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How To Keep Remote Workers Engaged

Remote work is more popular than ever, with companies like Uber, Zendesk, and Basecamp relying on it to deliver services to customers all over the world. But, with the advent of new technologies, the traditional model of offices is changing.

Remote workers face many challenges that the office-bound don’t. While the phone and internet are there to allow you to stay connected, you still have to be actively engaged if you want to achieve the best results for your business. While you can take regular breaks or go for a walk to clear your head, remote workers don’t have any of these options. They need to work smarter, not harder, to stay engaged.

Engaging employees can be an easy win, but it’s also something that many employers don’t do well. The best approach is to make it fun. For example, let employees know what’s going to happen before it happens. This has the added benefit of helping build morale early on because it’s clear that their work is valued.

Remote workers want to feel connected to their colleagues and engaged in their work, to the point of experiencing psychological and physical ailments if they aren’t. So, to keep remote workers engaged, here are a few tips:

Create a space for employees to share ideas

Making it easy for employees to share ideas is critical to creating a great work environment. Today, many companies are offering remote work opportunities, which are great for people who are always on the go or who want to make a long-distance career change. But, when remote workers are isolated in their own working spaces, it is difficult for them to collaborate with colleagues, creating a less-than-superior work environment.

Have a clear structure

Every team has a structure. A common problem with remote workers is that they are so busy, they have no time to complete any work they are assigned. This is a critical problem for any remote team. They are not sending out regular emails to keep everyone informed. Often, they are sending out emails that are not always relevant to what they are working on. They are trying to stay on top of everything, but they are working on multiple projects. A great way to engage your remote workers is to have a clear structure that provides a framework for working together.

Take time to encourage

On any given day, you may be working remotely, doing your best to maintain your professional work-life balance. You’re getting up early, spending time with friends and family, then getting to work. You’re practicing the five-minute break, sharing your successes with colleagues, and making sure to be present when you’re supposed to. And you’re doing your best to remember your colleagues by name, so you can personally let them know how well they’re doing, or how much you appreciate their contributions to the team.

Encourage communication within the company

Good communication is vital to team success, yet many remote workers struggle to make their voice heard. This is because they are not around an office or cubicle, and therefore do not have the same context as their colleagues. They may be unaware of the nuances of the work environment, and therefore struggle to understand what needs to be changed.

If you work with remote workers, you know how important it is to keep them engaged. Nothing makes them feel less connected to the team than being ignored by your coworkers, especially during the early stages of research, development, or marketing. Even if you are one of those remote workers, you will benefit from the insights you gain.

Find other ways to communicate other than email

Many of us work from home, from a coffee shop, from a beach, from anywhere. And when we do, we tend to communicate with our co-workers in the same way; through email. Which means, when it comes to handling all the other communication needs of remote workers, email is still an essential tool for the job. We’re all used to getting things done by email. But did you know that you can do the same thing by email, Slack, Facebook, or other social media?

There are two types of remote workers: the ones who like to stay in touch with their coworkers by video conferencing, and the ones who prefer to communicate through old-fashioned email. And while both techniques have their strengths and weaknesses, the best way to keep your remote workers engaged is to use each platform to its fullest potential.

Set up regular meetings

Set up regular meetings is a great way to make sure your remote workers are able to stay motivated and on-track. Find a regular time to meet and make a plan for your meeting. Let your remote workers know a week before the meeting that you will be sending an agenda to the group. Have the agenda ready before each meeting, and share it with your remote workers.

Set up regular activities

One of the jobs of a remote worker is to get them to participate in regular activities. Unfortunately, most remote workers lack the same schedule as their office counterparts. This can lead to a workplace that is disengaged and unfocused.

To keep remote workers engaged, follow a regular schedule for your team members. This can help you keep a regular presence and a regular schedule for your remote workers.

As a remote worker, you’re going to have to try to stay engaged in regard to your team members to keep them engaged in your project. By doing so, you’ll show that you’re dedicated to your project in addition to showing that you’re invested in them in general.

Regular activities are activities that are scheduled at regular intervals, whether it be lunch or a walk to the water cooler. It is important that these activities are scheduled in order to ensure that they are done on time, since without a regular schedule it is impossible to know when one is due.

Set up rewards and incentives

For employees that work remotely, it can be all too easy to get distracted by work email or by checking Facebook or Twitter. That’s why if you’ve got employees working remotely, it’s recommended that you set up rewards and incentives to make sure they stay on track.

But what do you reward them with? The best rewards are personal achievements, like completing all their tasks or earning a promotion, but it may be difficult to make sure they stay engaged if you don’t have their physical presence in the office. That’s why it’s a good idea to set up a reward system for those employees that work remotely.

Give feedback

Remote work is great in many ways, but it also means you are not in the same room with your team. This can result in a loss of morale, or a team that is not engaged with their work. To fix this, the team must give feedback in a timely manner, so that everyone is aware of what’s working and what’s not. This post will give you hacks to making remote work more engaging.

Have good communication

Communication is key to effective remote working. If you are working with remote workers, the more effectively you communicate with them, the more likely it is for them to be engaged in their work. To establish good communication, it’s important to make sure you are really listening to the people you are working with.

Schedule face time

When you work remotely, you miss out on the social interactions that are key to feeling connected to the office. The trick to making remote working worth your time is to make sure you make time to see your coworkers. Just like you, they want to feel connected to the team and the best way to do that is to schedule regular face time.

Provide reasonable goals

Remote workers can be tough to deal with. They don’t need as much support as people working in the office, but they do need to feel like there is a purpose to their day. One way to make this happen is to provide reasonable goals. Even if the goals are unrealistic, they provide an incentive for remote workers to keep working on their projects and to accomplish their goals.

Encourage them to work autonomously

A lot of remote workers don’t do their best work because they feel that they’re not doing enough. This is especially true for those working from home, often because they’re taking care of children or aging parents. If you’re a manager of a remote team, it’s important to know what to do to keep your team engaged and motivated. Part of this is encouraging work autonomy and getting your team the right tools to do what they do best.

Set up a communication tool

Remote working can be a very effective way to be more productive and it can also be a great tool for communication. With the right communication tool, you can collaborate with other remote workers and keep them engaged and focused, while you can also help them to get their work done.

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