Tag: Employee Recognition

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Employee engagement

Best Slack Apps to Build Team Culture and Increase Engagement in 2023

In the fast-paced world of modern work, fostering a strong team culture and boosting employee engagement are critical for organisations striving to stay ahead of the competition. While there are numerous platforms designed to enhance workplace collaboration, Slack has emerged as a powerhouse, revolutionising the way teams communicate, collaborate, and connect. With its ever-expanding ecosystem of applications, Slack has become an indispensable tool for teams looking to nurture a positive work environment and increase overall engagement.

To put this list together we had the help of TopTools.io, A website that references all Slack apps and is able to list the best ones, gather all reviews and track app ranks on Slack marketplace.

Here you’ll find the best Slack apps to Build Team Culture and Increase Engagement.

  1. Billy (the birthday bot)

    billy the birthday bot for slack

    Billy is a bot that automates birthday and work anniversary celebrations. It is the top rated bot for Slack and Teams. Celebrating birthdays is one of the simplest thing to do to increase employee recognition. It’s also an efficient way to build a positive team culture and team bonding.
    Try out Billy the birthday bot

  2. GreetBot
    greetbotThis bot greets people in Slack. GreetBot is a friendly onboarding assistant that helps you welcome new members of your Slack workspace.
    Try out Greetbot now
  3. Trivia
    trivia bot slack
    You want your team to play together without adding a new Zoom call in their calendar? Trivia builds camaraderie, collaboration and connections among your teammates thanks to games in Slack. It is fun, memorable, and engaging.
    Try Trivia
  4. Standup.ly
    standup bot slack
    This is a stand Up Bot for daily async meetings. Automate daily huddle check-ins, retrospectives, 360 feedback reviews, 1-on-1, planning poker, backlog grooming, and other workflows.
    Test Standup.ly now
  5. Donut
    donut bot slack
    Donut is a tool to connect serendipitously for virtual coffee, peer learning, birthday and work anniversary celebrations, DEI discussions, and more.
    Donut makes connections across the organization, for teams of all sizes in three ways: by encouraging in-person or virtual meetups or asynchronous banter.
    Install Donut
  6. Ricotta
    ricotta bot slack
    Play games and trivia together as a team with Ricotta Games & Trivia. The best part? It’s asynchronous and collaborative. Fun trivia quizzes with 30K+ questions and 30 categories. Play asynchronous quizzes without disrupting work for a quick 5-minute break.
    Install Ricotta for Slack
  7. Team Buddy
    team buddy bot slack
    TeamBuddy Is a combination of team directory with icebreaker questions Encourage your people to know each other. Make your company’s culture more inclusive and warm.
    Try Team Buddy

This is all for our curated list of the best Slack apps to Build Team Culture and Increase Engagement. You think we forgot an app? Reach out to us, we’d be happy to update this article.

Categories
employee retention

4 effective strategies for reducing employee turnover

In order to enhance employee retention and keep top performers within your organization, it is crucial to not only calculate your company’s turnover rate but also analyze the underlying causes behind employee departures. From there, it’ll be easier to implement ongoing measures to maintain a low turnover rate. Here are 4 effective strategies for reducing employee turnover:

  1. Regularly monitor turnover rate:

If your turnover rate is high, it signifies an underlying issue that needs to be addressed promptly. By tracking your organization’s departure rate regularly (such as on a monthly or quarterly basis), you can identify problems early on. Merely examining turnover metrics once a year may lead to a delayed awareness of issues that have already driven many employees away. To be proactive in resolving concerns, it is advisable to measure turnover more frequently, as suggested by Goldberg.

  1. Engage with your employees:

To prevent employee attrition, one of the most effective actions is to directly ask them what measures are needed to retain them and then take appropriate action. This can involve conducting exit interviews with departing employees, as well as engaging with your current workforce. To proactively address potential turnover, Goldberg recommends conducting “stay interviews” with high-performing and high-potential talent. Understand their priorities and concerns, and make an effort to address those issues whenever possible. It’s highly recommended to put in place employee recognition and celebration initiatives. Celebrating employee birthdays is a good start for instance.

  1. Foster a foundation for success:

Reducing turnover begins from the moment you onboard a new team member. To mitigate employee departures, it is crucial to ensure that they are set up for success right from day one. Jaffee suggests creating a comprehensive onboarding process that provides new hires with optimal opportunities to thrive in their roles. This way, you can improve their initial experience, increasing the likelihood of long-term engagement and retention.

