Operating a remote business has its benefits, like the freedom to employ without boundaries and more flexibility with working hours. However, it can be challenging to keep workers engaged, especially when homes are often full of distractions.
To keep remote teams motivated and on-task, a culture built around mutual trust needs to exist that involves open communication and positive praise. In this article, we discuss five strategies for keeping remote workers engaged.
Create virtual hangouts
Communication is essential in any business, but it plays even more of a role when it comes to remote teams. By making the most of email, video conferencing platforms, instant messaging, and other communication platforms, you can bring your entire team together.
In the same way that physical businesses have breakout spaces, you should create group chats to facilitate non-work-related topics. One of the best business communication tools is Slack, which is essentially the work version of Discord.
Utilise digital tools
To facilitate communication and collaboration, you'll need to integrate a series of digital tools into the workflow. When it comes to improving engagement, we recommend using employee time tracking software, which allows you to see who's available for work and will make payroll much easier.
Have a health and wellness culture
Employees are a company's most valuable asset. If they get ill and take time off work, it has a ripple effect throughout the whole company. Therefore, you should make sure there's a clear culture built around health and wellness.
There are many ways to incentivise your employees to make healthy lifestyle choices, including:
- provide subscriptions to health and wellness apps.
- host virtual cooking sessions.
- start an exercise program.
- educate employees on the dangers of drinking, smoking and use of recreational drugs
As well as promoting health and wellness, these types of activities allow your team to connect and grow together, which will boost productivity.
Using gamification for teamwork
People love gaming because it's fun and engaging. By using gamification, you can take the fun elements of gaming and apply them to non-gaming environments. The simplest way to do this is with daily competitions aligned with targets. For example, you can create fun bingo cards for your sales team where each square represents a target or put up posters like "Make a personal best sale".
Make employees feel valued and heard
Your employees work hard to make your business a success, so make sure they know how much you value their work. Seeing as you're not in a physical space, you will have to get a little creative and make more of an effort. For example, you can write a daily newsletter with a section dedicated to celebrating success. Additionally, you should make a point to make birthdays known - sending e-vouchers is a fantastic way of doing this.
In summary
Even though the mechanics of remote working is vastly different, remote teams work in exactly the same as any other team. If you communicate well, celebrate success, and use exciting ways to boost engagement, you'll see productivity levels soar.
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