Proven techniques to boost team engagement in 2025
Employee engagement is never static. It ebbs and flows with the changing tides of company culture, leadership shifts, and external challenges. Even the most dedicated team members can experience slowdown but the good news is that you can avoid those dips.
If you’ve noticed a change in your team’s engagement or just want to improve it, there are some practical, modern steps you can take that can make a lasting, positive impact in your office. The only key here is to spot those disengagements early and implement strategies that address such concerns beforehand.
Remember, engagement is not a one-and-done task. In fact, it’s an ongoing journey whether through gamification or personalized development opportunities.
Over the years, I have developed, tested, and fine-tuned several team engagement strategies. Time after time, I have refined these methods through trial and error. So, let’s enhance engagement without wasting any time.
Top 7 new proven team engagement strategies for 2025
1. Gamification and reward systems
Gamification is now a proven strategy to motivate teams and keep them engaged. By integrating game-like elements into the workplace, you can transform routine tasks into exciting challenges that enhance collaboration, and healthy competition.
Gamification in the workplace often includes leaderboards, levels, and points. Leaderboards spark friendly competition, especially when reset regularly or in some cases periodically to keep everyone motivated, including newcomers. Levels provide a sense of challenge and progress, helping employees feel they’re growing. Moreover, points can be used for bragging rights or exchanged for rewards.
Some examples of action
We’ve seen how gamification and reward systems can create meaningful impacts, but some brands have taken it a step further with innovative implementations that not only solve challenges but also set new benchmarks. Let’s look at how a few pioneers have successfully embraced gamification to achieve remarkable results.
Domino’s: Pizza Hero app
Challenge:
Recruiting and training skilled pizza chefs is somehow challenging for Domino’s. Traditional methods weren’t enough to attract or evaluate candidates who were passionate about making pizza. The company needed a way to engage potential applicants while ensuring they already had a basic understanding of the pizza-making process before stepping into the kitchen.
The gamify solution:
Domino’s tackled this challenge through an innovative gamified approach: the Pizza Hero app. First, it looks like a fun game where users can virtually create pizzas. However, it was much more than a game — it was also like a recruitment tool. As users played and improved their skills, they earned points based on their performance in various stages of the pizza-making process. Those who achieved a high enough score were invited to Domino’s for a job interview.
This gamified process allowed Domino’s to identify candidates who had a conceptual understanding of pizza-making. It effectively reduced the learning curve for new hires.
LinkedIn: Leaderboard and skill development
Challenge:
LinkedIn needed a way to engage its sales teams and continuous skill development. Traditional approaches to sales motivation and training often lacked the excitement and engagement required to sustain high performance.
The gamify solution:
LinkedIn turned to gamification to address these challenges, incorporating gaming elements like leaderboards, skill badges, and achievement notifications, to drive engagement and performance among sales teams.
2. Personalized team engagement
The most basic element of employee engagement always comes down to balancing the needs of the organization with the needs of its people. Acknowledge that every employee is unique, with different needs, and work styles. From my experience, if you use people analytics for personalised engagement you can experience certain benefits for your employees and organization.
Organizations that leverage people analytics will attract and retain talent better than their competitors. By investing in it, you can also gain valuable insights into your workforce, and foster a culture of engagement.
Moreover, personalized engagement strategies demonstrate an organization’s commitment to its employees’ growth and well-being. This creates a positive work culture, increases employee loyalty, and helps attract and retain top talent.
I remember a quote here by Maya Angelou: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
3. Wellness challenges with a competitive twist
Keeping employees engaged is not just about work performance but their well-being. Create challenges focused on health-related goals, such as step counts, hydration tracking, meditation minutes, or hours of sleep. This approach encourages healthy habits and creates an environment where wellness is celebrated as an achievement. After all, a healthy team is a happy team- and happier teams perform better
4. Reverse monitoring program
Instead of educating your team members about new tactics or the latest trends ask them to educate you. Reverse mentoring flips the traditional hierarchy by allowing young team members to share their expertise on emerging technologies or fresh perspectives.
Let me share an example from my managerial days. I once invited a junior team member who was greatly active on social media or a kind of influencer to conduct a session for the leadership team. Their experience and vision were interesting, and it sparked a shift in how we approached our marketing campaigns.
5. Job rotation and cross-departmental collaboration
Give employees the opportunity to step out of their usual roles and explore new challenges through job rotation and cross-departmental collaboration. This strategy not only keeps the work environment dynamic but also fosters a culture of learning, adaptability, and innovation.
For instance, during a complex project where collaboration between the marketing and product development teams was very much required, I initiated a job rotation program. A few marketing team members joined the product team temporarily where they learned about the job of product design. Meanwhile, the product team gained valuable marketing insights into customer preferences and branding strategies. The result? An innovative product launch that exceeded our expectations.
6. Microlearning and on-demand skills training
Micro-learning and on-demand skills training offer a modern, flexible approach that keeps employees engaged while supporting their continuous growth.
Instead of sitting through hours-long seminars, employees can access small lessons that fit seamlessly into their schedules. For example, they can complete a five-minute tutorial during a coffee break or watch a short video that addresses a specific skill just before applying it in their job.
I remember a time when my team faced challenges mastering new software. Instead of scheduling lengthy workshops, we created a library of short, on-demand videos that focused on specific functions of the tool. So they find solutions early rather than seeing the whole guide.
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7. Facilitate adaptable work schedules
Who says 9 to 5 is the only productive way to work? Offering employees flexibility in their schedules empowers them to work during their most productive hours and accommodate personal commitments. When you allow employees to make their schedules by working during their most productive hours, then you foster a productive and healthy workforce.
For example, those who have children often prefer to come to work earlier in order to be able to pick up their children from school or those who are most productive in the morning may prefer a later start time. Such flexible working arrangements include compressed work weeks, remote work days, or rotating shifts that benefit the employee’s lifestyle and increase satisfaction.
Once I led a team working against a tight deadline. Instead of rigid working hours, we allowed team members to pick up their schedules. The result was nothing short of incredible, a highly motivated team that only met the deadline but also delivered their best work without compromising. .
Conclusion:
In 2025 or the upcoming years employee engagement is crucial to the success of the company. Management that adopt new trends and modify their approaches will not only increase engagement but also establish work environments that promote cooperation, productivity, and well-being. Improving employee engagement requires microlearning, job rotation, gamification, and adaptable work schedules.
