Employee engagement is one of the crazy buzzwords of the moment. Actually, more like of the last several years. A lot of employers and managers are feeling discouraged, fed up, and just plain down about the dismal numbers in Gallup’s employee engagement polls. With only 30% of the U.S. workforce categorized as “actively engaged” and $450-550 billion in lost productivity dollars per year from symptoms of disengagement, who wouldn’t feel borderline desperate to get a larger slice of the engagement pie? With all that hunger for a little more mozzarella, there’s oodles and doodles of advice out there on how you can up your company’s engagement. In this month’s 5 Fascinating Finds feature, we’ve rounded up five articles that’ll tell you everything you need to know without wading through an endless sea of “Top 10 Tips.” Take a gander at these premium articles with varied but insightful advice and decide what works best for you!

I love to play! Play is a word that’s been in my vocabulary from a very early age. As kids we love to play, but as adults we sometimes forget how important play can be in our lives, especially at work. Play can be viewed as a waste of time and resources. I beg to differ. When done well, play can be very beneficial and lucrative.  Here are four tips for helping you create some structured (and fun) playtime in your office:

If International Day of Awesomeness isn’t something to celebrate, then I don’t know what is.  Rumor has it, this quirky little holiday was created in honor of Chuck Norris’ birthday, but I’m choosing to believe it began because it’s the day our brilliant Marketing Coordinator, Audrey was born ( birthdays are kind of a big deal around here). 

As a self-proclaimed brand spankin’ new employee of Baudville, Friday was my very first Employee Appreciation Day at the ‘Ville. I’ll let you in on a little secret: Friday was my first Employee Appreciation Day ever… It’s not like this is my first year in the workforce, it’s just that I’ve never worked anywhere that so much as batted an eyelash for Employee Appreciation Day. Man are those employers AND employees missing out because Friday was my favorite workday of the year so far!!

Employee Appreciation Day 2016 is THIS FRIDAY, March 4! Do you have any plans to celebrate your hardworking employees? If you missed last week’s update, we gave you The Super Simple 4-Step Guide to Rocking Employee Appreciation Day. Let us know if you’ll be following our 4 simple steps!