How Can We Encourage Better Participation in Company Activities and Dress Code?

Hi,

I work with an IT company, and to keep employee morale high, we organize various activities. However, most employees do not follow the dress code or participate in the activities. For example, recently, we had a Muffler Party where everyone was asked to wear mufflers, but only about 20% of the employees wore them. Such a response to our activities is a big disappointment for the team that plans and organizes them.

I seek guidance on how we can address this issue with those who do not comply with the dress code or participate in the activities. Thank you for your assistance.

Before organizing such activities, please ask for employee suggestions. This will create interest among them, and they will respond in a positive way.

Thank you.

Thanks for a prompt response, Sarita.

We have formed a team for such activities, which consists of a few employees only. They are the ones who come up with ideas and implement them. It is quite difficult to gather opinions from all 90 employees. The idea is to break the tendency of not following what is being communicated. All our employees wanted Company T-shirts, and we had them printed last month. We asked them to wear these T-shirts on weekends. However, even in this case, 30% of the employees do not wear the T-shirts on weekends. This lack of participation causes a lot of demotivation within the FUN team.

Please provide some suggestions to address this issue.

Hi,

Create a workgroup for any activity planned. Involve at least 10 people in that group who represent various teams and then share the idea with them, also ask for their ideas. This way, you involve more people and thereby generate a sense of participation.

Thanks, Moonmoon. As I mentioned, the team that organizes such activities consists of people from various teams. Considering your idea, I think we can increase the number of people in the FUN team.

However, if people do not participate or adhere to the rules of a particular activity, how can we punish the defaulters to ensure that they follow the instructions next time?

Hello Bhavna:

"I work with an IT company, and to keep employee morale high, we keep organizing various activities."

If we want to keep morale high, we must ensure that the supervisors are doing their jobs well and that everyone above the supervisors is also performing well.

"But most of the employees do not follow the dress code or participate in the activities."

Is the dress code voluntary?

Perhaps the activities are not enjoyed by everyone?

"Like recently, we had a Muffler Party wherein everyone was asked to wear mufflers, but hardly 20% of the employees wore them."

Perhaps 80% of the employees did not want to wear them?

"And such a response to various activities comes as a big disappointment to the team which plans and organizes them."

I used to tell my boss that I did not need him to entertain me or make my work fun, but I did expect him to manage me well and pay me fairly.

"Please help me understand how can we punish such people...?"

Do you mean punish the team or the employees who did not participate? I would not punish the team or the employees, but if I had to punish one group, I would punish the team since there are fewer of them and they created an event that appealed to only 20% of the employees.

Dear Bhavna,

Your FUN team wants to motivate the employees, but the team itself is getting demotivated. Think twice about your team. (I think it is not a fun team but a FUNNY team).

It seems that bacteria of dictatorship are available in your FUN team, which is why the team is thinking to punish the employees, but not analyzing the reason behind the lack of interest of all employees in any activity.

First of all, let all the employees get closer to each other by organizing simple get-togethers. Give a zero period during the get-together to throw the best ideas for the next fun activity, come to a conclusion based on all ideas and thoughts.

Never, never think that you can punish an employee for not participating in a fun activity. Remember that you will never get a 100% result in such activities. Organize an event that is acceptable by at least 90% of employees.

You may organize a quiz, fun game, jokes session, song, quotes, etc., at a time so that almost all will get engaged in any one of the activities.

Best Regards,

Nadeem

Before planning fun activities, one must understand that funny things are different for different people. One may find dressing up weirdly as funny, and someone else may have an opposite view. Whenever such activities are planned, the focus should be on ensuring that they generate a positive feeling from a wide section of the workforce. I doubt whether any single activity would serve the purpose. Multiple activities need to be initiated at the same point in time. One needs to understand the preferences of employees before planning out fun activities. Studying 90 employees is not a big deal, provided attrition is within reasonable limits.

Start announcing gifts and prizes for those who take part in activities, such as appreciation emails or tags on the desk. This will motivate others to follow the activities.

Hi, you can also give gifts or something like that which can motivate employees to participate. For example, you can say regular participants are given points, and gifts will be declared.

Cool

Dear Ravi,

Thanks for responding to my query, but I would prefer to ignore your response as I think it is completely unprofessional and irrelevant. Thanks anyways, and I will appreciate it if you do not respond to any topic posted by me, ever in the future.

