Engaging Remote Employees

Engaging a remote workforce can be a challenge. But there are tried and trusted ways to connect with people that can positively impact personal productivity and sense of purpose. We take a look.

Tips to engage and connect with remote employees

1.  Keep people updated

2. Support personal and professional wellbeing

Issues with wellbeing might not be so easy to spot virtually, so learn to look for cues that remote employees may be struggling then step in early. Clues that someone is experiencing ‘isolation fatigue’ include keeping their camera off, skipping meetings and calling in sick.

Providing access to and funding for training can be an excellent way to support personal and professional wellbeing. And without their commute, people may now have some extra time to commit and engage with courses. Encourage employees to talk about their interests outside work, to show you value them as a person not just a resource.

3. Help people feel empowered

The way events are unfolding is out of our control, so it’s vital to help your remote workforce feel empowered wherever you can. For example, give them a sense of autonomy, be flexible about working hours and patterns and let them take charge of the small stuff, like asking if they prefer video or audio calls for catch-ups.

4. Help them feel part of company culture

Company culture can be hard to pin down. And with the rise in hybrid working, frontline managers may struggle to virtually communicate the essence of the culture or find it challenging to make sure remote employees feel part of it.

For greater inclusion, encourage remote and deskless workers to feed into your company values, and think about how those values are evolving in the current landscape. You might need to put a stronger than usual emphasis on company values across your communication platforms rather than relying on a subtle ‘feeling’ - that tends only to work when everyone is in the same location. For example, start each weekly meeting focusing on one core value and ask people to describe how they’ve demonstrated it recently. And try to have ways of recognizing or rewarding efforts, like small gifts or prizes.

5. Encourage remote employees to communicate with each other

Encourage informal catch-ups between team members, like virtual coffee breaks. Smaller groups are better for increasing intimacy and trust, so for larger teams, it may be useful to have several coffee-break groups and rotate people weekly. For new team members, it can be helpful to allocate them a buddy.

One-to-ones with managers are even more important now, so don’t let these slip out of your diary. Have an open-door policy and give remote employees a choice of channels for communicating with you, so they can do what’s comfortable for them.

6. Make sure everyone’s voices are heard

Deskless workers – in factories, shops and out on the road – are not voiceless workers, but their voices can get lost. This can lead to a feeling of not being heard or valued. It also means organizations are missing out on their ideas and innovations.

When thinking about inclusion for remote employees, prioritize ways to give them a say by using mobile social platforms as well as traditional methods like employee surveys. In meetings, consider allocating remote or deskless workers dedicated time to talk, particularly if they’re already feeling disengaged or disconnected. When they do speak, be sure to listen and give encouraging feedback. And try to do the same when they email or send messages on team chat. These moments of micro-feedback can really help to validate and motivate people.

7. Do fun activities to engage remote employees

Create planned activities and encourage informal activities between team members. Some companies have regular quizzes, book clubs or karaoke nights, for example. To boost engagement, allocate a budget for these moments of connection and encourage your remote employees to take turns deciding on themes. Give them autonomy in how they spend the budget.

8. Use communication tools to support and boost engagement

Communication tools can help to boost engagement and make remote employees feel included. Set an example by using your preferred communication tool to share updates, encourage two-way conversations, and help business leaders be more visible.

How to stay engaged when working from home:

top tips

Those 8 tips are what companies can do. But there are also things that remote workers can do for themselves to maximize their engagement.

Not everyone has a separate room where they can shut the door and work in peace, particularly remote workers who live in cities. But whatever your home set-up, with some creative thinking, it’s possible to assign a specific space for working. This also helps at the end of the day when you need to transition into your home life and leave work to one side.

Boundaries are even more important now people are at risk of finding themselves in constant work mode. How can people make a distinction between work and home?

A popular hack is to dress in work clothes as usual. If you have an important meeting, wear shoes. Little things like this can help divide work and home life in a situation where the lines are blurred. To mark the end of the working day, change out of your work clothes and, if possible, close your devices and keep them in a separate room. Some people find that going outside or doing some exercise can help them ‘shake off’ work mode.