your employees would not like to indulge in such content too.
And this is engagement in its purest form – games, and contests.
Some gamified newsletter ideas include :
When you design these emails, ensure that they connect back to the brand’s values and visual identity. The aim is not just to give the employees something to do, it is to connect them to the organization in more ways than one.
Employee engagement can be hard in a remote work setup. But it is possible by consistently reaching out to your team members and showing them that they can do more than work here.
What has been your most successful employee engagement practice yet? Looking to revamp your employee engagement strategies? Try and include more on-brand visuals by working with a professional design team. After all, branding consistency and the steady use of brand identity matters even in emails and content focused on your employees.