Hello Bhavna:

"I work with an IT company, and to keep the employee morale high, we keep organizing various activities."

If we want to keep morale high, we must make sure the supervisors are doing their jobs well and that everyone above the supervisors is also doing their jobs well. We continuously keep track of this.

"But most of the employees do not follow the dress code or participate in the activities."

Is the dress code voluntary? - The dress code is decided as per the activity. For example, wearing a Muffler is compulsory for a Muffler party, or wearing a Traditional dress for a Diwali celebration.

Perhaps the activities are not enjoyed by everyone? - I understand that 100% participation can never be achieved, but the idea of discussing this is to continuously try and increase the rate of participation.

"Like recently, we had a Muffler Party wherein everyone was asked to wear Mufflers, but hardly 20% of the employees wore them."

Perhaps 80% of the employees did not want to wear them? - I understand, but that's where the idea of team spirit comes into place, I believe. All the employees wanted company T-shirts; we invested in them and asked them to wear those T-shirts on weekends, but I fail to understand where the problem lies in following this.

"And such a response to various activities comes as a big disappointment to the team which plans and organizes them."

I used to tell my boss that I did not need him to entertain me nor to make my work fun, but I did expect him to manage me well and pay me fairly. - Completely right, but such fun activities do break the monotony and help in dealing with stress levels. If we do not organize them often, then people complain...

"Please help me understand how we can punish such people?"

Do you mean punish the team or the employees who did not participate? I would not punish the team or the employees, but if I had to punish one group, I would punish the team since there are fewer of them, and they did create an event that appealed to only 20% of the employees.

I get that point and henceforth will make sure to take more opinions before organizing something.
Thanks, Bob. Any further suggestions will be highly appreciated.

Hi, guys,

When we plan such activities, to ensure a dress code, we need to make the supervisor/HOD responsible and ensure that the HOD understands the importance. We also need to ensure that we, from HR, build and create interest in what you are planning. If the entire HR team sets an example on one occasion, the rest will follow HR, and all your activities will be successful.

When circulating any such emails to all employees, make them colorful with activity-related pictures so that they will be eye-catching and employees will spend time reading through your email. All these small things will encourage you to organize many more EEA events.

Dear Nadeem,

I appreciate your response. The team is certainly not FUNNY but it's just that since it consists of employees from various teams who are not very experienced in dealing with human behaviors, they tend to get disappointed when they invest a lot of time and effort in designing and organizing an event and a major chunk of employees does not reciprocate. I think it's HUMAN.

I take your point that there will never be a 100% participation and it will be a gradual process for employees to start enjoying such events. When I say punishing the employees, I literally do not mean it. The intent is to apply some technique that will motivate most of them to participate. But if we do nothing to the employees who do not participate, the ones who have made some effort to do so also do not take it seriously the next time.

But yes, it is a good idea to take suggestions from all during an event about the next activity. And this team is dedicated towards organizing various kinds of activities ranging from parties, quizzes, trips, and CSR as well.

I look forward to more inputs.

There are two things. The second thing is that you should forget that all will do what you want. First thing is that forget about giving punishment to people. This is the corporate world. Then you may say, "that's my job, should I leave it then?" The answer is NO. But you can apply various tricks to make them as a team. For example, put some gifts for those following the dress code, or appreciate them in front of all so that others will feel shame.

You will agree that these activities are not really part of employee engagement (though it is said to be), but these are all part of the activities of the HR team to showcase their strength and execute their goals and tasks that have been set. As long as companies have a policy of Hire & Fire, there will not really be employee engagement, and employees will also not feel belongingness nor loyalty to the company. Human resources are not considered assets but liabilities by the present regime of organizations. Hence, you cannot expect 100% employee involvement in these activities, but it depends on the timing and activities involved.

Dear Bhavna,

I do not see this as a unique problem to your team. In the majority of cases, the response to such activities is likely to be mixed, so first of all, you should not feel disappointed. In order to increase acceptance from the employees, you may reduce the frequency of such activities so that every time they perceive it with excitement. Any good program with high frequency is likely to die a natural death as it may not hold attraction after some time. The representatives of your employees shall be made responsible to ensure that their members participate in the activities. Representatives or groups with high team response may be appreciated with small gifts or appreciation letters/notices.