  1. Encourage professional growth:

When employees feel stagnant and perceive limited opportunities for advancement within an organization, they tend to seek new prospects elsewhere. To maintain a low turnover rate, it is important to provide your employees with avenues for growth and professional development. Jaffee recommends offering clear pathways for career advancement and fostering a company culture that emphasizes employee growth. By doing so, you can enhance employee engagement, retention, and overall job performance.

Your company’s employee turnover rate serves as a vital metric for assessing the overall health of your organization. Now that you understand how to calculate employee departure rate and leverage that information to reduce turnover and improve retention, you can promptly implement these strategies to foster a healthier work environment. By employing these measures, you can ensure the longevity of your top employees’ tenure within your organization.

Categories
Human Resources Remote work

Celebrating Employee Birthdays and Work Anniversaries in Microsoft Teams

Recognizing and celebrating employee milestones, such as birthdays and work anniversaries, is crucial for fostering a positive work culture and boosting team morale. With remote work becoming increasingly prevalent, it’s important to adapt to virtual environments and find innovative ways to celebrate these special occasions. In this article, we will explore creative ways to be celebrating employee birthdays and work anniversaries using Microsoft Teams in 2023.

  1. Create a dedicated channel
    Establish a specific channel in your Microsoft Teams workspace solely dedicated to celebrating employee milestones. This allows for easy organization and ensures everyone has access to relevant information.
  2. Collect employee information: Gather essential details such as birth dates and work anniversaries for all team members. Maintain an updated record to ensure accurate recognition.
  3. Virtual Birthday Celebrations:
    • Send personalized messages: Encourage team members to send personalized birthday messages via direct messages or within the designated celebration channel. This creates a sense of personal connection and shows that colleagues care.
    • Virtual parties and games: Organize virtual parties where team members can join a video call to celebrate the birthday. Incorporate fun activities like virtual charades to engage everyone and make the celebration memorable.
    • Digital gifts and e-cards: Encourage team members to send digital gifts or e-cards using Microsoft Teams’ integrated features or third-party apps. These small gestures can make employees feel valued and appreciated.
  4. Commemorating Work Anniversaries: Use the designated celebration channel or a dedicated Teams post to publicly recognize employees reaching work anniversaries. Highlight their contributions, accomplishments, and years of service. If you want ideas for good messages, check out our article about the best work anniversary messages.

Want to simplify this process ? Install Billy, the birthday bot for Microsoft teams

In the virtual work landscape of 2023, celebrating employee birthdays and work anniversaries in Microsoft Teams offers an excellent opportunity to strengthen team bonds and promote a positive work culture. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can ensure that your team members feel valued, appreciated, and connected, regardless of physical distance.

Categories
Remote work

How to use Giphy in Slack

Utilising Slack, Teams or any other messaging software is now common for everyone. It’s not just reserved to startups or technology companies. Today we’ll take Slack as our main example. In order to master communication via Slack, you need to master the use of certain apps or extensions. The one I use everyday is Giphy, a GIF extension for Slack that makes it easy to search and publish GIF in channels. Why ? Because it’s either really funny, or illustrates perfectly what I want to say (better than a small emoji) or even because an image is sometimes worth a thousand words. That’s why we’ll see how to use Giphy in Slack.

1. Setting Up Giphy in Slack

First let’s see how to set up Giphy in your Slack workspace if you don’t have it yet. It’s a quick process, you need to visit Giphy page on Slack app directory (link here). Then click “Add to Slack”. 2 clicks later, you’re good to go! Giphy is now installed successfully.

Talking about Slack app, if you want to celebrate birthdays in Slack we have something for you and we just wrote an article about it: How to use birthday bot?

2. Using Giphy in Slack

Now that you’ve set up the extension, we’ll see how to use Giphy in Slack.

Note that you can send GIFs in any conversation using Giphy, either in public channels, private channels but also in direct messages.

Now how to search for a GIF ? Enter in the text prompt:
/giphy my search message
Then press enter, don’t worry the message won’t be posted like this. You can notice the “Only visible to you” mention.

ou’ll see a proposal of GIF and you’ll be offered 3 options: Send, Shuffle (to find another one), Cancel.

