Over the last five years, remote employment has grown by 44%. It’s an inevitable situation, given the pandemic and the fact that companies need to stay open. If your business was forced to operate remotely, how would you motivate remote employees?
Managing a remote team can feel a lot like herding cats. If you don’t have the right tools, it can feel like all you do is hunt for your lost employees.
The key is to motivate employees so that remote work does not affect the quality of work. Below, we provide top tips to keep your remote teams motivated.
Achieve Balance Between Work and Family Time
Before remote teams start, have them sign agreements detailing their working hours and provide legal regulations that support their right to time off. Make sure they understand that time off is required for their productivity to stay effective. Managers should promote a culture of respect for family time and flexible working hours and lead by example.
Provide opportunities for team members to work from home or virtual offices while still having access to any resources they need to get their work done. Urge remote employees to limit their overwork, avoid multitasking, and take regular breaks to stay focused, energized, and balanced.
Empower Team Members
To begin with, it’s essential to develop and maintain trust and respect throughout the team. By setting clear expectations, team members will be able to feel secure in their roles and supported through their projects. Offering professional development opportunities, such as workshops or online courses, can assist team members in being more productive and achieving their goals.
Allowing each team member to take ownership of their remote work and recognizing their strengths, priorities, and goals can create a strong sense of trust, responsibility, and engagement within the team. You may want to discover strength scope here as it helps you identify an employee’s strengths for a more productive team. Provide remote team members with adequate access to resources and adequate autonomy within their roles.
Ensure Team Recognition
Acknowledging successes, large or small, and giving recognition is important, which can be done via words of appreciation, shared online, or tangible rewards. Providing opportunities for interpersonal connections and team-building is essential.
It also allows for teams to celebrate accomplishments as well as network with one another. Encouraging team members to provide goal-oriented feedback for each other will lead to employee productivity.
Leverage Remote Technology
It is important to leverage remote technology to create a safe, connected, and efficient environment. To encourage collaboration and connection, tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack can be used to create virtual meeting spaces with video conferencing, file sharing, and messaging capabilities.
Having regular virtual meetings to stay in contact and build relationships is a great way to promote team bonding. It is also important to foster an “always on” communication approach, where quick messages and check-ins are encouraged to make sure everyone feels connected and motivated.
Motivating Remote Teams
The key to effectively motivating remote teams is to maintain a strong sense of connection and engagement. Schedule regular video meetings, create tasks that are challenging and meaningful, and reward effort and performance regularly. By doing so, you will foster an environment that motivates your employees to do their best and excel.
