Employee engagement; the magical elixir that every company strives for in a bid to build team cohesion, satisfaction and loyalty. In times past this has tended to be focused around the tried and tested Christmas party or the classic golf day. Annual moments which have long formed the back bone of corporate staff engagement.
But then you’d get those who are after something different; the yoga bunnies looking for health club memberships or the lycra clad cycle enthusiasts searching for their next gruelling challenge. All sitting under the broad church that is ‘employee engagement’ but at differing ends of the spectrum.
The challenge for employers; where should efforts be focused, in a bid to offer genuine and impactful team interaction? An answer that becomes clearer with the acknowledgement that the starting point should always be broad reach and accessibility. If employees can pique the interest of their whole team in any out of work activities, then the ROI instantly improves, both in terms of financial spend but also the likely long lasting positive impact on inter-company camaraderie.
Let’s take an example. Each year in July, a strange phenomenon hits the City of London. For two nights, there’s a mass exodus of 30,000+ city dwellers heading south of the river to leafy Battersea Park to take part in the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge, a 5.6k corporate run and hospitality event. Part of a worldwide series across 16 cities, the London event has been an annual fixture for over 30 years and the 2024 edition sold out months in advance, with 684 different companies taking part.
Fusing fitness with hospitality in an ‘in person’ moment is the open secret here; get the exercise fuelled positive endorphins flowing and keep energy levels high with a few well-earned drinks with your colleagues. The ability to catch up with colleagues in a Zoom-free environment only adding to the allure.
A packed start line mixing Olympic hopefuls (that’s no joke!) with first time walkers demonstrates the event’s broad accessibility. And whilst the 5.6k course might be completed markedly quicker by some; by the time the finish line is crossed and participants connect with their colleagues, hierarchies have fallen away, barriers have been dropped and teams have authentically bonded.
And the insights prove the impact, with 85% of participants surveyed from the global series agreeing that they feel closer to their co-workers after the event. Multiply this up against a worldwide audience in excess of 200,000 participants across 6,000 companies, and you can start to see the sort of impact the event can have on a mass scale. Contrast this with some worrying post Covid trends in employee engagement – a 2023 Gallup survey concluded that only 23% of UK employees are actively engaged at work – and the positive benefits of getting employee engagement right are clear for all to see.
Whilst employee engagement will no doubt continue to evolve, perhaps there are some key learnings around the simplicity of approach. Keep it accessible and authentic and companies are likely onto a winning formula.
