How do you keep employees engaged while working remotely?

 

Technology is changing the way we work and causing the growth of remote employee engagement. The tradition of 9-to-5 work is fading away, as the Global Workplace Analytics suggests. In fact:

• 5 million employees, or 3.6% of the workforce, are currently working from home for half of the designated time or more.
• Since 2005, remote work has seen a growth of 173%. The growth rate was 11% faster than the rest of the workforce, which saw a mere 15% growth. The growth rate was also 47 times faster compared to the self-employed population. 
• 99% of people would like to work remotely for at least a part of the work hours for the rest of their lives.

Yet, many organizations live in disbelief that they can engage with remote employees, or worse, remote employees will get the job done from home.

Whether your team works remotely full-time or on occasion, ensuring remote employee engagement requires a strategical approach:

1. Small talks help to secure remote employee engagement

Co-located or not, a drop-by get-together helps to take a break from tasks. Idle talks are important for workers as it helps them to feel closer to remote teammates.

Team communication does not always have to be task-focused. Employees can always exchange off-topic emails, instant messages, or GIFs to keep the environment cool.

Also read: How to best manage your remote team?

2. Arrange face-to-face programs 

Giving people the option for virtual work does not necessarily mean they will jump on the tasks. You may think that remote employee engagement is done naturally once the right tools are implemented, but it's a misconception.

Many of the companies that exclusively work with remote teams offer in-person team get-together once or twice a year. This is a fun and effective way to keep the team close.

3. Utilize remote employee monitoring software

Do not just inspire your team to be engaged at work with words, you need to utilize proper tools to make your team 100% engaged at work. With CloudDesk® remote employee monitoring software, you can easily do that. It is an affordable tool that helps to track employee work hours, and analyze performance and keep employees engaged to work as well.

The software requires employees to join at work giving facial recognition. It starts counting the work hours immediately afterward and helps to analyze performance by showing productive and idle times. To keep employees engaged at work, it sends pop-ups periodically to the computers. 

Employees can also work flexible hours with this tool by pausing the time clock, which is important for the remote working environment. The flexible working environment helps employees to be more relaxed and engaged at work as well. Try the demo of CloudDesk® remote employee monitoring software to understand all the features and make sure your employees are proactively engaged at work.

Effective communication with remote team members across continents and time zones is hard to achieve, especially when you have jobs with given deadlines. But with the right actions and usage of the right tools, you can start managing digital workplace expectations.