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Voiance recently sponsored a webinar with the author of What’s your Green Goldfish?, Stan Phelps. Stan gave several examples of “little extras” that employers can do to engage employees.

The problem that he addresses is that currently, 69% of US employees are either “not engaged” or are “actively disengaged”. As a result, finding ways to motivate and engage employees should be a concern for all employers and supervisors across all industries.

Providing “little extras” to engage employees can be simple, you just need to follow Stan’s “R.U.L.E.S”:

Relevant: make sure that the item or service is a true benefit to the recipient.
Unexpected: the extra benefit or gift should be a surprise.
Limited: something that is rare or unique to your business.
Expression: think about “how” it is given, as opposed to “what” is given.
Sticky: Is the little something extra memorable enough to tell a friend or three thousand?

Stan provided examples from companies all over the world that do “little extras” that help motivate their employees. Here are 15 ways you can engage your employees and maintain a high level of engagement.

1. Recruiting/Onboarding- Create a sense of inclusion right away.
2. Food and Beverage- Free food or potluck days to bring people together.
3. Modern Family- creating benefits that extend to all family members of the employee.
4. Shelter- create a work space or break space that allows bonding and creative thinking.
5. Wellness- have work out programs or incentives for employees to stay fit.
6. Time Away- encourage employees to enjoy their time off and take vacations.
7. Flexibility- create flexibility in the times and hours that employees are required to work.
8. Team Building- have company events to bring the team together.
9. Transparency- allow employees to know all the ins and outs of your company.
10. “Attaboys” and “Attagirls”- give small gift or awards for good behavior or work.
11. Retirement- have retirement plans set up for employees to allow them.
12. Take Note: Best Things in Life are Free- simple notes and a “thank you” go a long way.
13. Training and development- create opportunities for employees to learn skills outside their job description.
14. Paying it Forward- allow employees to participate in community service events.
15. Empowerment- foster an environment where people feel comfortable stepping out of the box.

The whole idea behind the Green Goldfish is to implement small changes that can make a big impact for your employees. Stan said it best when he said “Love your customers and employees as yourself. Give more than expected. Be remark-able.”

-Sarah

Voiance Language Services provides multilingual support in over 200 languages to business and government. Our employee interpreters receive 120 hours of training, including language testing and instruction in listening and recall. Organizations use Voiance’s telephone interpretation to facilitate communication with customers. Voiance is a subsidiary of CyraCom International, Inc., the largest provider of Phone Interpretation that operates solely in the United States.