The idea of remote work has always been a part of modern work culture, but the COVID-19 pandemic made it a centrepiece. The best way to make everyone feel secure while working from home is for company owners to initiate a number of employee centred practices.
Nowadays, companies have either all or parts of their workforce working remotely. But although remote work benefits some employees, others often struggle to stay fit while working from home.
Apparently, fitness and creativity are closely related. When the workers are of sound mind and body, they can perform their responsibilities with motivation. So, any company can maximise productivity by encouraging their teams to stay fit and support each other.
Let’s check out some practical ways that motivate employees to remain productive while working remotely:
Organise virtual team-building activities
Remote work enforces one-person ecosystems within the workforce. And by that, most people spend a lot of time in isolation, away from social interactions with team members. Although some people prefer working solo, a significant majority crave that workplace atmosphere at home.
To bridge this gap in social interaction, your company can introduce virtual team-building activities into the remote work routine.
Moreover, platforms like Google Hangouts and Skype bring team members together for some face time during or outside work hours. You can also play virtual games by splitting the teams into groups. Essentially, keep every remote staff member engaged in order to increase productivity in your remote workspace.
Make acts of kindness part of the routine
Remote workers with loved ones often distract themselves from work by interacting with them. But what happens to single people? How do they cope with loneliness?
According to studies, remote-working employees experience a higher decrease in creativity, especially when they are completely isolated. This dip in productivity comes from the virtual detachment from society.
With that in mind, your company or college essay writing service should develop a softer approach to feedback and criticism. Dedicate certain days of the week for colleagues to show gratitude and share uplifting messages with one another.
You could also introduce a charity initiative to keep your employees engaged on a specific course. By doing so, you could rekindle that sense of community within the remote workforce.
Emphasise the importance of mental wellbeing
As the cliché goes: “Sound body, sound mind.”
When people decide to stay fit, they often limit their focus to the physical aspects of fitness. But in reality, fitness involves physical and mental wellbeing.
Every forward-thinking company should provide incentives for their employees to practice restorative mental activities. Team coordinators should highlight the importance of meditation, yoga, expressive writing, and other coping mechanisms to improve mental health.
Moreover, you can replace gym memberships with access to self-reflection and meditation classes. After all, gyms are closed in most cities.
By prioritising mental wellbeing, you can re-establish that sense of community and improve will motivation for others.
Prioritise personal connections
Although the traditional (physical) work environment encourages constant communication, it often limits interactions to specific departments. In large organisations, most employees are detached from their colleagues in other teams. This curtails personal connections within the company.
However, remote work has made it possible for more colleagues to connect on a more personal basis. For starters, virtual communication tools eliminate social anxiety that is often associated with face-to-face discussions.
Besides, these tools make communication accessible across the board. As a result, enterprises should encourage more informal conversations and other out-of-work interactions to keep morale high in the workforce.
Support bereaved colleagues
Almost every individual on Earth has been affected directly by the pandemic, but some people have experienced the brunt of these unprecedented times. The reality is that some employees might have relatives affected by the pandemic — or might have been affected themselves.
Even though some people cope with this stress effortlessly, others struggle to keep themselves motivated through such challenging times. And as a result, their productivity will decline.
But with an empathetic support system, companies can take care of employees who have lost loved ones during the pandemic. As part of the support program, they could provide bereavement packages and counselling for staff members struggling to cope with tragedies.
Encouragement from C-level employees
The best motivation leaders always set the pace during difficult times. Every progressive company needs an open channel between employees and upper management. This doesn’t mean that C-level employees need to spend their time replying to every text — that would be counterproductive.
Here are some effective ways for the senior leadership to motivate their employees during remote work:
- Send regular Email chains with motivational content;
- Share stories about their own struggles;
- Congratulate individual employees on birthdays;
- Acknowledge outstanding performers publicly;
- Try to participate in team-building with employees.
Although these activities might seem insignificant at the surface level, they could go a long way to motivate your staff. Besides, you can also use words to motivate your employees.