You can also think of limiting such activities for small groups or a department and enjoy fun activities in rotation. Thus, each department will have increased ownership and be able to identify themselves with that activity.

Wish you good luck.

Warm regards,
Shailesh Kakkad

Dear,

Actually, until you include the top/middle management in these types of activities, the desired output won't come. In every field, there is a lot of workload. When you are going to organize such activities or parties, employees' minds must be free. For example, if you plan a meeting on the 7th, 15th, 25th, 30th, or 31st of the month, these dates are statutory deadlines for different types of taxes, filing returns, processing salaries, bank remittances, etc. The individuals involved in these sections will neither participate nor want to participate on those dates. The same applies to your IT personnel. For instance, if a server is causing problems, data recovery/backup is not up to date, and sometimes the boss may instruct a subordinate to shut down all the PCs and take a backup of the whole system/server during the activities. In such a scenario, how can that individual enjoy your activity?

Please consider these reasons carefully. Ultimately, in case any issues arise for the business due to your activity, who will be responsible for the damage?

I believe you can recall your school days when a student transitions to college, and the first relief is not having to wear a uniform. I think 90 to 95% of students prefer to wear clothes of their own choice. Similarly, in a job, if you impose a dress code, a significant percentage of people may not accept it. Consider alternative approaches.

Additionally, never consider punishment. It is the employees' right to choose whether to participate or not, unless participation is a requirement according to your company's rules and regulations.

Regards,
NI

Dear Bhavna,

Punishment does not drive excellence in the organization; it kills it at whatever stage it may be. Create a culture of participation among your people. Reward those who participate in the events. Money/cash is not the right way to reward. Acknowledge participants with a certificate, a bouquet of flowers, a memento, a dinner for two, or a coupon, etc. Not all employees come from the same background; each individual needs to feel valued. Form cross-functional teams; it will be effective. Create an atmosphere of happy weekends by displaying smiles for people with a positive attitude on a wall called the "hall of fame," etc. Generate enthusiasm by sending mailers reminding them of the event. Keep trying until you infect them with your fun concept.

Regards,
Auggie

I think giving them prizes and any sort of appreciation might help. For example, best suit, best color combination, best muffler, etc. You can even arrange for putting the name and picture of the winner person(s) on the notice board. It might compel others to participate and win. :)

Before answering anything, let's delve into the ABCs of human personality.

By the time a child has reached adolescence, he has formed a more or less precise image of what he and his culture expect of him as an adult. One of the principal problems for an adolescent then is to conduct his life so that he has the feeling he is achieving this ideal image of himself.

To achieve satisfaction, an adolescent must not only have a realistic self-concept, but he must also be willing to accept this self-concept even when it falls below what he had hoped for. This means that the gap between the real and the ideal self-concepts must be as narrow as possible.

Some people know how they would like to improve their personalities and have a strong motivation to do so, but they do not know how to go about it. They may try to model themselves along the lines of an extremely popular peer or colleague, not taking into consideration that hereditary differences or long-standing habits may make it impossible for them to revamp themselves so easily. Meeting failures because the gap between their real and ideal personalities is too large leads to discouragement. This, in turn, dampens their motivation to make whatever changes they can make and leads them to believe that there is nothing they can do.

Please make it a point that significant people in an individual's life have a major effect on his personality patterns. These significant people set the pattern the individual tries to imitate and whose expectations he tries to conform to. The more they differ from him, the greater the gap between his ideal self-concept and his real concept. The amount of effort he will put into narrowing this gap will depend on the reason to change their self-concept.

In here, the attitude and relationship between you and your subordinates will act as the reason for the change. Please try to find the reason. Remember that people are most strongly motivated to change those traits which they believe will improve their social relationships and earn them greater social acceptance. Try to convert your employees into outward-directed individuals who are more susceptible to the opinions of others, thus having a strong motivation to change their personalities to conform to the approved standards.

Hope this gives insight into what is the reason behind your employees' indiscipline. There may be thousands of reasons as to why things happen in a certain way, but it always leaves a clue behind. Try to put yourself in their position and think about what would make you go to those social gatherings and what would stop you from coming to those gatherings.

Regards