While the pandemic surely exacerbated the need for people to be working remotely, remote work was trending upwards far before it. Even now with pandemic restrictions easing, people have been returning to work, but the percentage of Americans working from home is still above pre-pandemic levels. There’s no evidence that this will be changing anytime soon, and with more companies looking into remote and semi-remote work, where workers have 1 to 3 days of working at home versus in the office, it seems to be here to stay.
With the shift to remote work, businesses have had to find the balance of creating a positive work environment at home. How can a strong work culture be established when people are working on their own, at home, only talking to their colleagues through Zoom meetings and Slack chat rooms? The change has created a new question for administrators and ways to support their remote work employees.
There is absolutely a way to keep your team strong and communicative whilst working from home. Most recent studies show that remote work is helping to produce more from workers as they are happier with their work/life balance. Nonetheless, coming up with a plan to support your team’s relationships and overall positive growth can be challenging. Below, we offer 5 ways that can help in supporting your remote work employees.
Create Virtual Team Building Activities
Virtual team-building activities are a great tool to help support your remote workers. Before you begin to plan it, you should ask your remote workers what they would want to see in any virtual team-building activities. You could then offer a list of pre-selected options, aided by the suggestions of your remote workers, to your team via email and have them involved in the planning of the event. Be sure to plan the event during work hours.
One of the things people value most is their private time, away from work and the office. Respecting your remote workers’ time and planning a virtual team-building event during work will not only encourage their participation in the event, but they’ll also be thankful that you considered them in your decision-making. Some remote work offices have even started doing team lunches, where they will order take-out and delivery through the company to residents and eat as a team via Zoom. It may not be like watching Netflix, but if you plan some fun talking points or an ice-breaker game you’ll be sure to have the conversation flowing in no time.
Offer Work-Ready Tech Benefits
Relegating tech benefits to your remote work employees can be incredibly helpful. Chances are some of your employees may not have the same setup at home as they do at work. Providing your employees with a computer, extra monitor, lowbluelights to reduce eyestrain on devices, keypads, etc will only aid them in their work. You’ll show them that you want to support an efficient work environment, where they have everything they need to get their work done.
Work During Business Hours
As we stated previously, you want to respect your remote worker’s time at home. One of the biggest qualms remote workers have had with their transitions to working remotely is that some of their businesses and bosses have taken it as a way to work constantly. Just because your remote workers have access to their work more than an in-office employee, doesn’t mean they should be spending more of their designated free time working. Make sure your meetings are set within work hours, if you or one of your remote workers have an emergency after hours ensure they know who to contact.
Schedule Regular Check-Ins
Communication is key in maintaining a healthy and supportive relationship with remote workers. While you can’t have your morning huddle in the boss’s office anymore, make sure you have an email channel, slack channel, or morning zoom call set up to chat with your team before getting the day or week started. Schedule check-in with your team as a whole and as individuals, however often is up to you but we suggest at least monthly.
Think about ways you can support your remote work employees in giving constructive criticism as well. Employees are typically too afraid to tell their higher-ups about a problem until it’s far too late. Supporting communication on both ends will only positively benefit your work environment and the work your team produces.
Celebrate Special Events
Celebrating special events may seem small, but it goes a long way in creating a supporting and positive environment for your remote work employees. Remember your employee’s birthdays and send out an email shout-out.
Think about what you can do for holidays, maybe at Christmas you could have a white elephant where employees send gifts to others’ homes. You can open them together on Zoom during a virtual holiday party event. Again, when coming up with ideas it may be best to poll your employees, they know what they like and if they trust you enough to be honest you’ll be able to provide the best celebrations this way.