Image: Unsplash
Keep all communication channels open
Communication between remote working employees can be a challenge. Even with advanced workplace communication tools, time zone differences can hinder communication between team members.
As a result, your company should use a unified working time to ensure that every employee is available when they are needed. Establishing this unified system aligns communications within the company.
In terms of interpersonal and interdepartmental interactions, channels like Zoom and Slack can handle the workload, but they often lack that ‘social connection’ element. As a result, your company should embrace other social media platforms like Facebook to foster a sense of community.
Here is a fun idea: your company can organise social media days to share team stories or media content from employees working from home.
Encourage virtual workouts to stay fit
All-round fitness is essential to improve performance and motivation. If you engage in physical activity, you keep your body and mind in perfect shape for optimum performance. Therefore, every company should encourage their employees to participate in online workouts and stay fit at home.
Use fitness challenges to gamify the workplace. For example, project managers could promise free yoga subscriptions for any team member who can do most push-ups. That’s a fun way to spice up the entire remote work environment.
You can also schedule a few hours during the work week to engage in group workouts and reward participants with gifts.
Add a creative spin to holidays
Holidays can be tough on single employees working from home. And to make matters worse, bereavement and loneliness could turn these holidays into a nightmare for most people. This is where internal support systems come in: always earmark funds for compensation during major holidays.
Within the company, you can organise competitions centred around the best outfits and decorations. This idea is excellent for Halloween. You can also hand out gifts for best costumes as an incentive for active participation.
Also, team members can rally around their colleagues during their birthdays. You can gather everybody on a Skype call to sing “happy birthday” to an employee. And most importantly, you could craft a personalised congratulatory note or video from upper management. That will definitely boost employee morale.
Establish a feedback system
Well-known leaders say that the best way to motivate people to stay fit during remote work is by providing a positive feedback cycle. Emphasise the importance of positive reinforcement and constructive criticism.
Project managers should also use a milder tone to deliver feedback. With the help of a reassuring feedback loop, employees will stay motivated, and the remote working environment will flourish.
Besides, you can establish a points acquisition system to determine employees that qualify for bonuses. This bonus system should prioritise job performance and contributions to the company’s community. You can also reward entire teams for an outstanding turnaround on a time-sensitive project.
Ultimately, the reward system should be well-structured and publicised to motivate employees to perform even when working from home.
Share business growth metrics
As humans, we derive a sense of accomplishment from the results of our work. However, absence from a physical work environment deprives employees of a sense of purpose that comes from working on a project. Although this feeling of self-worth can be replicated virtually, it is just not the same.
But how can you convince your employees of their worth to the company?
First off, share constant updates about the company’s growth across all teams. Generate a monthly (or bi-monthly) progress report and publicise it to everybody.
Secondly, you can introduce a centralised monitoring system to visualise achieved goals — project-specific and overall.
This growth monitoring system will keep every teleworking employee on the same page and motivate them to do more.
In Summary
As the pandemic rages on, remote work will remain the order of the day. And as a consequence, companies will need to come up with creative ways to keep their employees motivated, and encourage them to stay fit during remote work.
Whether you are a small, medium, or large enterprise, your company must prioritise personal connections with your workers. This one-on-one approach will make them feel part of a community. Besides, you need to reinforce that sense of community within the workforce using a constructive feedback cycle.
Emphasise the importance of mental health as well as physical fitness to overall productivity. Focus on team-building activities to bring colleagues closer. And most importantly, use communication channels to get everyone on the same page.
Upper management should also reach out to outstanding remote performers for congratulations. Use rewards and bonus systems as an incentive to get your staff to improve their productivity. And ultimately, don’t forget to check on your teammates and colleagues to see how they are coping with remote work.
About the Author
Amanda Dudley is a lecturer and part-time academic writer at EssayUSA. She is a qualified academic instructor with a PhD from Stanford. Nowadays, she works with students, providing academic assistance with History-related courses
