Working remotely is a growing trend for plenty of reasons. First, it provides convenience to employees. Imagine being able to work within the comforts of your home.
Second, it helps employers save on operational costs. That’s because they do not have to pay for a large office space. Instead, they can use the money in growing their business and ensuring their remote employees’ well-being.
Speaking of employee well-being, it is essential to be wary when someone is being disengaged with work. That’s because it can impede your company’s productivity, client satisfaction, and revenue.That said, we have listed ten tips that you can use to keep your remote employees engaged and focused at work:
Create a clean and tidy workspace
One way to engage your employees and keep them focused is to maintain office cleanliness. After all, chaos and clutter can take their attention away, hindering their productivity.
However, remote employees are more prone to this struggle. That’s because they often find themselves in a home office and don’t have the same benefits as office workers. Plus, they might not have the time to clean their home offices, unlike in the office where there’s usually someone else dedicated to doing that task.
That said, you should encourage your employees to take a few minutes to tidy up and clean their workspace. This is also something we share with our clients at Maid Sailors NYC Office Cleaning.
Better yet, hire a professional cleaner with a vast network and cater to home offices.
Stay connected through technology
Let your employees talk with each other using instant messaging tools or email. This will help them stay connected and engaged with one another.
Investing in video conferencing tools like zoom to help your team excel in remote meetings. Plus, this can be useful for internal or client meetings.
You can also leverage instant messaging tools like Slack to keep your remote employees in the loop with what’s going on in your company. It can also help if they have a channel to chat with their teams in real-time for better productivity.
Gamify your teamwork
Another way to keep your employees more engaged with the job is by using gamified systems in remote work, apart from virtual team-building activities. For example, you can offer rewards to the employees to achieve tasks or compete with other remote teams in your company.
The gamification system is not only about the fun part. It also helps to motivate employees when you are not there in person and maintains work-life balance.
It’s also a way for them to see the progress that they’ve made, which can help spur on motivation and discipline in them. Of course, make sure that there is a good balance between work and reward so that work still gets done while everyone is having their fun.
Invest in professional development
Investing in remote employees’ professional development is one way to keep them engaged and focused. The benefits of investing in remote employees’ professional development are the following:
- Keeps your remote employees engaged with their projects
- Provides a sense of purpose
- It helps them stay focused
- Promotes teamwork and company culture
For one, you need to invest in training your new hires. That way, they’d know what their role is in your company and how they go about their daily work.
Meanwhile, you should also provide skill upgrade opportunities to your employees. Doing so equips them to do their jobs better. You might be surprised how enriching their knowledge can help your business thrive.
Clarify goals and expectations
Managers don’t get to interact with their remote employees regularly. This situation can be problematic when managing them, especially if they work remotely for the first time.
To manage your remote employees, you should establish clear goals and expectations. Take the time to clarify the objectives of their tasks and role in the company. Doing so can help you master remote communication situations and encourage your employees to be productive.
Show appreciation for good work
Remote employees are the backbone of many businesses in this globalized world. They provide flexibility and expertise to the organization that is often hard to find in local talent.
Whether you are the business owner, company executive, or HR manager, you should make the remote employees feel appreciated. When you do that, you are fostering employee loyalty and camaraderie.
There are different ways of showing appreciation for your remote employees. You can send them small gifts or treat them to a meal in person. Ultimately, an employee would appreciate a pay raise or promotion.
Remote employees have more time and can balance their personal life with work more efficiently. As an employer, you should want to keep your remote employees happy and healthy, so they stay focused on the job at hand.
A wellness program allows you to promote health and wellness among your remote employees. That’s because it encourages them to look after themselves and makes them feel that you care for them.
There are various ways to design a wellness program, depending on what works best for your company. You can give your employees discounts on a popular gym chain so that they’re more encouraged to go. You can also organize a monthly sports or wellness event that everyone can participate in, even remotely, like an online yoga class.
Offer employee perks
Many companies offer perks to keep their remote employees happy and engaged. Some of these perks may include flexible hours, the ability to work from anywhere, team collaboration tools such as chat apps, etc.
Other perks aren’t directly related to the work they need to do but can still help employees feel more engaged and focused. For example, coupons for a food delivery app are a traditional gift to give their employees, motivating your team for such a small gesture.
Use a productivity timer
One way to make your employees more focused is by encouraging them to use a productivity timer set up by the company.
These timers are used with software, mainly with task management tools like Trello or Asana. The goal is to help the employee stay on top of deadlines by keeping them aware of the time commitment required for each project.
Some people work better when there’s pressure for them, while others work better with leniency. It’s your job to identify which ones work better and adapt accordingly so you can make the most out of your remote team.
Give constructive feedback
Feedback is essential no matter where you work.
As a remote worker, it can be hard to get insight into how one’s performance affects the company. Feedback from the company helps them understand how they can improve their work. This includes knowing if they need to upgrade their skills or acquire a new one.
Feedback is essential because it helps employees maintain a better sense of what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. It also provides accountability, making employees more likely to do their job well and stay with the company long-term.
Of course, it would be ideal to receive feedback about your management style. That way, you and your remote employees are aligned about how the company can operate.
Conclusion
Keeping your remote employees focused and engaged with their work can be a challenging task. Still, it’s all about keeping the communication lines open and making them feel appreciated, and indulge in team building activities and games. Hopefully, the tips listed above can help you figure out how to keep your remote employees focused and engaged.
Go over our guide to see how companies hire remote employees and learn essential qualities a remote employee must have. If you are searching for a remote job, study these common questions remote workers usually ask. And while you’re at it, join like-minded remote workers in our LinkedIn community.
Searching a remote job and are not sure where to look. We, DailyRemote are a remote job board and have latest jobs posted in various categories such as software development, marketing, virtual assistant jobs etc.
Author bio:Raymond Chiu is the Director of Operations for Maid Sailors, a trusted NYC office cleaning service provider. Maid Sailors offers its customers unrivaled office cleaning services that can address even the toughest cleaning needs.