The number of Americans working from home exceeded 5% in 2017. There is no decline in the number of people worldwide who telecommute. Identifying the problem is the first step to finding the right solution. With this guide, you will find creative ways to engage remote employees without pushing them.
- Communication is key
Communication is the key to engaging remote employees. Teamwork is the foundation of a dynamic organization. The result is that you might end up wasting your efforts without effective interaction, leading to misinterpretations.
Every employee should communicate with each other, whether it’s personal or work-related. You can improve interaction by following these steps:
- Creating rules (remote work policies) for employees to communicate more effectively can help make them more productive. For example, assigning the type of discussion that should take place via specific communication channels, such as phone calls, video calls, or internal communication videos rather than text messages. Time zone differences must be considered as well.
- Keep regular track of your progress
- Build a strong relationship. You can arrange virtual meetups or icebreaker games that are unrelated to work or find time for casual conversations.
- Engaging remote employees requires the use of the right communication tools. The most effective apps for back-and-forth communication are WhatsApp, Slack, and Google Hangouts, which allow for quick notification and finalizing tasks.
2. Engagement measurement
A survey measuring employee engagement should measure factors such as satisfaction, performance, competencies, and alignment with the organization’s goals. It can also be helpful to add open-ended questions to the survey to gauge different explanations for answers without a Yes or No response. This could help you prevent burnout, for example, by identifying which employee is most stressed.
- Put your company’s values into action
Are you able to engage employees working from home? Having employees understand the importance of their responsibilities and how they can make or break a project inspires them to become more engaged and passionate about their work.
- Feel like they are part of the team. Even if everyone works from home, no one should feel left out or isolated.
- Include your employees in decision-making processes to empower them. It’s wise to ask for feedback before making a decision that has an impact on the team.
- Make sure the goals are clearly defined. Ensure your remote team’s objectives are clear and measurable.
- Inform them about relevant topics. Provide them with up-to-date guides and stats related to all work-related aspects so that they don’t have to waste time trying to find information.
- Build trust. For starters, give them responsibility for significant tasks and make sure you are transparent about your decisions.
- Make your company’s culture healthy
As a team, you have a responsibility to uphold the company’s values, ethics, and behaviors. Employees are more likely to feel satisfied with their work conditions and engage with their work when your corporate culture is positive and healthy. As a result, their mental health and well-being will also be improved. The best way to make virtual teams feel connected is by creating a corporate culture that values employees and teams above all else.
- Apply the AGILE method
A compelling reason to use AGILE is that it improves teamwork and organization. Interaction among team members, software development, customer collaboration, and change adaptation are encouraged in practice.
Final words
Any organization must continuously engage its remote employees. Regular engagement can only be measured by continually improving communication among employees and gauging feedback.
