July 29, 2020 Employee Engagement in the Age of Virtual Offices

Organizations must be diligent in keeping their employees engaged to prevent them from switching jobs.

Remote working has become a trending topic these days, thanks to the global emergency that has forced us all to isolate within our homes. As a result, many organisations and individuals are operating from their homes for the very first time.

At a time when keeping employees engaged within the office was already a challenging task, the work from home arrangement has only made it more difficult.

At the same time, as remote work becomes the new normal, organisations are also realising the benefits of the same. One pressing benefit of having a remote team is that organisations aren’t limited to hiring talent from their geographical locations.

While this is great news for those struggling with the layoffs brought about by the pandemic, it also means that organisations must make diligent efforts to keep their employees engaged to prevent them from switching jobs.

If your organisation is also grappling with the same challenge, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we will discuss simple ways that you can use to keep your remote employees engaged.

Check In On Them

This is the simplest thing you can do to let your employees or team members know that their organisation cares for them.

One simple call enquiring about their situation, their day, and their emotions can go a long way in making them feel a sense of belongingness.

Slack says 85% of remote workers want to feel closer to their colleagues. A phone call to check up on them can do wonders in the matter.

Make sure this phone call is dedicated to simply checking up on them and make a conscious effort to not talk about work.

Many employees may miss the social activities they could engage in when they worked out of the office, like idle conversations in the break room. With this phone call, you will be providing them a glimpse of such interactions and motivating them to check up on their peers.

Communicate Effectively

One of the known challenges for remote working employees is that they are often confused about expectations.

How many hours are they supposed to work everyday? Have their KPIs changed because of the work from home situation? What should they do after they are done with their current task? Who should they ask to clarify these questions?

These are just some of the many questions you must diligently address to make sure your employees have a clear understanding of their work day and the responsibilities associated with it.

Organise Team Building

The purpose of team building activities is to improve the collaboration abilities within a team and effective collaboration is extremely important in the case of distributed teams.

Hence, the importance of virtual team building cannot be overstated.

The good news is, organising virtual team building exercises is easier and cheaper than organising traditional team building exercises. All you need to do is to get a little creative.

One great example of virtual team building activity is an MTV Cribz style weekly home tours of each employee.

Offer Upskilling Opportunities

This time of isolation is a great time to learn and businesses can use it to provide their employees with mutually beneficial training opportunities. Simply identify the skill gaps within your teams, work with an instructional design service to create a delightful learning experience, and start training your team members.

Doing so will not only be a productive use of the employee’s extra time, it will also help your business develop a more skilled team. Moreover, training and upskilling opportunities will give your employees more reasons to stick to your organisation during this difficult time.

Conclusion

Keeping remote employees engaged is not rocket science. All it requires is a little bit of creativity. Do you agree?

How are you currently engaging your remote teams? Share with us in the comment section.

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