fortune 100 employee engagement ideas plus alternatives

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Fortune 100 Engagement Ideas Plus 30 Alternatives

Does your company offer an onsite chef? World class fitness facility? An organic garden that provides healthy ingredients for several cafeterias? Or, what about an extra $1,000,000 to go towards an employee passion project? No, you say? We get it. Most companies don’t have the budget or the resources to offer their employees some of the amazing rewards, incenTves, and benefits offered by Fortune 100 companies. But, there are plenty of ways you can show appreciaTon, engage, and build an amazing culture that people are excited to join (and stay!) We’ve dived deep in the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list to assess what they are doing to engage their employees. We then created a list of viable alternaTves that you can begin implemenTng immediately.


Paid Experiences

The most popular on the list, companies spend x amount of dollars on specific trips for employees, like fishing, ice skaTng, or yoga classes. DPR Construc-on allows employees and their families to spend a three-‐day weekend in two cabins on Lake Tahoe, owned by the CEO. Paid experiences can be more memorable for an employee than cash rewards. It offers a fun opportunity for employees and their families to try something new. Experiences like this can create deep connecTons and feelings of graTtude towards a company, which is great for engagement and retenTon of your best people. Edward Jones gathers all their regional offices together in one place for team events like ice skaTng and fishing tournaments. See next page for alterna-ves!


Paid Experiences Fortune 100 Examples: DPR Construc-on: 3-‐day weekend at boss’ Lake Tahoe cabins Edward Jones: Regional team gatherings in one locaTon for team events

Our Assessment: Offering employees paid experiences is a great way to show them you appreciate their hard work and value Tme together as a team. The cost can get high, and some businesses can’t pull experiences off to this degree.

Alternative Ideas:

•  1/2 day team event: Laser tag, minor league baseball game, family day at the zoo, canoe/kayaking day •  Offer 1-‐day off passes for personal mini-‐adventure •  Offer 1-‐day off passes to volunteer in the community •  Happy hour in honor of individual or team •  Parking lot BBQ for team •  Team night ouTng for Trivia, Karaoke, Bingo, or movie night!

= currently available in the YouEarnedIt reward catalog


Employee Wellness SAS has its own organic farm that feeds its employees in their four cafeterias. This perk alone could cause someone to shie from one company to another, just for its sensiTvity to sustainability. In this way, employees can feel nourished in both body and mind, knowing they work for a company that shares the same values. Google provides three wellness centers and a 7-‐acre sports complex to its employees. See next page for alterna-ves!


Employee Wellness Fortune 100 Examples: SAS: Sustainable organic farm for employee cafeterias Google: World class sports complex and three wellness centers

Our Assessment: Fewer employee sick and mental health days equate to higher levels of producTvity and overall well-‐being (and personal happiness!) Progressive companies are offering healthy opTons for their employees to encourage and maintain their overall health. The cost is reasonable and a focus on employee well-‐being is becoming a necessity with rising healthcare costs, not to menTon to push for more balance.

Alternative Ideas:

•  Fresh vegetable delivery program •  Invite local farmers market vendor to office •  Offer discounts to yoga, gym membership, exercise equipment •  Gie cards to local healthy restaurants •  4 visits for personal trainer •  Subsidize cost of in-‐house massage •  Offer on-‐site dance lessons: tango, break, salsa, 2-‐step, ballroom



Professional Development Qualcomm employees are asked to submit papers on their technology ideas each year. Winners receive the opportunity to speak at conferences. This is fantasTc, because not only is it a no-‐cost method of appreciaTon for your company to implement ASAP, it could effecTvely engage all employees to get creaTve. Who wouldn't want to present their brilliant idea at a conference? The reward Tes heavily into one of our most favorite topics: employee recogniTon. Intuit takes this theme a step further, with employees' passion projects, and even invests $1 million for the winning product. See next page for alterna-ves!


