8 tips for enhancing employee engagement

Here are our top tips for enhancing employee engagement and making employees feel loved in your workplace, from simple gestures to longer-term projects.

Embracing flexible working / work life balance

It’s estimated that over 2 million people have changed careers due to lack of flexible working options throughout 2023. 71% of workers view a flexible work pattern as important to them when considering a new role, while 69% say the ability to work remotely is important.

And if you didn’t already know, from 6 April 2024, the new flexible working regulations come into force which means that flexible working requests will become a day one right. You can read our full article here which explains all the key changes.

*CIPD

Private Medical insurance

The most desired work perk by far is private health insurance, a fact backed up by multiple different surveys. You can either offer a group health insurance plan where you cover employees yourself and your employee doesn’t pay a penny, or you can offer it as a voluntary benefit which the employee pays for but at a discounted rate.

Enhanced pension contributions

After private health insurance, enhanced pension contributions are the second most desirable perk at work. Since the introduction of auto-enrolment and having to offer a pension scheme, it should come as no surprise to employers that a strong pensions plan is seen as a key benefit.From offering higher levels of matched contributions or switching to salary-exchange, a more tax effective way of boosting pension savings, employees should find these an attractive offering.

Learning & development opportunities

Learning and development is good for your business and your team. Career progression is vital for 91% of millennials*, so prioritising opportunities to learn and improve should be a top priority for organisations.

Training can take all sorts of different forms, from personalised budgets to needs based training, some examples below:

• Webinar subscription
• Personal training budget – an allocated amount per employee, ensures equal development opportunity for all
• Project based training
• Needs bases training

HR policies… for everyone

You don’t necessarily need to take the road less travelled and have a radical overhaul of your HR policies. However, as you’ll see in some the examples below, they provide a glimpse of what is possible and what could be the new norm in years to come – and what employees could expect as standard.

• Inclusive parental leave policies & enhanced pay
• Menopause leave policy
• Miscarriage leave & pay
• Fertility treatment leave & pay
• Equal parenthood leave

Health & well-being initiatives

Engage Health Group found that 9 in 10 employees place ‘health’ as their top life priority, of them and their family, yet 1 in 3 employees said their employer was not interested in their mental or physical wellbeing.

With sickness absence levels at a 10 year high, health & wellbeing initiatives should be a key workplace benefit that your employees will love you for.

Examples include:

• Discounted gym membership
• Regular yoya / gym / Personal Training or exercise classes at work
• Generous holiday allowance + ability to buy additional holiday
• Cycle to work scheme
• Healthy snacks
• Paid self-care day i.e. duvet days
• Access to mental health services & more mental health support
• Going beyond statutory sick pay to offer enhanced sick pay

Other allowances & perks

There are a whole host of allowances and perks you can use to charm your employees and attract new recruits, some of the most popular ones we’ve seen recently are:

• A budget for home-working set up
• Laptop/tech allowance
• Free or discounted meals such as lunch and/or breakfast
• Subsidised commuting or travel allowance / contribution
• Subsidised childcare costs
• Long service award – from additional holiday to cash bonuses
• Paid volunteering days
• Matched charity donations

Every day small gestures

Some workplaces are brilliant at the everyday small gestures that create a warm culture and working environment. Our team are lucky to have wonderful colleagues and a caring leadership team who regularly demonstrate small gestures of appreciation.

The examples below are either free or a small cost to businesses but have a big impact, leaving a lasting impression and that warm fuzzy feeling inside.

Some examples are:

• Thank you & positive feedback regularly – not just at review meetings
• Early finishes – on special days or on a Friday at 3pm
• Birthday card / cake, Birthday off
• Easter eggs
• Christmas card and/or gift, advent calendar
• Regular team socials & work events
• Friday lunch pizza or 4pm drinks

We hope this has given you some ideas to help you increase employee engagement and create a positive working culture, beyond valentine’s day.

Need help with workplace well-being & benefits?

We give businesses personal support from qualified HR advisors to manage workplace compliance and HR challenges with confidence with our fixed-fee unlimited advice line.

Speak to an expert today on 01622 47 41 49 or emailing info@primed.co.uk.

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