It’s time to play with the shuffle button until you see a GIF that you like.
Click send when you’re ready and that’s it. Your GIF is now posted for everyone to see it.

3. Best Practices for Using Giphy in Slack in a professional environment

Even though Giphy is mostly safe for work, I’d recommend a few best practises to make sure you’re acting in an appropriate manner in a professional environment.

First avoir offensive GIFs or images that can shock other people. Avoid of course the ones that are crude or sexually suggestive.

Make sure you don’t post too many GIFs or it can get overwhelming.

Those rules can seem basic but we’d better read them once in a while to make sure we’re not missing one.

Conclusion

We’ve seen how to use Giphy in Slack, from installation to usage, you’re now a pro!

Mastering the use of GIFs in Slack is important to make a point and to ease everyday communications. Also, it’s just fun, right ?! If this article was helpful, please drop a comment I’d be glad to read your mention.

Categories
Employee engagement

How to use birthday bot?

Introduction

Since COVID hit, companies all over the world have tried to find many ways to connect their employees and create camaraderie in this new remote environment. The most basic way of doing this is by celebrating employees’ birthdays and work anniversaries. Nothing is more appreciated by a co-worker than seeing their colleagues celebrate their birthday. But do you know how much of a pain it can be? You have to name someone in charge of it in the company who will connect daily to your HRIS tool to check whose birthday/work anniversary it is, write a lovely message, and post it in a given Slack channel. This process sounds like a waste of time, right? That’s where a birthday bot comes in!

So, what is a birthday bot?

A birthday bot (or bday bot) is a type of chatbot designed to help users celebrate birthdays. It is a program that can be integrated with messaging platforms such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, and Facebook Messenger, and can be used to keep track of birthdays, send reminders, and even send automated birthday messages.

Installing a birthday bot

For the sake of the example, we’re going to pick Slack. Let’s visit the marketplace and search for a “birthday bot”:

Let’s install the first one on the list. They all have similar features. What’s cool about Billy (the market leader) is that it’s both the cheapest and most feature-rich option for Slack.

Let’s follow this installation process. Click Install from the marketplace:

Then, click Allow:

If you see this, congratulations! You have just installed your first birthday bot 🎉

Now, let’s get it configured!

Configuring the bot

From the previous screenshot, we can see the various settings available during the onboarding flow. Please keep in mind that all services work similarly, so what’s true for Billy is probably true for others.

So, you have:

  1. The channel in which you’d like the bot to send celebration messages.
  2. An option to opt-in for work anniversaries.
  3. The scope of the celebrations: all workspace members vs. channel members only.
  4. The birthdate collection method: automatic vs. manual.

Once you submit, it will redirect you to the bot’s full settings page:

We can discover three new settings:

  • Celebration time
  • Celebration language
  • Weekend management (D-day, Mondays, or Fridays)

We can also see that we can add Billy to multiple channels (in case we would like to use it in multiple sub-teams).

Note: When you add Billy to a channel, he will:

  1. Kindly introduce himself.
  2. (Only if you enabled the auto-collection of dates) Send a message to the relevant members depending on the scope you chose (all workspace members vs. channel members only).

Using the Birthday Bot

Now that the bday bot has been added to your first channel, let’s take a look at how to use it on a daily basis.

Filling out birthdates and work anniversary dates

If you look at your active channels in Billy’s settings, you will notice two buttons if some birthdays are missing:

If you click on the first button Ask 12 members, Billy will reach out to each member individually to remind them to fill out their birth date, telling them that you asked for it.

If you click on Import dates, It will provide you with an Excel file that you’ll have to fill out and send back to Billy’s through the chat.

Note: If you have enabled auto-collection, Billy will automatically reach out on an optimized schedule to collect dates by himself.

Personal settings

Previously, we only discussed the admin settings. Please note that only the person who installed Billy and the Slack workspace admins have access to those admin settings.

Now, let’s take a look at the personal settings:

We can see two different sections.

The first one is to fill out our birthdate and our work anniversary date. We can note two things:

  • The year is optional (each person can hide how old he/she is).
  • There is an opt-out option in case someone doesn’t want their birthday or work anniversary to be celebrated (indeed, some people are not comfortable with it).

The second one is the list of upcoming events. This is useful if someone wants to check someone else’s birthday/work anniversary or if you are an admin looking to check whether or not you inputted the right date!

