Work from home culture comes with a lot of benefits, but it also has specific challenges. Maintaining the passion in employees and understanding how to motivate them are the biggest challenges. However, if you find remote work tough to handle, you’re not alone. It takes a little effort and time to create happy and productive employees and fully leverage remote working benefits. Here’re are some practical tips to motivate your remote workers.
Before we jump into the remote working motivation hacks, let’s see some latest stats and facts about the work-from-home culture.
Stats and Facts About Remote Working in 2021
- 16% of companies in the world are fully remote. (Owl Labs)
- The number of people working from home since 2009 has risen by 159%. (Global Workplace Analytics)
- 99% of workers would choose to work remotely for the rest of their life (even if it is just part-time). (Buffer)
- Companies that allow work-from-home see an average profit of $2,000 per remote worker.
- The three major challenges when working from home are unplugging after work (22%), loneliness (19%), and communication (17%).
- Full-time employees are the most productive and happy employees.
- Telecommuting reduces greenhouse gas emissions by an amount of 600,000 cars. (State of Telecommuting)
- The flexibility of remote work enhances the quality of life and helps people take care of their mental health and increase their exercise time.
THE 7 HACKS
Recognize and Reward
A little appreciation can go a long way in motivating remote workers. Employee recognition plays a key role in motivation. Everybody wants to hear that their work counts and adds value to the organization and is rewarded. Recognized employees are generally happier, highly productive, and contribute more to their company.
Let your remote workers know you value their good work even when you’re apart physically. Recognize and congratulate them publicly in a Slack group or send them an email. Offer them gift cards as a token of recognition. Doing so will not only motivate the employee who outperformed but his team.
Define their Goals Clearly
Set clearly defined and achievable goals to maintain the passion in your remote team. It is essential to ensure everyone on the team knows your expectations. Have one-on-one meetings and team meetings regularly to set goals and track their progress. Motivating remote workers is not that difficult; it only takes your time and little effort.
Offer Flexibility
The 9 to 5 workdays are gone. Today, most employees want control over where and when they work. Offer your employees the flexibility to work from anywhere and at any time. Say, some people are productive at night times, and some are highly productive during early mornings. When your workers feel good about their jobs, they tend to feel happy and motivated to work harder. Flexibility will go a long way in motivating your remote teams.
Prioritize Productivity Over Time
Time tracking is, of course, a crucial part of remote working. But it is also vital to trust your employees. You can track their attendance and overtime for billing instead of tracking the hours, minutes, and seconds they spend on each tab. Make employees feel like they’re trusted, don’t micromanage them. That helps form a bond with them beyond tasks and deadlines. Allow your employees to work with flexibility, which boosts productivity, satisfaction, and confidence in them. Think about what your employees produce rather than how long it takes them to finish the task.
Improve Communication
Communication is the key, especially when working remotely. Incorporate clear communication channels and use them for both work-related and non-work matters. Make use of tools such as Slack, Meet, etc. Also, ensure you connect with your team on video calls using Zoom or Skype, as video calls reveal more than chats can do. Include non-work activities like virtual games to add some fun.
Provide Feedback
It is easy to forget about feedback when your team and you are working apart. Regular feedback is crucial to keeping your team motivated. Provide them constructive feedback, be a coach to your team, and help them improve their performance. Being consistent in providing feedback keeps your team motivated and accountable for their tasks.
Team Building Activities
Team building with remote employees has become more critical than ever. There are no water cooler, coffee, and casual chats, making your remote workers more frustrated. So, ensure you also prioritize team building to maintain team motivation. This makes your employees feel as if they’re working together physically. As we discussed above, include games that boost team building and team morale.
Bottom Line
The modern workplace is changing, and managing a remote team is becoming a challenge. However, it’s not impossible. Find out what motivates your employees and act accordingly. Provide the necessary tools to help them do their job productively. Implementing these strategies will help you make the most out of remote working.
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