Though it is known that employee engagement is crucial to company performance,
not all do it right. In our article “Improving Employee Engagement,” we expounded that to
maximize the benefits of employee engagement, you must address it with intention.
This means creating an engagement committee, as well as gathering quarterly and
annual feedback to help you develop engagement projects according to the needs and
preferences of your employees.
These pointers make it seem that employee engagement projects have to be large-
scale. But there is a simple way to boost employee engagement: games. Keep reading
to learn more about utilizing games to effectively engage your employees and which
games you should try.
Why you should use games to boost employee engagement
Games boost employee engagement in several aspects. First, games can help
employees be more confident with game wins and rewards. Second, games that
require problem-solving and creativity improve employees’ ability to contribute
innovative ideas and solutions to the company. This is supported by a study published
in The Journal of Creative Behavior, stipulating that those who play board games are
found to be much more original than before playing. Lastly, team-based games
promote better rapport among employees. This is because such games prompt
employees to work and have fun together.
What games are effective in raising employee engagement?
Poker
Poker is a great game your employees can bond over. You should consider playing
Texas Hold’em as part of your employee engagement initiatives because this is the most
popular variant and simplest to play. Participants receive two “hole cards” at the
beginning of the game. Throughout the three stages — flop, turn, and the river —
community cards will be revealed on the table. Come showdown, the one with the
best five-card combination of player and community cards wins.
Pictionary
A little competition can be fun. Pictionary provides just that to keep your employees
energized and pumped to show up for work. Not to mention, it will help employees
understand how their co-workers think and communicate through pictures. The basic
mechanics for Pictionary requires one player to draw a picture, and the rest would
have to guess what it is. There are tons of ways to customize the game according to
your company. Remote set-ups can opt for sites like Brightful, Skribbl.io, or
Drawasaurus that set up a meeting room with a canvas where players can draw.
Monopoly Deal
With this compact card version, you can bring the classic and well-beloved property
game to the office for everyone to enjoy. Playing Monopoly Deal can give an employee
the necessary confidence boost to go about the rest of their work when they defeat
many other players. The game also entails a bit of teamwork since players can partner
up to get an advantage over others.
Escape Room
If you’re eyeing a team-building excursion for your employees, escape rooms exercise
their creative thinking skills and teamwork in a fun setting. A team-building trip at the
end of the week can even motivate employees to be more productive and turn in
quality work on time. However, like Pictionary, there are online escape rooms like
The Grimm Escape, Cofundrum Escape Rooms, and Alice Escapes Wonderland that
provides immersive breakout room experiences in a virtual setup.
Employee engagement forms the crux of efforts at company growth and success. But
even small programs can be effective — these games offer a simple but multi-faceted
approach for employees to improve and sustain employee engagement.