Learn how to manage, engage, and retain them as the number of remote employees or workers continuing to rise.
Do you know, a study conducted by Upwork and Freelancers Union predicts that the majority of the workforce will be remote by 2027.
Working remotely has benefits for both company and its workers. Employers save money by minimizing the costs associated with a typical workplace by choosing the best candidates for their team irrespective of where they are based. Remote employees get more flexibility to enjoy, get rid of the frustrating everyday commute & spend more time with their families at home that enhances productivity.
Here are few ways to rope in your remote employees and make them feel right at home—even if the home is their real house and just 500 miles away from the office.
How to engage your remote employees?
1. Ensure they have scheduled 1-on-1 regularly.
Take time out of your week for video conferencing using WhatsApp, FaceTime, Skype, or jump to the Google Hangout with your remote employees. We understand that you have 1,000 other things to do on your workday, but make this as a top priority. You won’t get the most effective performance from someone if they don’t feel like they’re part of the decision-making process.
The more responsibilities you take, the easier it will be to talk to your remote employees. However, it is much more important to keep up with others outside the workplace in certain aspects. You can quickly check on everyone in the workplace, and you can pick up non-verbal cues about whether they are happy or productive without having a sit-down meeting. However, there’s certainly no way to know what your remote employees think unless you find the time to talk it out.
An e-mail does not make it once a week. It is important to simplify the process to keep you updated every day of what is going on yet to free up room for open conversations.
2. Consider them for advancement.
I’m currently remote, so let’s hope this doesn’t come off as opportunistic, but it’s essential for your remote employees to feel that their work is valued and respected. Nothing articulates this to them as much as it gives them opportunities to learn and advance within the company.
Your best employees want to grow and learn and should reward for their work, including your remote employees. To retain great talent begins by noticing and paying it. People want to be respected and appreciated, and the most transparent way to show them is by considering them for a promotion or some added responsibility that is linked to a salary increase.
Bring them to the office (if you have one)
Invite remote employees. They may live 1000 miles away, but nowadays, it can’t stop them from being in your neighborhood, and it takes you a long way to invite you.
Even better, take them to town for an onboarding or performance review if your organization has a budget. Training, onboarding, and analysis often sound like a lot of money and effort, but the workplace is a lot like the kitchen, so it avoids hours of arm-wrenching hacking by taking 20 minutes to sharpen the cuff. You will get the best out of people by investing in their education and making a personal meeting a reality.
Take them around the office, tell them all the plans and dreams of the company. Show them what’s going to make your product or perform your operation. Let them meet people who are involved in the same projects and have them face the people they may be e-mailing or working with every week.
Let them feel like they belong; they give a part of their time and soul to the same task as the employees in the office.
4. Listen
It may sound simple, but all relationships based on trust, and nobody will trust you unless they think you’re listening. If you value the input of your remote employees, they are more than likely to like working with you.
It is not only useful to keep them connected, but remote employees provide a unique viewpoint as they are not in the office full time. Sometimes, the workplace can become an insular place, and you can breakthrough and ignite meaningful change only by having new blood involved.
Sometimes, the best suggestions come from people who come to the problem for the first time or from a different perspective. You may become so familiar with the status quo that you do not see how things may improve. Your remote workers have a specific business viewpoint. We can see things from an outside perspective when they are part of the business.
Listen to what they say. Listen to what they think. We may not always be right, but nobody can harm a new outlook.
Give them some company Swag
Whenever someone joins your team, send them an onboarding kit. It may include a few different things: a book that defines your culture, a handwritten letter, a DVD of a film that everyone loves, or encapsulates the humor of the office. Yet send them a real thing.
Think about including a branded t-shirt in the package as well. They can wear this when working from the house or a coworking space, and it will automatically make them feel connected to your brand and mission.
What you wear is one of the first things that anyone else notices about you, and while the decision gets rotten over time, it is one of the few things we manage in our day. You may be surprised to discover how loyal your employees are to your brand as they live and work on the other side of the country.
Help them meet their Colleagues
When working remotely, it’s pretty hard to break into colleagues to introduce yourself, as usually occurs in an office the first week or two. Establishing a program would enable team members to meet more people and building up virtual connections, whether with a coworker on Slack or with an introduction.
Services like Donut often make it convenient and efficient for workers to interact and find time together to discuss work-related and non-work-related topics.
7. Get in touch with us
Finding ways to bring remote workers into the process should be vital to the future. Remote work is overgrowing, and learning how to organize, steer, reward, and collaborate with people 1,000 miles away will be required in the years ahead.
Speak to our team to connect your remote employees with some good company swag! We will love to help you get started.