Why are Employee Events in 2024 essential for Employer Branding?

Can you successfully engage your talents with your company for the long term? Many employers struggle with this, as 63 percent of employees in Germany are interested in changing employers or are even actively searching (EY Job Study 2023). Why is the threshold for changing companies currently so low? It's because more than one in four employees (28%) feel little or no connection with their own employer. This can be due to various reasons, which are often attributed to a lack or weakness in employer branding. Employee events can enrich and positively support employer branding in many ways. Here are our top 7 reasons why employee events strengthen the employer brand and promote employee retention.
 

7 Reasons Why Employee Events Strengthen Employer Branding

Even in economically challenging times, it's worthwhile to invest in employee events. They have numerous positive effects on employer branding, offering advantages in the War for Talents.

1. Strengthening Corporate Culture and Motivation
   Shared experiences and activities create closeness and connection. Employee events promote a sense of belonging to a company by supporting connections with colleagues and supervisors. In daily work, there's often little time for personal conversations or interactions with employees from other departments. Therefore, regular events like annual celebrations are a great opportunity to live out the company culture in a shared exchange and create a sense of unity. This is also good for motivation, as a good relationship with colleagues is an absolute motivation booster for 58 percent of employees in their work life.
2. Increasing Employee Satisfaction and Productivity
   Satisfied employees are more committed to the company and willing to go the extra mile. A culture of appreciation and recognition for commitment and performance is essential. The interpersonal skills of leaders in daily work play an important role. Employee events that recognize and honor special achievements of employees or company anniversaries express the company's appreciation for its talents at an official level. In this context, appreciation can be shown, for example, with small gifts etc. Why is this so important? Lack of appreciation in corporate culture is one of the top reasons for quitting. According to a ZDF study, more than one-third of young Generation Z employees feel not appreciated enough in their daily work. According to a Deloitte study, companies with a strong culture of appreciation achieve 20 percent higher employee satisfaction and 12 percent higher productivity.
3. Improving Internal Communication
   Employee events are an opportunity for open exchange and promote communication between different departments and hierarchical levels. They can also be used as a platform to convey important company information – be it structural planning, strategic goals, or personnel developments. The personal approach, combined with the opportunity to ask questions, prevents misunderstandings and speculation. Open and transparent communication face-to-face makes a difference and reflects a more intense interest in employees than more anonymous information media like circular emails.
4. Promoting Teamwork and Work Quality
   There are a variety of event types and possibilities that can be designed interactively. Events that include intensive joint activities – such as exit games, (creative) projects, or time for social commitment – strengthen teamwork and collaboration. Detached from the daily work routine and their classic tasks, employees can show what they are capable of. Perhaps previously hidden skills and talents are discovered that can be considered in future work. This can improve both productivity and work quality.
5. Boosting Creativity and Innovation
   Employee events break the routines of normal working life. They offer different processes and tasks. Thus, they stimulate creative processes and promote innovative ideas. They provide an environment for informal exchange and inspiration that would not otherwise occur. Specific event forms, such as hackathons, can be specifically used to develop creative solutions for existing problems. In a fair competition, innovative ideas are created, and all participants have the opportunity to learn and expand their skills.
6. Promoting Well-being and Health
   Well-being and health are increasingly important criteria for employees when choosing a workplace. The top 2 reasons for quitting is improving work-life balance (Randstad EB Research 2023). Companies offering employee events for this can not only score on the attractiveness scale but also reduce sick days through prevention offers. This is relevant for work performance, as two-thirds of employees in Germany face increasing workloads (EY Job Study 2023). Event offerings in this context could include health days with check-ups, impulse lectures on time management, stress resilience, etc., or workshops and various specific course offerings like back fitness, autogenic training, muscle relaxation after Jacobson, etc.
7. Strengthening Image through Brand Ambassadors
   Employers who offer emotional employee events with real added value create occasions that are positively talked about: in the office, privately, and on social media platforms. This strengthens the company's good image and increases attractiveness for new talents. When employees become authentic brand ambassadors, it says more about the work climate and corporate culture than descriptions in job ads or on career websites can.

In summary, employee events can significantly contribute to creating a positive, appreciative, and thus productive work atmosphere. A good work climate is one of the most important motivation aspects for 58 percent of employees (EY Job Study 2023). Furthermore, shared experiences strengthen the sense of belonging, corporate culture, and thus the attachment to the employer. Ideally, employee events not only internally underscore your attractiveness as an employer but also externally. Thus, you kill two birds with one stone. You reduce turnover and create an image advantage in the War for Talents.

