When you don’t see your employees every day, it can be hard to tell if they are motivated. Of course, you can check their stats and KPIs, but unless you make more of an effort, productivity levels can drop off. However, there are plenty of innovative ways to motivate remote employees and ensure your company is firing on all cylinders. Use the tips below to boost performances.
Health Benefits
Remote working environments are more common than ever nowadays, and that trend is set to continue into the future, so how can you make your workers feel connected and invested in your company? One answer is to offer health care benefits for the employee and their families. Studies show that health comes top of the priority list for most people, and it shows you care.
Regardless of where you operate, it’s a good idea to offer health insurance as part of the incentive package. Health insurance helps individuals obtain faster treatment for less and covers them for common illnesses like coronavirus. Additionally, when you offer health insurance to the family, it conveys a deeper level of commitment and trust in your employees.
Communication
Businesses might still be working out the best ways to operate remotely, but one thing that remains a top priority whether you work in an office or across a network is communication. Arguably, communication is even more important in a remote working environment, not only for everyday business processes but also for company morale and supporting productivity levels.
The good news is there are more options than ever before for communicating with a remote workforce. Using applications, chats, and video conferencing, you can get in touch with individual employees or teams instantly to update them on a situation or convey your appreciation for a project. Make communication a key part of motivating your remote teams.
Excellent Digital Tools
Unless individuals, teams, and businesses engage with new technologies, the technologies themselves are obsolete, even if they have recently come onto the market. Not only that, employees love to engage with the latest technologies, so using these makes them feel modern and relevant in the workforce, rather than using outdated software and systems to operate.
If you want to motivate your remote workforce and ensure that your business keeps p with modern trends, ensure that you are using the latest apps, software, and network solutions. It’s easy to neglect your technological set-up when it’s running as you expect, but keeping an eye on global trends helps to maintain relevance and brand authority in your industry and company.
Secure Remote Tools
Along with the most modern tools for your business, you need to provide security tools that are unlikely to infect their personal computers. Remote working environments have become more common than ever – thanks in part to global events – and while they offer many excellent advantages, they have encouraged more sophisticated and successful cybercrime and threats.
Make sure your employees feel secure in their remote workplaces by prioritizing cybersecurity. Offer free anti-virus software or free cybersecurity training for individuals to show that you value the integrity of the network and their personal investments in the company. Research shows that this kind of concern for employees’ welfare increases the value and investment of the workforce.
Innovative Incentives
When it comes to company incentives, there are the traditional and the innovative. On the traditional side of things, you have free health care and pension contributions, but on the innovative side, you have things like streaming service subscriptions, shares in the company or bitcoins, flexible working hours, and gym memberships. Get creative with your incentive options.
The advantage of innovative incentives is that they are unique, fresh, and competitive. Innovative incentives are likely to be company-specific, and in some cases, they will stand as a singular reason for top employees to stay in your company. Remember, additional incentives also count, like a modern office environment that you can achieve using office cleaning services.
Show Face
In a traditional working environment, it is normal to see the faces of managers and colleagues every day. A familiarity is established between you, and it becomes easy to communicate on a one-to-one basis or in a team meeting. Sadly all of this is absent from a digital workspace because so many of the interactions occur through chats, emails, and messaging services.
However, all is not lost; there are many digital tools and video conferencing platforms available nowadays that help you to connect with your employees on a personal level and maintain a positive working relationship. Show face regularly, even if it’s only to check in with them and find out how they’re feeling. This is a key component to maintaining motivation in remote teams.
Regular Feedback
In recent years the freelance industry has boomed, and many former employees have jumped ship to work for themselves. However, the opposite dynamic is also at play because many freelancers have returned to traditional working roles due to a lack of feedback and recognition in their freelance roles. But this wouldn’t happen if employees are encouraged with feedback.
Whether it is positive or negative, employees like feedback to help them in their company roles and their careers. Not only does it advance their careers, it has an impact on their personal development and motivation. Remember to value your employees and invest in their career development which will benefit your business and help retain the best talent that’s available.
Experimental Approaches
Working environments have become more experimental over the last few years, and workforces have become more diverse, so there’s no reason why you can’t be more experimental with your incentive programs as well. Don’t abandon traditional approaches altogether; instead, invest in a mixture of the old and the new to find out what works and what doesn’t for your unique workers.
So what exactly are experimental approaches to motivating your remote workforce? Start by unlearning some of the common approaches and training yourself to think outside the box. Consider the ages and life situations of your employees and decide on motivational activities that are unique to them; these might include things like steaming subscriptions and takeouts.
Global Trends
It’s sensible to think local when it comes to employee motivation; after all, you understand your workforce best and know what activities they are likely to enjoy. That said, it’s worth keeping an eye on global trends as well since it’s only a matter of time before expectations start to develop in your remote workforce. Stay connected to your niche in particular and industry in general.
Not only does monitoring global trends lead to better motivation in your workforce – because your employees feel as if they are aligned with the collective – it also makes a difference when it comes to employee retention. Workers that feel connected and aligned with the global industry and more likely to feel relevant and valued instead of out of sync and on a downward trend.
More Independence
If you want your employees to feel valued and motivated in their remote roles, you need to find a balance between keeping them engaged with the company through chats and video calls and giving them the freedom and independence to carry out their job roles and take on new responsibilities. Offering employees more responsibility is the best way to grow their careers.
Final Thoughts
When you have an office-based workforce is easier to look around and see who is motivated and who isn’t. It’s also easier to manage incentive packages. But it’s arguably more important to motivate employees when out of sight, so use some of the strategies discussed to keep your workers invested in the company and retain the best talent for your future business growth.
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