PAPER making! g FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF PAPER TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL Volume 6, Number 1, 2020
1. Encourage Frequent Communication When employees feel disconnected or out of the loop, they often lose motivation. Remote employees are often forgotten or left out of certain discussions, leading them to feel abandoned and unmotiva ted. So it’s extremely important, especially in times of crisis, to drive strong internal communication with your remote teammates. Make it a priority to schedule weekly or even daily video-call meetings with your team members, invest in a strong communication platform, and establish an “open - door” policy with your employees. Thorough, frequent communication between offsite employees leads to higher productivity and employee engagement. 2. Establish Clear Goals and Expectations Oftentimes, when remote employees are not producing enough high-quality work, this stems from a lack of clear goals and expectations. When managing remote teams, it’s easy to let expectations, guidelines, and goals slip through the cracks as it becomes more challenging to maintain constant communication with your employees. When this happens, telecommuters are forced to guess what their manager needs from them, leading to incorrect or non-relevant work and, ultimately, disengaged employees. Therefore, managers must make it a priority to establish clear goals and expectations with all remote employees and communicate these According to Achievers’ 2020 Engagement & Retention Report, “43% of employees are looking for or would consider leaving their company because of career advancement”. Offering growth opportunities to your remote employees, even during times of crisis, will help drive employee motivation and job satisfaction. These growth opportunities don’t necessarily have to be promotions, raises, or title changes. They can be something as simple as offering “lunch and learns”, encouraging and even rewarding participation in virtual conferences. You can also spend 15 minu tes during quarterly/monthly reviews mapping out employees’ career paths either within or outside of the company. Offering growth opportunities helps remote workers feel important, engaged, and generally happy. As a result, they are more likely to continue producing high-quality work. 4. Recognize Employees’ Efforts Employees who feel underappreciated or undervalued are highly likely to disengage from their work, which often leads to poor quality of work. Ensuring that your remote employees feel appreciated and publicly recognized for the effort they put in is crucial when it comes to employee engagement. Something as simple as posting a “Thank You Note” or “Giving Kudos” to your employees on your social and collaborative intranet platform can go a long way. When employees receive recognition for their hard work, they are more likely to remain satisfied and engaged in their current role. 5. Provide Tips and Training to Help Remote Employees Manage Their Time It’s easy to get distracted when working from the comfort of your home, especially if your entire family is in the house with you. Employees who are not used to telecommuting, often struggle with time management when working at home. To boost engagement and ensure that these employees are managing their time properly, be sure to provide your remote team with tips and training options on time management. A great way to do this would be to ask one of your regularly remote employees to make a post containing tips and tricks for time management on your communication platform. You can also include training videos or one-on- one training, coaching employees on how to manage time effectively while working remotely. 6. Establish and Emphasize Culture When shifting to a remote workforce amid crisis, company culture tends to shift or, in some cases, disappear entirely. Maintaining strong company culture is vital if you want to keep remote teams engaged during tough times. Continue to build trust with your teammates by offering consistent, transparent communication. It is also important to continue team-building activities like happy hours, team lunch, coffee breaks, and team games in order to cultivate culture. Doing this with remote employees calls for creativity and open- mindedness, but all of these get-togethers can be done via video call. This drives collaboration and enthusiasm across the company while we are all working remotely. guidelines in a highly-detailed message or video call. 3. Offer Your Employees Opportunities for Growth
Article 12 – Motivating in a Crisis
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