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4 Ways to Engage Employees During Difficult Times

With the disruption to daily life and distraction of the unknown, to say it’s a stressful time is an understatement. How can companies connect with employees and help alleviate stress during work, especially among an already anxious industry? Continue reading to discover ideas for engaging internal stakeholders amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Event professional engaging in group check-in during COVID-19 pandemic | Global agency, BCD Meetings & Events

How to engage and uplift employees
amid Covid-19 pandemic

It’s no secret that a career in meetings and events can be taxing. With constant travel, hard deadlines and long hours, stress management for event professionals is always part of the conversation. But with industry uncertainly caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, stress may be at an all-time high. With similar conversations happening among our partners, suppliers and a majority of the global economy, we know we’re not alone.

An emphasis on employee well-being is imperative. Striving to maintain a positive morale among teams and creating camaraderie amid this crisis can help alleviate some of the stresses we are all facing. At BCD Meetings & Events, we’ve enhanced efforts and opportunities to connect with our teams around the world. Here, we share ideas on how to engage employees during this unique time.

Add levity to the inbox

We already established that a strong communications strategy is key during this time, but it shouldn’t be state-of-business content every time. Find ways to bring a little levity to everyone’s inboxes and break up the often heavy news we’re being bombarded with daily. Employees are likely to engage with content that features lighthearted, feel good communications that connect them to the brand and each other.

At BCD M&E, we’ve developed a series of touch-points that highlight our best asset, our people, to keep employees connected during a time of physical distance. These include Q&A with leaders around the world to share business insights, plus personal tidbits and “staff picks” of how our teams around the world are finding ways to stay positive. The key to delivering content straight to your employees’ inbox is to make it easily accessible and digestible. Forget blocks of copy – think colors, imagery and personality.

Global Marketing Staff Picks GIFThe Staff Picks recently provided by our Global Marketing Team

Talk about it

No matter where we’re located or what our job is, this pandemic has disrupted most areas of our lives. While everyone is having their own experiences, we share many of the same stressors. Why not gain some emotional support at work by talking about it?

Consider scheduling an optional weekly check-in via virtual conference for all employees. This can provide the time for a well-deserved mental break, opportunity to bond over current hardships and provide helpful tips to overcome stresses. At BCD M&E, our HR team in North America has pioneered this initiative, which helps in communicating awareness of the situation, as well, emotional support to our colleagues.

Create group wellness opportunities

This is a time when employees’ routines have been disrupted. They are no longer breaking for lunch with co-workers, or grabbing coffee and a walk together. People are also limited in their access to gyms, yoga studios, even outdoor parks where they typically get their exercise.

Companies can create opportunities for employees to come together from their homes to participate in group wellness activities. For example, we rely on our resident yogis to share poses for relieving stress in the body and have even hosted guided meditation sessions for our teams. Other ideas include creating “challenges” people can do on their own time with their families and using a number of internal platforms to encourage and track each other’s progress.

Zumba session-1A few of our UK colleagues breaking up the day with a quick Zumba session.

Creating group wellness opportunities is all about building a sense of community within an employee base and giving them the resources and knowledge to empower them to be active and feel part of something. Think creatively about what types of initiatives work best for your workforce.

Get creative with video

Video content outperforms any other type of content for engagement almost every time. This goes for internal communications as well. Video conferencing has become the new norm, but think of other creative ways to utilize video for strategic communications.

Event professionals communicating via virtual meeting | Global agency, BCD Meetings & Events

A message from leadership, or a compilation from employees to drive a specific message will have more engagement if viewers can feel like they are in a conversation as opposed to just receiving information.

 

Originally published Jun 2, 2020 7:00:00 AM
Last updated on Apr 6, 2023 4:44:52 PM

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Written by BCD Meetings & Events

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