Employee engagement is developing positive feelings about one’s workplace, such as happiness, satisfaction, and loyalty. Its significance multiplies immensely when dynamic trends at work are considered. Today’s employees seek more than a wage. They desire to be acknowledged, valued, and advance in their careers. If you can’t persuade them that your organization is enhancing their potential to be better, live better, and work better, they’ll almost certainly quit.

Employee engagement is critical for every firm, but it’s even more critical when most or a portion of its employees work remotely. Keeping remote employees engaged in their work requires an entirely different approach than dealing with in-office staff.

Here are some ways for retaining engaged and connected remote workers:

1. Conduct Town Hall Meetings Online

Planning virtual events for teams is an excellent way to keep your employees engaged. A town hall gathering is one way for leaders to engage with the rest of the organization, share company updates, and address pressing issues. The aim here is to keep things uncomplicated and straightforward. More importantly, make it simple for employees to join your firm. They should ideally only have to click a button, so investing in reliable video conferencing equipment is vital.

Begin with an icebreaker to stimulate everyone’s attention, recognize small achievements, and show gratitude to everyone for their participation. It’s critical to be brief and direct when speaking to avoid boring the audience. At its center is a question-and-answer session. Assure that employees may quickly report problems either verbally, or via email or chat.

2. Conduct Feedback Sessions

A one-on-one feedback session is a beautiful way to establish rapport and trust between you and your employees. This is crucial for remote employees who can’t attend company townhall meetings due to geographical or time constraints. Inadequate recognition is one of the reasons employees may consider quitting your company.

Do monthly one-on-one sessions with your remote workers through voice or video calls. You can rate them and recognize their achievements to the company here. Additionally, you can solicit feedback on how to improve the remote working experience and boost participation.

3. Virtually Recognize And Reward Your Employees

This particular method for virtual employee engagement will considerably boost remote workers’ satisfaction. Even while working remotely, employees must feel appreciated by their employer. Without further acknowledgment for their efforts, your remote labor is more likely to become detached and disengaged.

That said, make sure that your incentives and recognition programs continue. Virtually recognizing your colleagues might be as straightforward as expressing ‘thank you’ during video calls. Alternatively, during virtual meetings, allow the entire team to applaud when someone accomplishes an exceptional milestone.

Furthermore, you can select from a range of reward options compatible with remote access, including electronic gift cards, reward points, and more.

4. Take Virtual Coffee Breaks

Indeed, much can transpire throughout a cup of coffee!  When employees are at the office, they love conversing over a cup of coffee in a fun manner. However, working nonstop from home can result in extreme stress. After all, everyone deserves a break from time to time.

Thus, human resource managers can add virtual coffee breaks into the everyday routines of remote workers. Everyone can take a break simultaneously, view one another on the screen, and engage in fascinating conversations.

While this will aid in the maintenance of positive employee relationships, it’ll also function as a stress relief. These scheduled breaks will allow remote workers to decompress and increase team member happiness. They’ll replicate the sensations associated with employee-to-employee communication. Indeed, the innovation potential associated with these coffee breaks is considerable.

Every day can be devoted to a single topic of conversation. Alternatively, on days when an employee has free time, they can perform music for other employees. It’ll surely improve everyone’s enthusiasm for and devotion to work.

5. Take Immediate Mental Health Initiatives

Anyone can find it mentally challenging to work remotely. Anxiety and worry about current events may impair a person’s ability to work effectively. No work-from-home employee engagement activity will be practical until a remote employee is emotionally healthy. Maintaining a pleasant emotional state for your employees is a critical part of virtual employee engagement that can’t be overlooked.

Thus, it’s a must to ensure that distant staff are mentally fit to accomplish their assigned jobs without incident. Take the necessary steps to promote awareness about the critical nature of mental health, such as inviting a mental health advocate to do a company-wide presentation. Similarly, allow for mental health days and consider hiring an office counselor. Additionally, you can provide work-from-home employees with complimentary subscriptions to meditation apps.

6. Offer Workplace And Connectivity Perks

If you’ve been working remotely for a while, you’re definitely missing the comfortable and ergonomic environment of the office. There’s a reason why investing in appropriate work equipment, such as a work table and an ergonomic chair, is always a wise choice. If your employees haven’t received these benefits, you may add them as a one-time allowance in your corporate perks package.

Another type of perk you could provide is access to the Internet or other forms of connectivity. This is critical since their work would be impossible to carry out without Internet connectivity. 

7. Provide Programs For E-Mentoring

Career advancement, educational chances, and development possibilities contribute to an employee’s commitment to a company. Employees enjoy working for companies that offer significant opportunities for growth and development. These businesses have a high retention rate and a high degree of engagement. Some of the most successful firms have mentorship programs for their employees.

Employees would welcome the option to expand their skill sets while working remotely. Businesses can provide free learning opportunities and mentoring programs to enhance employee engagement using collaborative tools. It’ll result in a more skilled staff in the long run, which will benefit the firm. 

Takeaway

Remote work will undoubtedly increase in popularity in the coming years, making it more vital to understand how to manage and engage remote employees. Fortunately, there are various tactics for engaging remote employees—use these strategies to optimize the benefits of a remote workforce and keep your team happy, healthy, and productive throughout the year.

Mia Gilmore  is a business expert specializing in marketing, finance and team management. Mia is a California-based writer who likes traveling, reading books and going on hikes during her free time.