What Type of Employee Event Fits Your Goal and Your Employees?

Convinced of the positive impact of employee events and want to organize one yourself – where do you start? First, the question arises of who is responsible for this. This can vary from company to company and depends on size, company structure, goal, and employee group: Human Resources, Office Management, Marketing, Management, Project Team – or would you rather get support from external event planners?

The planning, organization, and implementation for a successful event with sustainable impact cannot be done on the side. Full Moon Experience is happy to support you and design an event that suits your company, your goals, and your employees, creating excitement.

The following questions should be considered when planning.

1. What is the goal of the event?
Of course, it would be nice to achieve all goals at once. Unfortunately, a comprehensive approach not only dilutes the focus but also the impact. Therefore, it is necessary to define as specific a goal as possible.

• Is it about conveying appreciation? Do you want to reward your employees, honor them, emphasize their achievements?
• Should the corporate culture be strengthened?
• Should motivation and commitment be increased?
• Should team spirit and cohesion be promoted?
• Should knowledge and skills be expanded?

2. What makes your employee target group tick?
Not every type of event appeals to all employee types equally well. Planning past your target group not only fails to create enthusiasm but turns a chance for employer branding into an annoying compulsory event. Therefore, it is important to know the target group well.

• Should all employees be addressed, or does the event concern a more specific target group – certain departments, teams?
• What wishes, skills, and needs do your employees have?
• Are there any sensitive issues or areas of tension?
• Is a certain generation of employees or educational level being addressed, or are there noticeable demographic characteristics?
• Are there shared interests or a common mindset?

3. What type of event fits your corporate culture?
Your company form and individual culture provide a natural framework for what types of events can authentically represent you and which would seem contrived.

• Are you a hip startup, more a tradition-oriented family business, or an internationally operating corporation?
• Which previous events were well received? What was the feedback from the employees? Were there suggestions or criticism?
• Do you choose structured events, or are you more flexible and spontaneous?
   

The answers to the above core questions provide the basic guidelines within which your planning should move. Now you still have to consider practical aspects like budget, number of participants, location, time, and duration of the event. On this basis, you can now select the format and type of your employee event. Here are some possibilities:

• Teambuilding events
  Activities like outdoor adventures, escape rooms, or sporting events
• Educational events
  In-house expert congresses, educational workshops, seminars, or health days
• Recognition events
  Award ceremonies, events for employee anniversaries, informal recognition lunches, or official gala dinners
• Social events
  Company parties, family days, or holiday celebrations
• Voluntary work and social projects
  Trash collection actions, creative upcycling events, aid missions in kindergartens or nursing homes

Conclusion and Outlook

Employee events are an important part of employer branding strategies because they significantly influence your employees' perception of your employer brand. Carefully planned events that match your corporate culture have the potential to increase employee retention and thereby reduce turnover. Investing in employee events is thus an investment in the future of your company and in your most valuable capital: motivated and satisfied talents. Full Moon Experience supports you in creating sustainable enthusiasm for you as an attractive employer with tailor-made employee events and strengthening your employer brand.

"The Corona era was dominated by two-dimensional digital events that were mainly content-driven. The senses were limited to hearing and seeing. What was missing was emotion," describes Managing Director Till Elsässer the birth of Full Moon Experience. "We want to create brand experiences that contribute 100% to the emotional level - that's the future," summarizes Till Elsässer the core orientation of Full Moon Experience, because "events dominated by positive emotional experiences remain memorable for a long time and are a topic of conversation for a long time."

The unique approach of Full Moon Experience consists of comprehensive consulting services from pre-communication to the event. "An event should always be seen as an element of a holistic campaign and consistent strategy. Therefore, it is particularly important to us to focus on the overall goal of our clients and to help achieve it fully. We already use targeted, hypothetical questions in advance to obtain all the essential information and get a comprehensive picture of the exact needs. To create sustainable emotions with our events, we involve all the senses," explains Business Coach and Managing Director Till Elsässer the approach. Close cooperation with the client is particularly important to him in order to create unique and captivating experiences.

Learn about exciting employee event possibilities for your company:

Contact:
[email protected]
+49 1632671775
Till Elsässer, Managing Director Full Moon Experience

Want to read more on the topic?
Check out our magazine article: EMPLOYER BRANDING: TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE LASTING EFFECT OF EVENTS!