Bonding with coworkers can improve the culture and ultimately productivity in the workplace. It's important to find the right activities for different types of employees and work environments. The following are several great exercises that can help teammates bond.

Trust and Bonding Games

Learning to trust co-workers is an important part of working together. There are several activities that can be used to increase trust levels. The classic egg toss is a great way to get two individuals to trust one another as well as adapt to the other's personal style

A scavenger hunt can be used for larger teams. Divide teams into groups of four or more to find hidden objects in a room. The team to find the most hidden objects wins.

Another simple bonding activity includes randomly drawing names out of a hat and placing all employees into groups of two. Each pair has less than five minutes to come up with five things they have in common with who they have been paired with. They also need to come up with five differences.

Problem Solving Activities

An example of a problem-solving activity would start by dividing employees into teams. Choose a facilitator not on any team to build a structure with Legos or other types of building blocks. One person from each team looks at the structure for 30 seconds or less. This individual then goes back and instructs the team to rebuild the structure from memory. The team that builds the structure as accurately as possible in a designated time frame wins.

Other problem-solving games might include attending an escape room to work together to find your way out using clues. Either verbal clues can be given or written clues left throughout the room. Divide employees into small groups of two to four. The first team to find the key and escape wins.

Also, Having puzzle contests is a way to keep bonding activities simple. Buy several of the same puzzle and divide employees into small groups. The first group to put together the entire puzzle wins.

Make Sure to Give Awards

Few things motivate people more than knowing there are prizes after all the effort. Award, trophies, and plaques from EDCO are a great way to commemorate teamwork. These can have a positive effect and make employees feel as if they have achieved something positive

For most companies there will come a time when a dedicated employee will decide to retire. Most will never ask for it, but nothing makes a retiree feel more valued than a proper send-off. It may hurt initially to lose such a great worker, but showing respect and appreciation during their transition goes a long way. If you aren’t sure about how to properly thank them for all of their hard work, EDCO offers many different trophies, awards, and plaques to help recognize employee dedication.

1. Give them something to remember. A great way to make a retiree feel important is to give them some sort of physical reminder of your appreciation. A recognition award, trophy or plaque is a great way to show your appreciation. If you feel it is appropriate, you can even add a custom engraving to make it more personal. Include wording that indicates appreciation for the value they brought to the company. When you present the award, take a few quality photos. This can also be gifted later to remember their special moments. You never know what will end up on their mantle.
2. Find out their numbers. Most employees that are planning to retire have spent a number of years working for the company. It would be a great idea to find out the exact number of years they've been there (brownie points for knowing their start date). Recount any major milestones they contributed to or achieved on their own. Find out how many new employees they trained, how many sales they made, their production numbers, or that huge merger they were so crucial during. This information could be put on an award or mentioned in a speech to show them they matter.
3. Consider your company's culture. When thinking of how to send off a retiree, especially if you are considering a party, think of the culture within your company. A smaller company would probably enjoy a potluck during lunch. A bigger, more corporate company may do a small catered lunch. Maybe a more formal after-hours office event would be better. Would it be more fitting to take a moment from a bigger company event, like a picnic or holiday party, to commemorate them? Think about what would be appropriate within your office without seeming too over the top or like you did not care at all. This is also a great time to be able to present them with their engraved award in front of the whole company.

Showing appreciation for long-time employees is a wonderful practice. Not only does it show that you are a caring employer, but it boosts morale for other workers. It shows the retiring employee and current employees that their company cares for all their hard work.

Created in a variety of shapes and sizes, many sporting events have unique trophies for the winning team or player. Some of the most famous sporting trophies include the Commissioner’s Trophy, the Heisman Trophy, the Stanley Cup, and the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Certain trophies are produced each year while others use the same trophy year after year. Most of these trophies are instantaneously recognizable even to people outside of the sport, and depending on the material, design, and production costs, each trophy has a different value. Take time to research the trophies so you are informed on the most famous pieces of hardware.

Keeping your employees motivated is essential to maximize productivity and overall workplace satisfaction. Creating a workplace culture and environment that is desirable provides employees the motivation necessary to put their best efforts forth, resulting in growth and expansion. When you know how to motivate your employees, keep them happy and willing to contribute as much as possible while they are on the job.

Offer Workplace Incentives

Offer workplace incentives that include promotions, bonuses, recognition programs and even additional vacation time. Incentives are a great way to keep employees focused, working hard and excited about their positions. Base incentives on sales, completed projects, or new ideas that you plan to implement into your current business model. Avoid excluding any of your employees regardless of their current position by utilizing multiple incentive programs for each independent department.

