Keeping remote workers motivated can be a learning curve, especially when dealing with long working hours and busy days. Long and tedious shifts make it even more critical to help remote workers feel like part of the team, even when you cannot see them in person every day.
To ensure your remote workers are both productive and happy, here are five tips to help them feel like part of the team from day one.
Use In-Person Meetings
When you have an essential business decision, it is best to meet with remote workers in person through face-to-face meetings. Remote worker inclusion will help you develop better working relationships with each employee and build trust within your company.
Schedule in-person meetings often and ensure that everyone knows about them ahead of time by sending out reminders via email. If you struggle to keep up with reminders, try using scheduling software like Google Calendar or Microsoft Outlook.
If travel for meetings is too expensive for your budget, consider conference calling and video conferencing to connect all your employees through video chat. Also, if your company hosts annual conferences, consider providing means for remote workers to attend, like streaming a video of keynote speakers.
Make Communication Consistent
Employee retention and satisfaction require effective communication. You will need to close the communication gaps by securing adequate and timely conversation and feedback.
To prevent communication hiccups in a remote work environment, ensure that your team makes it a habit to communicate regularly. Keep each other up-to-date on progress by creating consistent communication channels.
Maintaining open lines of communication through email, video chat, or quick texts throughout the day will help team members feel closer. Also, having a team lunch once a week or setting aside time at work daily for people to talk are excellent ways to form friendships, boost morale, and ensure that your remote workers feel included.
When you communicate with your remote workers, let them know that you appreciate their hard work. Send a personal note telling them how much you enjoyed what they did, then write down how much it helped and why you needed the task completed.
You can also mention work done only by remote employees in a company newsletter or post on the company’s social media platforms. Recognition of work done well keeps remote workers motivated and allows them to feel included.
Encourage Informal Activities Among Team Members
In an office setup, it is easy for people to pop into each other’s offices or hang out at a local coffee shop. These get-togethers are great for interactions and building teamwork skills. If remote team members lack such opportunities, you should incorporate virtual team building activities via platforms like Microsoft Teams and Google Meet.
For instance, you could create a shared calendar with recurring events like a movie night or board game night. You can encourage informal chats by inviting employees to share photos on chat platforms about what they did over the weekend.
Another idea is to organize virtual field trips. With this type of interaction, employees feel more connected if they find that they share interests outside of work, and this can lead to bonding and friendships.
Empower Your Remote Team
Employee empowerment and sovereignty over completing projects make your team members feel like they are essential to the organization.
Give your remote workers some autonomy. Let them create their processes for completing tasks and define their own goals for each project. Ensure that they have all the information they need to complete their tasks, such as links, graphics, or code files.
It is necessary to enquire about your remote workers’ most preferred mode of communication for catch-ups, whether video chats or audio calls.
Keep an Eye on Their Well-Being
A forward-thinking organization should have physical and mental wellness resources, which should also be available to remote team members.
Watch for signs that signal your team members are not okay, such as skipping meetings and calling in sick. Mental health resources provide excellent support for individuals. Physical well-being is just as important, as stress is a leading cause of workplace injuries.
Encourage your remote workers to find healthy activities outside of work that help them to de-stress. You can offer low- or no-cost options or reimbursements for fitness classes like yoga or pilates.
Wrapping Up
Your remote team should feel like an extension of your company, not a separate entity. Keep in touch with regular check-ins and encourage collaboration and communication among remote workers for organizational growth.
