Are you having fun?

Problem: you’re having trouble motivating employees to participate in your program. Sign-ups for special events are low, and attendance is even lower. They’re not using their paid time off, and for goodness’ sake, why won’t they track their hours?!

You need to find a way to change all this. They’ve been through the orientation and training sessions, so you know they know the tools. They’ve been to multiple assemblies with the CEO inspiring them with how important and noble participation is. And yet, employees are still not participating in the volunteer program. You need to find a way to actually change their behavior.

You could make it mandatory – but this seems like a last resort sort of solution. Besides, it would conflict with your goal of having engaged, loyal employees.

You could offer extra pay for participation. But can you afford it? Is this sustainable?

Here’s a better solution: Make it fun.

I recently stumbled across this old campaign, “The Fun Theory,” from Volkswagen. Aside from being a cool cause marketing campaign, it introduces a fascinating concept: Fun can change behavior for the better.

The idea of using “fun” to facilitate behavioral change isn’t such a great surprise, when you think about it. It’s the basis for the gamification that has swept many industries over the past five years or so (although mobile technology has certainly played a role in making things like geo-location gaming more widespread). This gamification is even starting to permeate the realm of corporate social responsibility programs.

So ask yourself, and answer honestly: Is your employee engagement program fun? How about the way in which you engage your employees? Does it communicate a sense of fun?

If your answer is no, here are a few ways you can try to fix it:

• Run a small contest for participation, and give out silly awards to the most dedicated employee volunteers.
• Provide T-shirts, hats, or even fun costumes for people to wear at events.
• Remember: the act of volunteering itself should not be boring or burdensome. If your employees are not participating, perhaps you need to look at the events themselves and see if they need to be spiced up or switched out for more exciting opportunities. After all, there are plenty in the VolunteerMatch network to choose from.

By making sure your employee engagement and volunteering programs are more fun, your employees will be more likely to change their behavior and participate – and you’ll all be more likely to change the world.

Is your employee volunteer program fun? Tell us about it below!