6 Essential ways to keep remote employees motivated
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It seems as if one minute everyone was happily working in the office with set routines, the dreaded commute, plenty of meetings and just the right amount of gossip, sports talk and back stabbing around the water cooler.
The next everyone was trying to turn their kitchen table or the corner of a bedroom into an office.
One of the biggest effects of the COVID-19 pandemic has been forcing companies like yours to try and evolve new ways to cope with having most, if not all, your workers at home.
As a manager you’ve had to find new ways to keep your business running, and profitable, while your workforce has had to adapt to a whole new way of just getting through the day, never mind being productive and keeping their careers on track.
They no longer have the everyday support they need.
Not just work-related support, but the social safety net of being able to talk to co-workers, the “water-cooler effect.”
They start feeling isolated, out of the loop. Maybe even uncared for.
And one thing you can be certain of, it’s seriously stressing them out.
It makes them depressed, which means their motivation and productivity both take a hit. It also impacts their health.
The good news is, you can do something about it.
This guide provides six essential steps you can take right now to keep your team motivated, happy and healthy.
1- Set Realistic Expectations.
The first thing you need to do is to ensure that each and every employee knows what is expected of them. In the current situation many employees are just grateful they still have a job and it’s easy for them to worry about keeping that job so they push themselves harder, working long hours which eventually lead to burn-out.
You need to let them know it’s alright to relax, spend time with family and get away from their desks.
You should set out clear work routines and goals and encourage employees to block off some time for themselves.
Pushing unrealistic goals won’t help your team or your company.
2- Encourage Communication.
Working in an office, people get used to being able to communicate with each other whenever they need to.
Provide your team with the tools to stay connected, project managing tools like Airtable or Asana, or messaging apps like Slack or Microsoft Teams.
And let them know it’s okay to use these tools just to chat, ask questions or pass on useful information. Conversations don’t need to be formal all the time. Encourage people to check in when they start work with a quick message, even an emoji or gif.
This keeps everyone on the same page when it comes to work and can help to reduce feelings of isolation.
3- Set Regular Routines
Once you have the technology in place to stay in touch it can be very tempting to try and contact employees at any time, because it can remove the traditional barriers between office time and home time.
Don’t do this.
Set proper virtual office hours. That way everyone knows when they need to make themselves available and when they can schedule time for themselves.
Just because you can schedule a video conference at 10 o’clock at night, doesn’t mean you should.
4- Encourage Initiative.
The current work situation is novel for just about everyone. It may be very tempting to micro-manage everything, but if you do that, it will just discourage people from putting up ideas and suggestions.
You need to give people the opportunity to experiment, because you can’t anticipate all the problems that are likely to crop up.
So, let your team help you. Ask questions, what new technologies can we make use of? How can we pivot to new ways of boosting customer experience? What are the critical problems we need to deal with first? How do we solve those problems?
And make sure you respond positively to suggestions even if they are impractical. “Thanks for your input, I’ll think it over” sounds much better than “what planet are you on?”
Encourage, don’t discourage.
5- Make Managers Available.
People working from home are going to have to adapt to their new working environment. This isn’t always going to be easy for them. Some might adapt quickly and even find it a positive experience, but many others won’t
You need to make sure you and your managers are available to employees who need support, whether it’s work-related or simply personal, employees need to know there is someone there for them and how to contact them.
They also need to know that these talks can be confidential and won’t impact on their jobs.
If someone is in trouble, let them know your there for them.
6- Thank Employees.
In a normal office setting rewarding accomplishments is simple. It can be just a word of praise, a promotion or pay rise, or an employee of the month award.
With people working remotely it can become more complex. You can still reward individual or even team accomplishments in the same way as before, but you also need to recognize that everyone is going to be dealing with a difficult situation and you need to make sure they know you appreciate their efforts.
A simple email to all employees thanking them for their efforts, or a gift basket delivered to their front doors. It doesn’t have to be lavish. A simple coffee mug with a nice message can work wonders.
It shows you care, and that’s the thought that really counts.
Put simply, you need to communicate with your employees and you need to listen to them.
The worst part of working remotely is often the isolation that people begin to feel, that they’re no longer in control.
The six, simple, cost effective steps outlined above can go a long way to make sure your employees feel appreciated and stay healthy.
In turn this will keep them motivated and productive, which benefits everyone.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay