More workers than ever are now fully remote or hybrid. While this offers many perks to employees, such as flexibility and a more comfortable environment, it is not without its problems. Among the issues that employers and managers now face are keeping employees focused and motivated, as well as encouraging them to work together as a team.
However, a total reversal of remote working can be difficult and is likely to frustrate employees. So, what can you do instead? Well, luckily, there are several great options to get remote workers more engaged. Here are some of the favourites.
- Virtual team building activities: People are more likely to help out people that they know and like. They will also work harder to achieve shared goals if they feel like they belong to a team with people they know well. To help your employees bond with their colleagues, consider hosting some virtual team-building activities.
These can be simple things like trivia games or even a virtual coffee and a chat. If you’re unsure what your employees will enjoy, there are virtual team building companies that can take care of everything for you.
- Mentors and training: If your employees are simply being allocated tasks at their level each day, completing them, and then logging off, their motivation will soon perish. They will work harder if they feel like they are progressing towards something, and especially if it is something that benefits them, such as their own professional development.
Encourage them to undertake training and allocate them some time to do this each day or week. Another option besides training courses is to schedule meetings for them with a mentor, somebody else in the company with more experience who can provide them with guidance in a specific area of your business.
- Virtual water cooler: On Slack or the application of your choice, start a second chat where people can post things unrelated to work or projects. Whether it is to share something funny, wish someone a happy birthday, or to invite people to social events, a virtual water cooler chat helps keep your work channels focused and gives employees somewhere to let off steam.
- A positive virtual environment: This is characterised by respect for others, and there are lots of ways to do this. Firstly, respect each others’ time. One way to do this is to set clear boundaries about when it is acceptable for people to contact others about work-related problems. Remember to stick to them yourself.
Secondly, make sure any meetings you call are meaningful and focused. Otherwise, you’re interrupting their work or, if they have already finished what they were doing, their home life.
Yes, it might technically be working hours still, but filling it with meaningless activities is never going to motivate anyone.
One last thing everyone can do is include the urgency of a task when you allocate it to someone. Even if it is just an email asking a question. Studies show that people are terrible at judging this, which not only makes them stressed but also means that they might drop things which are much more important to respond to something else right away.
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