Tips and Tricks

To ensure the best user experience for your Slack members, here is our recommendation on how to use a bday bot:

  1. Install it and import the birthdates and work anniversary dates of everyone.
  2. Turn on auto-collect so that whenever someone new joins the Slack workspace, Billy will automatically collect their information.

Conclusion

In this article, we saw how to install and configure a birthday bot, and how to use it on a daily basis. We really encourage you to test one of the available birthday bots on the market and observe the reactions of your teammates. Trust us, you won’t be disappointed!

Last but not least: If you are using Slack and want to give Billy a try, here is a link to do so.

Let us know what your teams think of it in the comments!

Categories
Employee experience

Using Slack to Celebrate Employee Birthdays in 2023

Birthdays are a special occasion and a great opportunity to show your employees that you care. In 2023, celebrating birthdays in the workplace will look quite different from how it did prior to the pandemic. With many companies still working remotely, there is an increased need for virtual communication tools like Slack to help bring everyone together and make birthdays extra special. Let’s take a look at some of the best ways to use Slack for birthday wishes this year.

Birthday Channels

Creating a birthday channel on your company’s Slack workspace is one of the most effective ways to celebrate employee birthdays. This gives everyone in the company a dedicated space to post happy birthday messages, funny memes, and other celebratory content. It also encourages camaraderie by bringing people together who might not otherwise interact regularly on Slack. Plus, it’s just plain fun!

Birthday Bot

Another great way to make sure no one misses an employee’s birthday is by using a Slack app to automate it like Billy Birthday. This bot can be set up so that it automatically sends out notifications when someone’s birthday is coming up. This ensures that all of your employees get their due recognition on their special day without any extra effort or manual tracking required from HR staff or managers.

Virtual Gatherings

Finally, what better way to celebrate someone’s birthday than with a virtual gathering? Use Slack to send out invites for an online video call where team members can chat and catch up while they share cake (or cupcakes!). Virtual gatherings can provide much-needed social interaction during these times of remote work, while still allowing people to maintain social distancing protocols as needed.

Celebrating birthdays in the age of digitalization has its challenges – but also plenty of opportunities! By utilizing tools like Slack channels and bots, HR teams can ensure that no employee goes unnoticed on their special day while also creating meaningful connections between colleagues who may not have interacted before now. Whether you opt for virtual gatherings or simple messages sent through Slack – there are limitless possibilities for making birthdays even more special in 2021!

Categories
Employee engagement

How to avoid quiet quitting in your company – the hard truth

Does it feel like an increasing number of your employees are less engaged or you’re wondering if they work at all? If so, you may be dealing with a phenomenon known as “quiet quitting.” This is when an employee chooses to leave their job without formally notifying their employer. It’s a serious problem that can be difficult to address and can have a negative impact on your business. So, let’s take a look at some of the ways you can prevent quiet quitting in your company.

Understand Why Employees Are Quietly Quitting


The first step in addressing any issue is understanding why it’s happening. Generally speaking, there are three main reasons why employees choose to quietly quit their jobs: feeling undervalued or unappreciated, lack of career growth opportunities, or dissatisfaction with management or the work environment. Of course, the root causes of these issues will vary from employee to employee and it’s important to try to get to the bottom of each individual case if possible.

Identify Problem Areas


Once you understand why people are quietly quitting, you’ll need to identify any problem areas that could be causing these issues and take steps to address them. For example, if employees feel like they’re not being appreciated enough for their contributions, it might be worth implementing a recognition program that rewards hard work and commitment (checkout our article about must-haves for a better employee engagement). Or if employees find the work environment too stressful or lacking in resources, consider making changes such as hiring additional staff or providing more training opportunities.

Improve Communication


Finally, one of the best things you can do is create an open dialogue between yourself and your current and prospective employees so that everyone feels comfortable expressing their concerns without fear of judgment or repercussions. This means having frequent check-ins with team members about how they’re feeling and what needs to be improved upon within the company culture. You should also make sure that all new hires are aware of all available resources such as employee assistance programs and other benefits when they start at your organization—this way they know where to turn if ever they experience any kind of difficulty during their time at your company.

No one likes dealing with quiet quitting in their workplace—it’s a sign that something isn’t quite right within your organization. That said, there are steps you can take to help prevent this kind of behavior from happening by understanding why people choose this route in the first place and then addressing any underlying issues that could be causing it. Additionally, improving communication between yourself and your staff is essential if you want to create an environment where everyone feels valued and respected while working together towards common goals. Taking these steps may not guarantee that quiet quitting won’t happen again but it will certainly reduce its likelihood in the future!

