HR Tip: Keeping remote workers connected
Remote working can cause employees to feel less connected and less appreciated, adversely affecting morale and productivity. Valued common workplace rituals such as lunch with coworkers, personal recognition from managers or the CEO for a job well done, group walks or exercises don't exist for many remote workers and are missed. Although it's impossible to replicate such interactions virtually, there are ways to engage, recognize, and foster a collaborative culture.
Here are some ideas:
- Start a team meeting by recognizing someone on the call who did exceptional work in the past week while working remotely and encourage a shout out. Record the shoutout and post on the internal communication platform.
- Break things up with optional non-work virtual events, such as trivia games, cooking classes, dance parties, exercise classes, photo contests, wine tastings, pizza nights, and so on.
- Foster "virtual pods" of employees who share common issues, such as young children at home, school-aged children learning remoting, individuals working in very small living spaces, being a caregiver, and so on, so they can discuss challenges and share ideas.
- Give a mental health day or half-day and encourage workers to use the time to refresh and, if they chose, to share what they did.
- Allow time to socialize at the beginning or end of some meetings.
- If there are new employees plan 'getting to know you' calls/chats/zoom meetings to create a real connection between team members.
- If an employee is having trouble assimilating into the remote work world, have more one-on-ones to work through the issues.
- Once a month do a virtual Lunch n' Learn with speakers and topics of interest to your employees.
- Encourage work/life balance by continually reminding employees of the resources available to them.
- Be creative about recognizing exceptional employees - an electronic gift card for a local restaurant or delivery service, craft kits for kids, subscriptions to nanny services, etc.
- Ask employees to contribute ideas.
- Don't rely solely on technology-based recognition tools and peer-to-peer recognition systems. Gallup notes that the most meaningful feedback is authentic and individualized.
Not only will such efforts boost engagement, but also will foster retention, which has become more threatened. Employees now realize they can work remotely for any company regardless of geographic location.