As the head of human resources or a business owner, keeping your remote team engaged is like playing a never-ending chess game
Let’s face it, managing remote workers is challenging.
You’ve got team members scattered across different time zones, probably lounging in their pyjamas, not quite motivated to work.
So how do you keep everyone motivated, connected, and excited about their work?
You’ve come to the right place.
This blog will present six fun yet effective ways experts recommend engaging remote employees. We will also guide you on how to put these into action.
After reading this, boosting your team’s productivity and engagement will get easy.
Let’s get into it.
What are the indicators of highly engaged employees?
Measuring your team’s engagement level is easy in a physical workspace. How about when they work virtually?
Here are the top 5 indicators of highly engaged employees in a virtual workplace:
- Engaged employees constantly develop new ideas instead of focusing on obstacles.
- Engaged employees share their ideas and are willing to teach the team ways to solve problems and eliminate challenges by sharing their knowledge.
- Engaged employees are more productive.
- Engaged employees give more feedback to their employers.
- Engaged employees stay longer with their employers.
Less-engaged employees can hurt your organisation’s productivity and performance.
Now that you know the indicators of highly engaged virtual employees, it’s time to motivate the less-engaged team members.
How do you increase team engagement virtually? 6 expert virtual employee engagement ideas
We have gathered tried and tested expert-recommended tips you can implement today to increase your team engagement virtually.
Let’s check them out.
Employee engagement idea #1: Foster a compassionate and understanding corporate culture
Is your remote corporate culture compassionate and understanding?
How do you measure that?
“We can love our work, love our purpose, but if the people stuff in corporate culture drives us nuts, it’s an uphill battle,” says Zoe Routh.
Zoe is the owner, Director, and Leadership Author of Inner Compass.
Understanding and compassionate corporate culture is ideal for keeping employees engaged.
But how can you create this culture? Zoe recommends using the ‘culture compass’.
A culture compass allows you and your team to stay on track and navigate difficult situations by reviewing what matters the most.
The most impactful element of this compass is its Southern point: Qualities. These establish the guidelines for engagement.
Zoe suggests running a simple exercise with your team.
Ask your team to write three Dos – things to do and three don’ts – things not to do if you want people to work best with you (and not annoy or upset you).
“Then the team discuss their Dos and Don’ts with everyone, clarifying each point as you go. As a result, your team gets to know each other well,” Zoe says.
Also, Zoe suggests that you request each team member evaluate themselves during the upcoming team meeting based on the shared agreements.
“Ask them what they did to honour working better with others?” Zoe adds.
Following these steps improves your virtual workplace and makes it a more compassionate environment.
Employee engagement idea #2: Run better online meetings
Running better virtual meetings is an excellent way to engage your remote employees and drive better results for your business.
“To have more engagement in meetings, you must provide various methods for people to contribute and participate in the meetings. This is especially true for idea-generating and decision-making meetings,” says Zoe.
Observing your team during video meetings is one of the best ways to assess their engagement level.
Zoe suggests having virtual town hall meetings monthly or quarterly.
In these meetings, Zoe says the founder or senior management can inform your employees about business performance.
Virtual town hall meetings are a fun and interactive way to promote collaboration and engagement in your team.
Employee engagement idea #3: Celebrate people, not just wins
Appreciate your employees when they reach a milestone. But what about those who are struggling, despite having potential?
Bhaskar Thyagarajan, the Founder, CEO, and CEO of BlueSky Learning, shares an easy way of doing this.
Bhaskar recommends sending a personalised, direct message via email, video, or audio from each team member to celebrate a colleague’s important day.
“It may sound cliché, but this goes a long way in establishing a sense of belonging in your team,” Bhaskar says.
This also is a fun way to keep your employees engaged with the team while working from home.
Employee engagement idea #4: Reverse sharing
Experts say encouraging your employees to share their challenges and experiences can increase employee engagement.
Bhaskar says that managers often update remote teams to stay connected. However, real importance is felt when communication goes both ways.
This encourages employee engagement and creates value for your remote teams.
Bhaskar recommends posing questions to your remote teams as an easy way to engage them.
Ask your team to “share your toughest customer situation from last month” or “describe the most challenging scenario you encountered recently.”
You can ask your remote team to shoot videos of themselves answering these questions.
As a result, you’ll strengthen the bond between your remote teams and the organisation. You will also foster a culture of acknowledgement and esteem among your remote teams.
Employee engagement idea #5: Develop a collaborative document
Experts say that creating a collaborative document also proves highly effective for engaging remote employees.
You can use this collaborative document to facilitate discussions on many topics.
This includes time management strategies, methods to stay focused, tips on combating isolation issues during work from home, and more.
Scott J. Simmerman, President of The International Association for People and Performance Development, suggests asking your team members to share best practices.
Scott says this is a remote employee engagement and team-building activity.
You can also improve virtual workplace collaboration to minimise the negative effects of competition at work.
Let’s look at the last engagement idea.
Employee engagement idea #6: Have a clear structure of communication by using simple communication tools/apps
You might notice a lack of active participation and engagement from your remote employees during a team meeting.
CEO of Scalable Path, Damien Filiatrault, gives a simple solution to combat this issue.
Damien suggests choosing your communication tools wisely for online collaboration.
Damien says modern communication tools enable simple, seamless voice and video calls.
“These tools make your costs as low as zero in some cases, freeing your teams and individuals to spin up ad-hoc meetings to resolve issues or discuss a topic,” Damien adds.
Boosting your remote workers’ engagement levels is difficult without collaboration tools.
Choosing the best collaboration tool, such as Talk Magnet, can help you carry out all the fun activities to increase employee engagement.
Talk Magnet is a lightweight collaboration solution for your remote employees.
This all-in-one solution improves productivity and engagement among hybrid and remote teams.
Talk Magnet offers a wide range of third-party integrations. It integrates easily with your favourite apps and brings collaborations and your tasks under one platform.
This way, your organisation’s goals do not get lost in a pool of multiple apps and tools.
Boost employee engagement with Talk Magnet
You now know various fun ways to engage your remote team effectively.
To put this expert-recommended advice into action, you need one thing.
A simple collaboration solution that can facilitate your employees’ engagement.
You can read our blog on the best team collaboration tools to pick the best fit for your team.
We recommend Talk Magnet – a feature-rich yet simple online communication tool that will make your team productive from day one.
Book a demo to learn how Talk Magnet can enhance your team’s virtual engagement.
Starting today, you can sign up for free to boost employee engagement levels.
