Engagement Technique: Bug Bears

Every workplace has them. Those tiny, irritating things everyone quietly complains about, works around, or sighs at… but no one ever actually fixes. On their own they seem harmless. Over time, they quietly drain morale, energy, and goodwill – they disengage employees.

That’s where Bug Bears comes in. Bug Bears is a fast, energising engagement exercise focused on clearing small annoyances before they grow into frustration or disengagement. It’s practical, low effort, and surprisingly satisfying.

How it works

Start by asking a simple question, either individually or in small groups: “What’s one small thing that annoys you every week?”

Before anything is shared, set one clear rule: This is about systems, processes, and environment – not people. It’s about engaging, not p*ssing everyone off, ok! Keep it focused on things that can actually be fixed.

Each person or group then picks one bug bear only. It must be small, simple, and realistically fixable.

Examples might include:

• The broken link in onboarding

• The messy shared drive folder no one understands

• The toilet that doesn’t flush properly on floor five.

• The form that asks for the same information twice

• The kitchen drawer that never closes properly

Once chosen, give people a short, focused window to fix it. Often 15 minutes is enough. For anything technical, this is where IT or Operations support can be gold (give them the heads up first though, right, we don’t want any complaints from facilities over this). Many long-standing bug bears turn out to be very quick fixes – once the right person knows they exist.

Why it works

Bug Bears works because it shows people that small frustrations matter. It replaces quiet grumbling with visible action. When someone sees an issue they’ve lived with for months finally disappear, it sends a powerful signal: “Someone listened.” 

It also creates energy. Fixing something, however small, feels good. Teams finish the exercise lighter, more positive, and often keen to tackle the next one.

 

What to watch out for

This exercise needs clear boundaries. Keep it non-personal at all times. Don’t let it turn into a complaints session – yes let people air their bug bears, but move on to positive action. One each, only, and things that can be fixed – Avoid trying to fix everything at once. A few wins can have a big impact!

If something bigger comes up, capture it and park it for later, you’ve got some rich data if those things to come to the surface. Bug Bears is about quick wins, not solving every problem in the organisation.

The takeaway

You’ve probably noticed with a lot of these techniques, sometimes engagement can come from fixing the small things that make work just that little bit harder than it needs to be.

Clear one bug bear, and begin to declutter the disengagement.

This post is part of our Engagement Techniques series of practical, low-cost ideas to bring more connection and meaning into work. Find the rest here

👉 Want to explore techniques like this in more depth? I run interactive employee engagement workshops where we bring these ideas to life.