Can you afford to lose 20% of your productivity?
When employees dread coming into work, they are more likely to cost their company money. Studies show unhappy employees are 20% less productive than happy ones.
Employees who are unhappy at work usually have trouble feeling like they belong. Do you notice a lack of team spirit in your workplace?
Engaging your auto shop mechanics with group activities boosts morale and productivity. Read on to learn about different team building activities you can use.
Why Use Group Activities?
Group activities are a fantastic place to start fostering happiness and communication. Another side effect of building a team at work is better safety awareness.
Employees need to be upbeat, have their eyes open, and be aware of their surroundings. When there are friendships in the auto shop, the mechanics will be more alert. They’ll be thinking about what’s going on in front of them, instead of what’s on their phone.
Mechanics engaging in conversations will burst out of the break room ready for work. While bored employees with their eyes glued to their phones might not even notice lunch is over.
In an auto shop environment, it’s vital that employees are always paying attention. One person failing to watch what they’re doing can have life-threatening consequences.
Let’s look at how group activities could help kickstart the friend making process.
Company Potluck
Having a company potluck is the perfect occasion to conduct a few team building games. For starters, workers love having the opportunity to show off their cooking skills. It’s also a time to spend together where employees aren’t working.
Bringing in different dishes as a team helps people start building quality relationships. If you have 3 or more employees who enjoy cooking, consider having a chili cook-off contest.
The auto shop will be buzzing with excitement as the contest day approaches. Co-workers will have something new to talk about instead of only talking about work.
Once the chili cook-off contest is complete, you’ll need to award the winner with a trophy. Having a large trophy can be a fun way to recognize their efforts. Place the trophy somewhere visible in the office for customers and workers to see.
The winner will be able to brag all year long until the next chili cook-off. New employees will enjoy hearing the story of how the champion came to be.
Of course, when you have the potluck next year, anyone could steal the trophy. If not enough employees like cooking try having a trivia contest.
Workplace Trivia Contest
Your contest can consist of questions about the company itself and the type of work you perform.
You can be as creative as you want when designing the questions. Some companies find it fun to create questions only their employees would know.
To do this, pick a small detail, only an employee would know about. For example, questions like, “what color is the break room floor?” would work great. While it may seem like a simple question, you’ll see how tricky it can be.
Since you’re dealing with auto mechanics, sprinkle in some car questions, too. Ask about the different types of cars or the type of body shop repairs you perform. Click here for more information you can use on your trivia cards.
Depending on how many employees you have, you’ll want to split them up into 2-3 teams. Don’t allow the employees to choose the teams. Instead, have the teams form from a random drawing.
Once all of the teams are ready, have them come up with a team name. On top of having a prize for the chili cook-off, make sure you have a separate trophy for the trivia champion.
Events outside of work, like a potluck or a trivia content, help employees see their job as more than a paycheck. Instead, it’s a social outlet, a fun place to be, and an organization they can be proud to be a part of.
Be Creative with Crafts
Unleash your creativity with a group crafting session. You can choose projects the employees can take home, or opt to have the project stay at work as a group effort.
Projects employees can take home would include things like t-shirts, mugs, or painting. To help drive home the team building aspect, choose a project you can display at work.
Find a “do it yourself”, or DIY, project that will help foster a fun work atmosphere. Here are a few DIY craft projects that anyone can enjoy doing:
- Mason jar chandelier
- Simple woodworking projects
- Chalkboard paint mugs/walls
If you have a free wall in the auto shop, try having your employees cover it in chalkboard paint. Then everyone can take turns drawing pictures and signing their names on the wall. Every now and then, you can clear the wall and invite workers to decorate it all over again.
Keep Trying New Things
Introducing group activities to the workplace can be exciting and challenging. You may find certain games and activities work better than others. It could take a few tries to find the perfect activity for your team, but once you do, it’ll be worth all the effort.
So far we’ve been discussing how to keep employees happy. But do you know how to keep customers smiling too?
Small Business Brief is happy to let you in on the secret to customer retention. We love helping small business owners and employees find ways to flourish.
Check out our article about the truth behind consumer behavior.
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