How to Boost Remote Employee Morale
Leading a remote team is very different from working with people in the office. Even so, many businesses today decide to take this step and hire at least some remote employees to join their team. If you want to join them, then you need to learn a new set of strategies and techniques to manage and motivate them, as well as boost their morale.
But first, let’s see why you need remote workers in the first place.
Why you need remote workers
Today, 16% of all companies worldwide are fully remote. Even those working in the office for a long time start looking forward to the opportunity to work from home. An SHRM research has shown that almost half of the workforce in the world would prefer to work remotely instead of in-office.
This is even more emphasized since the pandemic when most companies in the world had to change their way of work. It brought up the subject of flexible work in the world, and we’ve all seen the perks that come with hiring people outside the office.
Remote workers give you a wider reach in terms of talent, help you save a fortune, and are known to be much more productive because of the flexibility offered.
What to do to boost your remote team’s morale
Let’s say that you decided to hire some remote workers or already have people working for you from different locations. It is your task to make these people happy and boost their morale, but how do you do it when they are not in the office?
Let’s take a look at some amazing ways to boost employee morale in a remote workforce.
1. Optimize their corporate business travel
Business people today travel more than ever. They attend conferences, travel to set up contracts and meet potential investors, and even travel to socialize with their team for company meetups.
If you want to boost your team’s morale and keep them happy, you need smart corporate business travel tools like TravelPerk.
Arranging corporate travel can be a real hassle. Your team members will need to stick to a budget, spend endless hours looking for the best place to stay, the places to visit, not to mention handle last-minute changes and travel problems.
TravelPerk can handle everything for you. It will track expenses and send ready reports, provide you with actionable insights about your travel arrangements, and give you access to the largest inventory of trains, flights, hotels, and car rentals.
The average response time of the support at Travel Perk is 15 seconds, which means that your remote team’s questions and issues will be resolved really fast, at any time of the day or the night.
2. Offer them coworking spaces for more productive work
Many remote workers today use coworking spaces to do their jobs. These are great for networking, and they offer your team members the perfect environment to do their job well. Instead of working at home where they are surrounded by distractions, they can go to a place dedicated to work in their surrounding.
Check out coworking spaces tools like GetCroissant to find workspaces easily. Give your team access to this tool, and they can use it to get to the closest coworking location wherever they are. You can handle their membership as part of the benefits package, too.
3. Promote collaboration between your team members
When people work in the same office, they meet every day and communicate. They’ll form their own connections and work relationships. But, when your team works remotely, it is much harder for them to meet up and work together.
Collaboration is vital to good teamwork. This is why, if you want to boost your team’s morale and help them work more efficiently, you need to promote communication within your team.
Give your team the option to talk to other members. Use communication tools like Zoom for virtual meetings, organize happy hours on the Internet, and if possible, schedule some events that everyone can attend.
4. Recognize their work
If you want to boost a worker’s morale, you need to track their work and progress and recognize it. People will expect praise for their great work, and even some advice when they’re doing the job poorly.
It all starts with proper project management. Make sure you know who does what in your company and track their individual success. Based on their success, create a recognition program where you’ll reward your team for their hard work.
This doesn’t have to be big. It’s important to provide the person with the boost to show them that their efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. Send them a gift card, pay for their gym membership, book and pay for a dinner at a restaurant, etc.
What measures do you take to boost your remote workers’ morale?
Are you using such techniques to boost the morale of your remote workers? Or perhaps you are using something entirely different? Either way, motivating your remote team requires effort and work. Dedicate time to it - this will help you retain the best employees and attract the best talent on the market.
Nadica Metuleva is a freelance writer who’s passionate about creating quality, original content. She holds a Master’s degree in English teaching and a Bachelor’s degree in translation. With 7 years of experience in the freelance writing industry, Nadica has become proficient in creating content that captivates the audience, drives growth, and educates. You can find her on LinkedIn.