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How to Engage with Remote Employees
Do you work remotely? Or have you hired people to work remotely for you? Stay at Home Moms are perfectly suited to the new remote working trend. Companies are looking to hire Moms who are able to work from home or work from anywhere.
I’ve been working at home for myself for a couple of years and I just became a remote employee again. I’ve been appointed as a Business Development Consultant at The Kids Gym.
It’s the perfect remote position for me because my job is to network with other Moms (work from anywhere) and visit Schools in the area. What makes it even more perfect (from The Kids Gym’s perspective) is that I’m at The Kids Gym 3 to 5 times a week anyway for my son’s Ninja Zone and Core Fitness Classes (one of the main reasons they chose me for the position). Are we going to have a problem with engagement? Probably not. Though I’ll certainly keep the advice in the contributed post below in mind. #howtoengagewithremoteemployees
Sorry to disappoint but getting engaged just won’t happen today. Unless, of course, you’re looking for the best ways to keep your staff happy and adjusted to their working environment.
Remote working is becoming more and more popular with businesses, and rightly so. Technology and the internet have meant that we no longer need to fit the constructs of the 9-5 working life.
It means that we can have more of a work/life balance in some industries, and it means that people can feel less work pressure as they set their own schedule. This autonomous way of working is precisely what people want in life because they can feel relaxed and actually learn to enjoy their jobs.
There are some downsides, though.
Remote working is a great way to avoid the commute, but while you’re avoiding the commute you’re also avoiding the office camaraderie that you had before you started working at home by yourself.
There is a much higher possibility that remote workers feel less engaged and connected to their colleagues and staff and given that we spend a lot of our time working, it’s not ideal. Even if you’ve set up the best integrated cloud services with Dyrand, you can still find that people struggle to communicate.
When you’re managing remote workers, communication is absolutely key and keeping people motivated is going to lie in the way that you communicate with them. However, as long as you make employee engagement a priority, you can help them and your company to absolutely thrive.
Here are some ways that you can help your virtual team to feel as if they’ve never left the office.
Make it personal.
Professionalism is key, but there’s nothing quite like office banter, is there? Your staff are people. They have families and birthdays and interests of their own that are separate from the office.
Get yourself acquainted with these events and learn to recognise their strengths and weaknesses as people as well as employees and you will be onto a winner.
Schedule in time to chat.
We’ve said it already, but communication is key. You need to be able to engage with staff on more than just an online chat, so why not have a chat on the phone once a week if it fits your schedule?
Hearing an actual voice can make such a difference with your staff and they will love knowing that there is a human among all the emails.
Set competitive targets.
People love to win and while we may be breeding out competition in our school systems, our workplaces are just as competitive as ever.
You need to offer a goal to meet and an incentive as the result. Make it fun, get everyone involved and you’ll see your remote staff shine – even outside the office.
Your remote workers are just as valuable to you as your in-house team and it’s not something that you should forget. Learn to get them involved and keep them informed and you’ll have a better working team.
Are you taking advantage of the remote working trend? Do you work remotely? Or have you hired people to work remotely for you? What’s your engagement like with your remote workers? We’d love to hear about your experience in the comments below.