Provide Recognition for Hardworking Employees

Praising and providing recognition to hardworking employees is a way to build a workplace that is welcoming and comfortable. When employees feel appreciated and proud of their work accomplishments, they are more likely to contribute additional ideas while completing their work without constant reminders. Employees who feel they make real contributions to their job are ultimately more satisfied, incentivizing them to stick around while helping the company continue to grow. A recognition program can make all the difference here. Using custom engraved Award Plaques can motivate and inspire your team to reach new heights. 

Add Support Services

Provide support services to all of your employees, regardless of their positions and current seniority. Support services may include therapy, counseling, HR departments, and even team meetings and sessions. Helping your employees feel supported and guided in all facets in life is extremely beneficial when you prefer retaining them as long as possible.

Flex Time Options

Strict schedules without flexibility quickly cause employees to feel stressed and in some cases, burnt out. Offer flex time options to employees who are always on time or complete work without issue. Allow your employees to rework their schedules to create a healthy work and life balance. When employees feel trapped in their current work situation and schedule, they are less likely to put their best work forward and often find themselves out of energy to get the job done. Flex time provides employees with a sense of freedom and independence, making them happier to work for you and contribute to the team.

Working Remotely

One of the biggest workplace trends on the rise includes working from home or remotely. When employees have the opportunity to work from home, they feel trusted, appreciated, and independent. Consider offering your employees to work from home on set days based on their schedules. In some cases, employees are able to work from home at all times, cutting workplace office costs while still maximizing productivity. Remote employees take their positions seriously and work hard to ensure they are capable of maintaining their sense of freedom.

Understanding the importance of motivation in the workplace is imperative when you want to manage or operate a business that is positive and successful. With the right motivation techniques, keep those who work for you optimistic and satisfied with their career and future goals.

Keeping staff motivated in an organization for them to remain productive can prove a daunting task for management. People are after all uniquely made and tend to react differently to different incentives within the organization’s framework. The best bet for business leaders is to establish a culture that is all-encompassing and one that shapes employee productivity through motivation and providing an enabling working environment. The following article looks at the role company culture plays in keeping employees motivated in their work.

What is Company Culture?

This refers to the set of rules, standards, processes, shared beliefs, and common practices in a company. It functions to align all company activities with its mission statement.

Before we establish the link between company culture and employee motivation, we need to understand why people go to work in the first place. Generally, there are six primary factors that would prompt an individual to work.

Positive Motives

• Play- when you realize self-fulfillment in engaging in the work itself

• Purpose- when the outcome of the work seems to be in line with your identity as a person

• Potential- when the outcome of work helps your identity by enhancing your potential

Negative Motives

• Emotional pressure- working because you are afraid some external force poses a threat to your identity

• Economic pressure- when some external forces compel you to work in order to achieve a certain reward

• Inertia- when you are confused by the lack of motivation in your work and personal identity

Employee Motivation and Company Culture

Employee performance can be compared to student performance. Consider students with a love for gaining knowledge; they rarely miss out on classes and tend to engage teachers more with questions in the hope of expanding their scope of knowledge and ideas. In similar fashion, employees who love their jobs have lower cases of absenteeism, invest a lot more effort in their responsibilities and will go out of their way to team up with colleagues for the sake of achieving company goals.

When an employee feels that their direct boss and management in general have a vested interest in their personal welfare and not just the net business revenue, a sense of loyalty develops. They feel more embraced as a crucial piece in the company’s success and begin to buy into the mission and vision of the company. In this case, they will be propelled by a wave of positive energy to set and achieve higher goals, while embracing any challenges that come their way.

Company culture addresses all the six different factors that affect employee’s motivation to work. A culture that is committed to inspiring purpose, play and potential while suppressing economic pressure, emotional pressure and inertia is a winning formula that will result in higher employee performance and better customer service. This is true across all sectors of the job industry.

Conclusion

Having a great company culture will definitely enhance your competitive advantage as a business. It is the single best way of ensuring that all employees are equipped with the necessary tools for success and providing them with the optimal environment to work in and achieve the best they can be.

It is not obvious for workmates to relate well in a workplace. For people to embrace teamwork in any workplace, individuals have to incorporate essential skills that enhance cooperation. Without these skills, individuals may find it difficult to work as a team with other employees in the company.

The following are some of the essential teamwork skills in any company.

1. Active Listening

Active Listening involves a keen focus on both verbal and non-verbal aspects of communication of another person. To listen actively, you need to hold yourself from responding until when the other person is through with speaking. The best way to achieve active listening is by echoing the other person’s speech in your quiet internal voice. This skill also involves asking for clarification of the things that you don’t understand correctly.

