How To Keep Employees Engaged While Working From Home?

Remote working has been gaining traction in the past couple of years. The recent COVID pandemic and consequent lockdowns have catalyzed this trend to a whole new level. According to a survey, a staggering 97% of employees wish to work remotely on some bandwidth. This clearly depicts how much the employees are inclined towards working remotely. But a potential pitfall that has also followed this trend is the reduced engagement of employees. 

Many organizations have reported that employees aren’t as engaged as they used to be in an offline setting. Hence to help you understand how to keep your remote staff engaged to the fullest, we’ve compiled a list of 7 hacks. Here it is…

1. Show That You Care

Showing your employees that you really care for them is one of the best ways to establish real connections with your employees. Build good rapport with your remote employees and assist them to achieve a healthy balance. Set reasonable limits on task schedules, projects, and performance objectives to respect their time. Make time to talk to them about topics like their personal interests and hobbies, their mental or emotional health, and stress.

If they’re experiencing burnout due to excessive workload, you can ask them to give suggestions to reduce it and implement it in some capacity. This shows them that you value them. Doing some of these things will definitely make your employees acknowledge that you’re a good boss. And hence, due to the respect they have towards you, they’ll be more engaged.

2. Recognize Their Achievements

Many times, remote employees tend to put in more hours than their in-office associates. But they don’t always feel like they’re part of the team. This may give rise to a feeling of disregard amongst the remote employees, and it is the last thing you want.

Use an online recognition tool to allow all employees to view, comment, and offer appreciation in real-time. According to several studies, employee appreciation is a top motivator of employee engagement.

Employees feel more engaged, respected, and valued when they receive a regular acknowledgment from peers and upper management.

3. Hold Informal Meetings From Time To Time

Meetings don’t always have to be formal and have an agenda. Sometimes you might arrange meetings just to know how everyone is doing or to discuss things that may or may not be related to the organizational goals.

But informal meetings can actually assist a business in achieving its organizational goals by allowing participants to express thoughts and ideas that they have. Sometimes such ideas may not be appropriate for discussion at a formal meeting, and an informal meeting can serve as an incredible medium to present them.

Managers may find that informal meetings are a better approach to communicating with employees at the bottom of the organizational hierarchy. Managers can assign their lower-level employees any new instructions, while their lower-level employees can share their own suggestions that may help to increase the efficiency of an organization. This two-way communication can indeed translate into a fruitful engagement for remote as well as non-remote staff.

4. Help Them Structure An Environment For Their Workplace

Optimizing employee engagement and performance requires ensuring that people feel secure and empowered to accomplish their best, regardless of where they are. Make sure your remote staff has the tools and training they need to get the job done, whether they’re new hires or seasoned veterans.

Hardware requirements, such as laptops or wi-fi, aren’t the only resources and amenities that you take care of. You go a layer beneath and ask yourself: Does your staff have a home office where they can work efficiently? Do they have as much access to opportunities for growth as the in-office employees have? Don’t hesitate to use your imagination.

Another great thing you can do to nurture employee engagement is to provide them with access to additional skill development courses, online webinars, or the equivalent thereof.

5. Keep Them Accountable

Accountability is one of the most prominent challenges that is widely prevalent. To combat this, you can use communication platforms and technology in a strategic manner to keep your remote employees engaged.

For example, to keep everyone on the same page, use platforms like Google Meet, Asana, and Slack to streamline communication and project management between team members. Encourage your team to use the cloud for file sharing and to improve the quality of the time they spend working together.

You can also make use of video conferencing. While email and digital chats are excellent ways to communicate, face-to-face communication can help your remote staff feel more at ease in the workplace.

Regularly schedule offline staff meetings and incorporate video calls with screen sharing. This will make your remote employees feel like they’re a part of the team.

6. Encourage Them To Maintain Their Health

One of the first questions you should ask yourself is whether you are a good role model, who’s eating well and staying active. If others believe you are walking your talk, they are more likely to listen to you and draw inspiration from you.

You should lead by example and guide others in terms of physical activities, sleep, and eating habits. You may even go the extra mile by conducting a weekly or monthly health checkup in your organization. At the end of the day, employees are the greatest asset of any business.

7. Gamify Tasks

As previously stated, having a team that can genuinely work together is critical to your project’s success. And when you have a remote team, this becomes even more important. One of the best ways to get the most out of your remote employees is to gamify your workflow.

How will you do it? You can allow your team to have some fun brainstorming ideas and do it in a more game-like manner, as this may encourage them to be more creative and come up with more fascinating ideas. To keep your employees engaged, plan some in-office or virtual team-based competitions. There are many resources available online that you can refer to for ‘gamifying’ your work. In this gamified environment, your remote and in-office employees can both participate. And this will certainly enhance your employee engagement.

The Bottom Line:

It’s clearly evident that remote work will only grow in popularity in the upcoming years. This makes it more crucial than ever to understand how to handle and engage your remote staff.

Thankfully, there is a wide range of methods to engage remote workers, and a few of them are listed above. Follow these techniques to reap the advantages of a virtual team and keep your team healthy, happy, and efficient throughout the year.