Although in general hybrid and remote working have been found to have significant benefits, there is still the danger of your workforce becoming disengaged. Buffer’s recent reports found that 15% of people struggled with distractions at home, 21% struggled with staying motivated and 17% found difficulties with communication and collaboration working from home. Regardless of whether you are hybrid or fully remote, building and maintaining consistent team engagement is integral to success. Here are our tips for keeping your remote team engaged at work…

1. Create a positive company culture

This seems like a big one to start with and yes, it’s much more of a longer-term and deeper-rooted solution - so although it’s not going to be an easy fix, it’s a vital one. It’s not something that can be easily condensed down but at the heart of it it’s about promoting a culture where people feel safe to be curious, safe to be unsure, safe to be ambitious and all the shades in between. This should be integral to your employer branding and mission statement, but it’s also important it’s not just all talk! Implement practical strategies (such as a shorter working week, wellbeing tools like Heka, employee recognition schemes, etc) and regularly check in to ensure all your team feel there is a constructive and supportive company culture. Once you have this nailed down, team engagement and motivation is bound to come more naturally, both in-office and remotely.

2. Check in frequently

‘Communication is key’ is a cheesy phrase - but it rings true. In-office you have the benefit of off-the-cuff chats, impromptu coffee breaks and general communication throughout the day; this isn’t the same on work from home days, so it’s important to simulate this in a way that feels healthy for everyone. Buffer found that 24% of people reported struggling with loneliness during remote work: this is something that you can actively combat with community engagement throughout the day. For instance here at ISL Talent, we work in ‘pods’ and on our WFH days we have a check-in video call at 9am to discuss our goals for the day. We also use our pod social channels to share our mini wins throughout the day to bolster and support each other even when we are apart. We personally use Teams as our platform but Slack and Zoom are both very good tools to maintain communication and engagement – take your pick!

3. Team building games

Whilst a lot of you might shudder at the phrase ‘Zoom quizzes’, don’t close the tab just yet! All kinds of online team building exercises and games can be super valuable in fostering a collaborative and engaged work environment even from people’s studies/living rooms/kitchen tables. This could include quizzes, online escape rooms, treasure hunts and more. It's about simulating a team environment where people feel connected, motivated and supported throughout the day even when not in the office.

4. Acknowledgement and appreciation

Just because you’re not in office doesn’t mean you can’t acknowledge the successes and accomplishments of your employees throughout the working day. This isn’t just a case of one-to-one praise, but celebrating wins these on public social channels (again, on Teams or Slack maybe).  This goes a long way to encouraging a celebratory and collaborative environment even when everyone is at home; and so hits those key pressure points of community engagement and cognitive engagement. A little recognition goes a long way!

5. Support your staff’s personal wellbeing

There’s plenty of arguments and statistics to suggest remote working is beneficial for wellbeing – just as there’s plenty of arguments that it may be detrimental in some ways. Either way, every company is different, and so is every team member. What matters is paying attention to what your team members are saying, being open to feedback and discussion, and keeping an eye out for signs of ‘isolation fatigue’. This could manifest as being reluctant to turn on their web camera, skipping meetings or any other retreat from active engagement. Have robust mental health support systems in place, and don’t shy away from talking about mental wellbeing in the workplace.

Obviously, all of these things are interconnected: it’s about taking a holistic approach to motivating your remote team. What this really all comes down to is community and communication. Once you’ve nurtured these two aspects, cognitive engagement is sure to follow – and then productivity – and then tangible results. 

If you have any questions or would like to have a chat about how to keep your remote team engaged, connect with our co-founder and CEO Alan Furley on LinkedIn or give us a call on 0117 428 0600.

Alternatively, download our free Retention Report for a broader insight into building and retaining great teams.