2. Logical Argument

It is not easy to have a logical argument especially when arguing about a critical issue. A valid argument requires the involved parties to embrace consistent support for an idea or point that they present. You need to table your axioms and assumptions logically while presenting the reasons that make you support a particular direction of the argument.

3. Respect

You need to acknowledge that all your teammates are human and have to portray their human nature even in the workplace. When you respect your teammates, you do not have to chest-thump and show a rigid perspective of viewing things. Respect allows you to support your teammates even when they behave in a manner that aligns with their fundamental human nobility.

4. Questioning

It is imperative to frame and express questions when engaging your teammates. The style in which you ask a question portrays how you value your interaction with other employees at the workplace. It is easy to ask a question, but it’s a bit hard to ask a good question. It is wise to choose the tone and words that you use when asking questions to avoid offending the recipient. It is unhealthy to ask questions rudely or in a manner that puts the recipient in a defensive position.

5. Participating in teamwork tasks

An active member of a team must be actively involved in the functions that the other teammates undertake. Active participation is the aspect of feeling part and parcel of the team. When you are an active participant, you don’t find discussions boring or abstain from executing a decision that was collectively reached by the entire team. Stressful crisis can easily draw you out of the team. It is good to avoid thinking about family, school or other things when you are undertaking a team task.

6. Helping

Helping is the aspect of offering assistance to another person and make a follow-up to ensure that the person is at well. It is an essential skill to offer assistance to a member of your team when you notice that they have a problem. Helping can be in the form of actions or even verbal.

The skills discussed in this article are all essential for a healthy team working. A combination of these skills can make you a good team member.

Employee Loyalty is based on the ideology of obtaining employees who are committed to the prosperity of their organization. Employees also believe that no other organization could benefit them more than the one they are a part of. So how do you encourage employee loyalty? How can you restructure your organization to start tapping into the emotions of your employees?

Establishing an Employee Loyalty Program is a key component to implement in today's workforce. It can a make a vast impact on retention, engagement and even recruitment. Organizations should start by ensuring multiple criteria are met. One would be ensuring that your organization has suitable job conditions for your employees. Whether it be from office cleanliness to a positive work/life balance, ensuring the comfortability of your employees when spending 8 hours a day at the office is key.

Recognition and rewards are additional items to consider when designing your Employee Loyalty Problem that will help build the loyalty of your employees. This may be an obvious addition to your program but there is a right way and wrong way of doing this. For example, rather than giving an employee a promotion you can gather the organization together during a meeting and publicly recognize them with an award in front of colleagues. Either way the promotion will be received but what is different is the lasting impact to your employer, as well as other employees watching.

When focusing on the retention of your employees, an important question must be asked. Is your organization providing opportunities for growth and development? Promoting from within encourages employees to work harder, as well as gives them a sense of opportunity within the organization. When employees notice that they can be promoted at any time within the organization, it creates a fire within them to give the organization their 100%

The program should also focus on ensuring fair treatment for all employers. It should encompass everything within the loyalty program. Ensure there is no favoritism in the workplace to avoid resentment from others. To ensure that the employee feels valued, listening to all your employees is key for them to feel like their feedback is important. Train your leadership to treat all employers like an equal.

The overall goal of the Employee Loyalty Program is to minimize or eliminate employee turnover. Employee turnover is notably costly and can affect your bottom line. So identify the reasoning behind the departure of the employees and utilize the information as a foundation to your program. Build the program from the foundation and up with your employees in mind and prepare for happier and more efficient employees.

If you are like many business professionals, you are interested in hearing honest feedback from your employees. You know that their true thoughts and feelings about their work, fellow workers, and the company as a whole can have a big impact on productivity.

No doubt you would like to improve the type of feedback you receive from your employees. With everything else on your plate, though, you may wonder where to start.

Not to worry—here are 4 easy things you can do to get the ball rolling today.

4 Ways to Improve Employee Feedback

1.  Establish an open door policy. It is crucial to convey to your employees that they are always welcome to provide feedback. Let them know that even if you seem busy, they should feel free to inquire at any time whether they could have a few minutes to speak with you. Make it clear that this is especially true if they have feedback of an urgent nature or that you may not want to hear, as the feedback that is hardest to deliver is often the most needed.

1.  Listen with your heart. Try to look beyond the actual words. Discern the feelings behind what an employee is telling you. Use open-ended questions, such as: "What happened next? How did that make you feel at the time? How do you feel about it now, after the fact?" When you listen with empathy, your employees will feel safe and will be more likely to provide additional honest feedback in the future.

