Telecommuting continues to rise in popularity, not just among workers, but with employers, too. In addition to providing employees with flexibility and autonomy, both in where they live and how often they work onsite, companies are finding that remote work policies can actually increase productivity and decrease costs. Yet, despite the many benefits, one challenge persists: employee engagement.
Feeling involved and valued is vital to employee satisfaction and retention, and that’s much harder to achieve when workers are isolated away from the office and coworkers. So how can companies ensure their remote workers feel connected to the company culture and part of the team?
Check out these top tips for increasing your remote team’s engagement.
Don’t Fence Them In
Happy employees are more likely to be engaged, productive employees. Ensure they stay that way by supporting the autonomy and freedom that the remote work arrangement affords. While your instinct may be to micromanage, especially if the employee is a new hire, it’s important to respect their ability to manage their time. As long as your remote workers are producing quality work, meeting deadlines, and reaching goals, minimize check-ins and unnecessary meetings. Focus on what is accomplished instead of when.
Keep Everyone in the Loop
Communication is key to engagement, but you have to strike the right balance. Too much, and you’re creating unnecessary distraction, not enough and remote workers may feel isolated and detached from the company culture. To keep your remote team in the loop, schedule one-on-one virtual meetings with remote employees, either weekly or twice a month, and include them in company meetings and other events on a regular basis via webcast. This will improve opportunities for remote team members to feel connected and help to ensure the common thread of company culture is shared by all.
Give Credit Where Credit is Due
For employees to be motivated and engaged, they need to know they are valued as team members. Make sure to give a little extra recognition to remote employees for their contributions and good work, just as you would in-office employees. Call-out your remote team’s big wins company-wide, so that other members of the organization are aware of their contributions, either by way of an e-newsletter, a collaborative platform such as Microsoft Teams, or one of the myriad of other communication and group chat tools, such as Slack or Google Hangouts.
Prioritize Employee Engagement
Managing a remote team has its challenges, but with the right tools and strategies, you can keep these employees feeling engaged and just as much a part of the team and company culture as their onsite colleagues.
Gain insight on how to engage your remote team with Worktank
We help companies develop thoughtful and engaging communications plans, design memorable messages, and communicate virtually with employees all over the world using rock-solid technology solutions.
