10 Fun employee engagement activities for 2023

Employees’ commitment to the company and their retention are not only positively associated with the profitability of the organization but also with greater productivity levels and increased happiness as well. According to a Dale Carnegie study, companies with engaged employees show 202% better performance than those with non-engaged employees. Employee engagement is crucial for both the employee and the employer to feel safe and secure in the workplace habitat.

Here are a few ways to keep things light and fun and also help employees and organizations bond:

1. No Digital Zone:

This can be done once a week or a month. For companies working from the office, it is a great idea to plan a no-digital zone. People will be asked not to use any digital device for an hour unless there’s an emergency. It will be a fun activity to socialize and may help to come up with unique ideas.

2. Bring Your Own Food Fridays:

This can offer a medium to get to know each other’s likes and dislikes better. People from various departments could be given broad categories to bring meals from e.g salads, rice, chips. This also provides an opportunity to know people from other departments that you usually do not come across.

3. Planning storytelling sessions for everyone:

You can plan theme-based storytelling sessions every once in a while. It could also include poetry, music, and dance. Storytelling sessions can help employees connect with aspects other than their work lives as well. It’s a powerful medium to connect.

4. Listening circle:

One person can facilitate or curate this activity for a large group. Listening Circle acts as a cathartic outlet. It offers everyone a safe and non-judgmental space where they can talk about their journeys.

5. Gratitude Days:

The organizations can plan a Gratitude Day on the same day every month. On this day, employees will reach out to each other for appreciation and gratitude. They can exchange notes or send messages to each other. It has been proved that the Gratitude practice positively impacts interpersonal relationships.

6. Planning team outings or camping:

Camping provides various opportunities to divide tasks amongst groups and come up with solutions for last-minute problems. Activities like cooking a meal together, pitching a tent, and finding a good spot are helpful to build alliance and trust. It also offers employees an excellent opportunity to spend quality time with each other and learn about each other's journeys.

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7. Weekly emotional Check-ins:

At the start of every new week, everyone could gather together for a brief time and pause and analyze their emotions at the moment. Not only does this help everyone reflect on their own emotions but also helps them develop a sensitive outlook toward others’ emotions.

8. Art Journaling or creating something together:

Working on something fun together or indulging in an art activity is a great way to have fun at the workplace. You could paint a picture together or also do theme-based journaling. You can also play fun games while doing so. Some of the fun games could involve blindfolding the person and asking them to paint, and competing against other teams to see who finishes painting first.

9. Decorating each other’s desks together:

When your workplace reflects positivity and radiance, it also gets the power to motivate you to go to work every day. One of the fun ways for employee engagement is decorating someone’s desk/ cabin as per your liking. HR can assign people randomly so that they can get to meet new people and know each other better through the process.

10. Movie Nights:

Organizations can plan a fun movie night followed by dinner. This offers much-needed relaxation for knowing someone beyond work.