1.  Follow up on feedback received. While it is crucial to genuinely listen, it is just as important to take action on anything that needs to be addressed. Let your employees know that their concerns matter to you. Assure them that you will look into any issues they report and will take appropriate action. Then keep your word and follow through. Doing so speaks volumes, sending the message that you truly want to receive their feedback.

1.  Take the initiative to solicit feedback. Do not wait for problems to find you. Actively seek feedback by asking for it. If you have already taken the steps listed above, your employees will likely know that you are sincere when you ask for further feedback. You might even consider scheduling a time each week or month to meet with them, letting them know that this time is dedicated to hearing from them.

Final Thoughts

These are just a few of the many things you can do to improve employee feedback. There are many other steps you can take, as well. The important thing is to start right away and adapt as you go along. Rest assured that if you do, your employees will thank you—often times, quite literally.

A little recognition can go a long way toward making your employees happy. By showing your people that they are appreciated, you can improve morale and productivity, and you can also reduce employee turnover. What's more, it does not have to cost you a fortune. Here are 4 tips for recognizing your employees:

1. Gift Cards

Everybody loves gift cards, and they are the perfect thank you for a job well done. They do not cost a lot and they show employees they are appreciated in a very tangible way. They are especially useful during the holiday season, as people can re-gift them or use them to buy gifts for others. There are also a wide variety of different cards you can hand out, so you can choose something a little different each time.

2. Award Plaques

Nothing says you are appreciated more than an award plaque. Whether you present them on a monthly basis or as special recognition, awards are something your employees can hang in their office spaces or in common areas, and they can look upon them with pride. They also do not cost much. 

3. Public Praise

People love seeing their names in lights, especially as a reward for their efforts. The easiest way to do this is to give them a shout out on the homepage of your company's website. This costs you nothing but a little time, and it is something that employees (as well as their family and friends) can happily point at. They might even share a link to it on social media, which could generate some exposure for your business. You might also want to post praise in public areas of your business.

4. Company Breakfasts

Food is always a good way to show appreciation. So, consider providing breakfast for those employees who have put in an extra-special effort, or for those who have done an incredible job the entire month. You can even let them choose their breakfast by handing out menus, or you can make it yourself. Not only will providing breakfast not cost you a lot of money, but you can be certain that your employees will show up early for it.

In conclusion, it does not take a lot of time or money to show your employees that they are appreciated. All it really takes is a little thought, and this can reap big benefits for your business.

High employee morale is an important component of a satisfied employee. Because morale affects so many aspects of a company, it should be constantly monitored by management. It's no secret that employers are on the receiving end of the benefits that result from people being happy at work. Companies also need to remember that low employee morale can have a negative effect on their bottom line.

High morale is important because of its role in keeping absenteeism low. Employees are much more likely to call into work, even when they aren't sick, when they want to avoid the office. Employers can't expect to get the most out of their employees if they aren't even there. In some workplaces, such as restaurants, other employees need to be called in when people are absent. This can lead to a scheduling nightmare as well as poor customer service if the establishment is understaffed.

On a similar note, unhappy employees are more likely to quit. This costs the company money in terms of constant hiring and training of new workers. If a company has good workers, it is much easier to make adjustments to keep those employees happy than to replace them. People who love their work are less likely to separate from employment.

A company that is known to have low morale may find themselves unable to meet staffing needs. Job searchers are less likely to apply for a job at an employer they've heard bad things about. If employees are unhappy, they commiserate with each other. This can make discontent spread around the workplace. Employees may also discuss their dissatisfaction with family and friends, which can lead to fewer applicants in the long run.

Productivity is positively affected by morale. Happy employees are productive and work hard to make their employers money. If employees have positive feelings toward their company, they will want their employer to succeed. If they feel the company's success will result in positive results for them, they will work hard. One great tool adopted by some of the world's largest companies are corporate awards and trophies designed to recognize and motivate staff members. Crystal awards are very popular and frequently used to honor top achievement.

A safer work environment is another benefit of high employee morale. Employers who are happy and engaged are much more attentive in their work. Boredom and depression rarely have a positive impact on safety on the job. When workers are distracted or can't focus because they wish they were somewhere else, accidents can happen.

Satisfied employees pay more attention to detail. If staff members actually enjoy their work and are interested in it, they will be more attentive. Fewer mistakes are made by employees, which translates into higher profits for the company.

Low employee morale often leads to employees working slower because they don't have the desire to hustle. In business, time is money. If workers are being lazy or just working slower than needed, this will cost the company. Employers should try to increase employee morale if this is the case. If employees can be convinced that they don't want to let down their team, they will be more motivated to do their fair share.