The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many aspects of the American workplace for both bosses and their employees, but one of the biggest changes has been the shift toward remote working. In a time where safety is more necessary than ever, remote working allows employees to perform their daily tasks while still protecting their health and the health of their families. Remote working also provides much-needed flexibility for employees caring for children or relatives. But despite its benefits, some employers may still have concerns about how remote working affects their workplace culture and productivity, especially when it comes to staying connected with their remote employees.
To keep everyone on your team passionate and motivated even when you’re not meeting face-to-face, consider these tips for staying connected with remote employees.
Keep Everyone in the Loop
During in-office working, employers might have daily or weekly meetings with their teams to check-in, address concerns, assign tasks, and recognize outstanding employers for their recent achievements. For a remote team, meetings like this are still necessary—and incredibly important. Remote working simply means that these meetings might take place over Zoom or another online tool, rather than in a board room. To stay connected with your team and keep communications flowing, have frequent check-ins, both with individual workers and entire teams.
Trust Your Employees
The shift to remote working requires employers to place a ton of trust in their employees. Without being able to pop by to make sure an employee is completing their tasks, it can be difficult for employers to know that everyone is diligently and effectively doing their job. However, trusting that your employees are doing the same hard work they’d do in the office is a big step toward making remote working a success for everyone.
One way to cut down on the stress, both for you and your employees, is to focus on results, rather than specific tasks. By focusing on the end goal, like a sales target for the week or a monthly report, you can know that your employees are getting the job done without micromanaging or worrying about how they’re accomplishing the tasks.
Don’t Forget to Have Fun
In a regular business setting, casual conversations in the break room or fun after-work mingling or teambuilding excursions keep up the morale and remind employees why your business is a positive place to work. Facilitate these feelings with remote workers by taking the time to quickly check-in about nonwork topics, like how their family is doing or if they have big plans for the weekend. This not only shows that you care about your employee’s well-being, but also cultivates a greater feeling of connection and community, even when you’re not all physically together.
Employers can also host fun after-work activities over Zoom or other online tools, like a trivia night or a mixer for employees to chat.
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