How to keep your remote workers engaged

Keeping employees engaged can be difficult, especially when they are working from home. It’s important to ensure all team members feel valued as engagement is crucial for team performance, building a better culture and company success.

Managing a remote workforce isn’t always easy. So, how do you make sure your remote workers succeed? Here are a few areas which can help keep your remote employees engaged and ready to perform to their highest potential.

1. Ensure they have the right tools

If remote workers are not provided with the correct tools, they may struggle to deliver the efficiency and productivity as they would if working in the office. When employees are working from home, where possible, it’s important that they are equipped with the same tools and technologies they would have access to in the office such as laptops, additional monitors, headsets and standing desks.

2. Stay connected and have regular check-ins

While working from home, it’s easy for employees to feel disconnected from you and their team members as they don’t have the same opportunities to connect with them as they would if working in the office. Ensure you are having one-on-one check-ins to stay connected and involved. This way, you can observe and support each employee’s performance and learn more about their strengths and weaknesses.

3. Promote well-being and healthy lifestyles

One of the best things about working from home is the flexibility for greater work-life balance. However, it’s important that your employees don’t fall into the “always-on” culture, which then leads to employee burnout. This is where you can set boundaries such as setting clear expectations, set the example of a healthy work-life balance, enforce breaks, and allow flexible schedules.

4. Show appreciation for their efforts

One study found that 37% of workers said they feel most motivated when receiving personal recognition. Recognition is an important aspect of employee productivity and motivation, whether in the office or at home. Make a point to recognise remote workers efforts and contributions they are making to your business. Not only this, but ensure the recognition is highly visible so other employees in the company are aware of the valuable efforts from remote workers. Your employees will feel more connected when they feel appreciated and seen.

5. Ask and listen to feedback

Yes, asking for feedback is great but you need to listen and act on it to show you value employee input. This will provide a space where both management and employees can share constructive feedback and discuss any issues that anyone may be having. And remember to always communicate any changes you are planning to make so your employees are not taken by surprise. It’s important to discuss any changes with your team first before implementing them.

The number of people working remotely will only keep expanding in the years to come, making it more crucial than ever to know how to keep your remote workers engaged and productive. It takes commitment and investment, but putting the time into ensuring your team members are engaged and equipped with the tools to succeed pays off in the long run

To help get you started, a complete HR system like Squirrel equips teams with the right tools and technology to enable team connection, collaboration and boost productivity wherever your team is working.