Categories
Employee engagement

5 Must-Haves to Increase Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is essential for any business to succeed. It is important to provide an environment that employees feel supported, encouraged, and motivated in. Here are five must-haves to increase employee engagement that can help create a positive work environment.

  1. Open Communication – Good communication between managers and their employees is paramount in fostering a positive work environment. Managers should make sure they are actively listening to their employees’ concerns and feedback and responding in a timely manner. This will show the employees that their opinions matter and will lead to higher levels of engagement.
  2. Flexible Work Schedules – Offering more flexible work schedules can help increase employee engagement by giving them more control over when they can take time off or complete tasks on their own schedule. Allowing employees the freedom to decide when they want to work makes them feel valued and respected by their employers, which leads to higher job satisfaction and productivity.
  3. Clear Expectations – Establishing clear expectations from the start is key for creating an environment where employees know what is expected of them and how they can reach their goals. This will help keep everyone focused on achieving the same goal while still allowing individuals some autonomy over how they get there.
  4. Team Building Activities – Team building activities are a great way to build relationships among coworkers as well as foster collaboration between departments or teams within the company. These activities give everyone a chance to bond outside of work, which helps create a friendly atmosphere that encourages people to come together in order to achieve common goals.
  5. Recognition – Recognizing your team’s accomplishments is an important part of increasing employee engagement, as it shows appreciation for hard work and dedication while motivating others to strive for excellence too. Whether it’s something small like sending out a “thank you” email or something bigger like hosting an awards ceremony or sending a public shoutout/kudo, recognizing your team’s efforts will show them how much you value them and foster a sense of community within the workplace.
    There are also simple things to put in place such as birthday celebrations or work anniversary messages. Billy birthday can help you automate these last 2 examples. Its honestly one of the best effort/impact ration for your employees. It has a free plan for small businesses and startups.

Creating an engaged workforce requires investment from all members of the organization, from upper management all the way down through individual team members themselves! Implementing these five must-haves into your organization’s culture can help increase employee engagement, leading to higher levels of productivity as well as improved customer service—ultimately resulting in better results for your business! With these tips in mind, you can set yourself up for success by creating an environment where everyone feels supported and appreciated!

For more ideas, please check our article about the Top 5 initiatives for a better Employee Experience

Categories
Employee experience

Top 5 initiatives for a better employee experience

A recent study conducted by Microsoft revealed that only 1 in 2 employees feel engaged at work. The research goes on to state that disengaged employees cost businesses between $450-$550 billion annually in lost productivity. With such staggering numbers, it’s no wonder why so many organizations are looking for ways to improve their employee experience.
The following are the top 5 initiatives your company can implement today to improve your employee experience and create a happier, more engaged workforce.

  1. Onboarding Program: Implement an onboarding program that covers the basics of your company culture, values, and expectations. Then, go a step further and assign each new hire a mentor who can help them acclimate to their new role and answer any questions they may have along the way.
  2. Employee Recognition Program: Create an employee recognition program that celebrates employees for meeting (and exceeding) goals, exhibiting exemplary customer service skills, or going above and beyond their job duties. Publicly acknowledging and thanking employees for their hard work is a great way to show them that you appreciate their contributions and it motivates them to continue putting forth their best effort.
  3. wellness initiatives: Invest in your employees’ physical and mental wellbeing by implementing wellness initiatives such as standing desks, fitness reimbursement programs, or meditation classes. Showing employees that you care about their health and wellbeing will go a long way in building trust and fostering a positive relationship between employer and employee.
  4. paid time off (PTO): Give your employees the gift of time by offering generous paid time off policies. This not only shows employees that you value their work-life balance but also allows them the opportunity to recharge their batteries so they can come back to work feeling refreshed and ready to take on whatever challenges come their way.
  5. flexible work arrangements: Offer flexible work arrangements such as remote work options, flex hours, or compressed work weeks. This gives employees the freedom and flexibility to design a work schedule that works best for them which leads to improved focus, decreased stress levels, and increased productivity.

Employees who feel engaged and valued are more likely to be productive members of your team who add value to your company. Implementing even just one or two of the above initiatives can have a positive impact on employee morale and help turn your business into a thriving workplace!