Workplace competition increases employee productivity and performance. And can keeps your teams motivated and happy. But how much is too much? Here are four ways you can encourage a culture of healthy competition without sacrificing employee well-being.
Four ways to foster healthy workplace competition
1. Stay active with team fitness challenges
Keep the competitive spirit alive through lighthearted team fitness challenges, like lunge or push-up contests. Form teams across the company, so employees can get to know co-workers in other departments. Offer incentives to the winning team, such as points in your wellness program or gift cards to keep competition high. We’re all about planking and wall-sit competitions at Limeade, and we aren’t afraid to heat things up with high stakes. Our most recent challenge was a race to 1,500 minutes of planking!
2. Ensure company vision aligns with individual goals
Tie employee’s individual goals back to your team and company goals to ensure everyone’s working toward the same vision while they compete. So regardless of who’s performing higher, employees will still have to support each other and work together to ensure company metrics are met.
3. Keep things fun
Encourage outside-of-work competition to build camaraderie with activities like bowling, company-sponsored dodgeball or soccer in the park. Or keep it in the office and try some of our favorite lunchtime games, such as Jenga, ping-pong or chair races. Try to leave the “office talk” behind and focus on each other.
4. Above all, recognize employees’ efforts
Competition is most effective when it’s meaningful and employees feel valued. Show appreciation for your employees’ hard work with thoughtful incentives or handwritten thank-you notes. Implement a team reward system to recognize peers. Our marketing team has a “kudos” jar filled with small gifts that we give out at team meetings to those that went above and beyond. Giving and receiving credit keeps employees productive, committed and feeling appreciated. Even better, employees who receive recognition are three times more engaged and less likely to quit than those who don’t.
Did we miss one of your favorite ways to foster healthy competition? Leave us a note in the comment section.