Professional Development Fortune 100 Examples: Qualcomm: Employees are given the opportunity to present at annual conference Intuit: $1 million funding towards employee-‐driven product idea

Our Assessment: Engaged employees are given many opportuniTes to learn and grow. The cost is low but the impact is high. Encouraging people to give their ideas helps business success and fuels employee engagement!

Alternative Ideas:

•  Personal mentoring/coaching sessions from key leaders in company •  Subsidize online courses or rewards for compleTng courses •  Contests for individuals to win all expense paid to regional professional conference •  Monthly allowance dedicated to purchasing business reads with the noTon of sharing key learnings

with team •  Brown bag TED conference-‐style lunch. Invite local experts to join & speak about chosen areas •  Unique lunch/offsite for innovaTon brainstorm



Loyalty-Driven Incentives

These types of employee rewards are real winners, because they keep your best employees engaged with the company for the long-‐haul. REI allows employees to use expensive equipment for free, and if employees want to buy the equipment, they get a big discount! This shows loyalty, because they are using in-‐house products and brands. Aeer 15 years with the company, REI offers another loyalty-‐driven incenTve: a paid-‐for sabbaTcal. W.L Gore Associates conTnues with this loyalty-‐driven theme by allowing individuals to manage themselves, rather than be supervised. See next slide for alterna-ves!


Loyalty-Driven Incentives Fortune 100 Examples: REI: Discounted sporTng equipment and sabbaTcal W.L. Gore & Associates: Allows individuals to manage themselves, rather than be supervised

Our Assessment: Loyal employees are more likely to serve as brand ambassadors, which extends to customers and future employees. Providing perks unique to your company is fun for employees and doesn’t have to be costly. StarTng with a few self-‐managed teams may infuse addiTonal efficiencies and innovaTon into the team.

Alternative Ideas:

•  Manager for a day – give an employee the boss’ hat for a day and allow her to provide strategic and operaTonal input and recommendaTons from her point of view.

•  Encourage self-‐managed small team to focus on a passion project •  Create a hack-‐a-‐thon with rewards and recogniTon for the best ideas •  AuthenTc public recogniTon and reward points for redeemable products, experiences, gie cards, and

donaTons •  Pay your vet pet bill



Work-Life Balance

VacaTon Tme is precious and usually very limited. Most employees end up using all their alloAed Tme over required holidays, like Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, such liAle Tme doesn't really give way to the escapist nature that hard-‐working employees oeen need. Employees at Millennium: The Takada Oncology Company are given up to three weeks of paid vacaTon Tme. They also do not take a firm record of sick days. The vacaTon part could be a liAle bit costly to a company, but this type of freedom is rare, and can lead to significant employee saTsfacTon and loyalty. Not keeping a firm hold on sick days can insTll a sense of trust in employees, which shows respect and value for employees. To make the office feel like home, Dreamworks Anima-on allots a sTpend to their employees to personalize workspaces. See next page for alterna-ves!


Work-Life Balance Fortune 100 Examples: Millennium: The Takada Oncology Company: 3 weeks paid vacaTon Dreamworks Anima-on: STpend for personalized workstaTons

Our Assessment: A challenge for the most engaged employees is balancing their passion for work and Tme with family. CreaTng a work environment that promotes healthy Tme-‐outs from the office sends a message of commitment to employee health and yields huge loyalty dividends in return. For some work environments, ditching the formal rules & regulaTons may be easier than you think (and easy to implement).

Alternative Ideas:

•  1x per week/month flexibility to work from home •  Gie cards/discounts on toys, games, theme parks, and books for kids •  Flowers delivered to spouse •  Note to family from CEO about remarkable work by the employee •  Bring your pet to work day •  Sleep in late for one week



NEXT STEPS So, there you have it. You don't have to spend all of your company profits on a private golf course for employees, but in order to keep them saTsfied, focused, and performing their best, you do have to invest in their happiness. Contact any of our team to see how YEI can help or take us for a free spin, no strings aAached! To save Tme, feel free to request a 10-‐minute demo. Keep on truckin’ and please check out our blog for other employee engagement ideas!

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