11 Ways to Keep Your Remote Team Engaged

Whether you’re new to managing a remote team or a seasoned professional, it’s important to keep employee engagement top-of-mind.

An engaged team is more productive. Not only that, but their work is better when they’re part of a team they love so it’s your job to foster those good feelings!

When working remotely, engagement can easily slip. However, the good news is that this post is here to guide you run a successful team.

Develop a Policy

The most important thing to do when running a new remote team is to develop a policy on what this team should look like and the standards that you plan to impose.

Keeping your team in the loop and adhering to a policy is the number one thing to do when it comes to keeping your team engaged.

Consider the Right Online Workplace

An online workplace has virtual offices and conference rooms where headshots of your employees show up when their online and in your virtual work environment. This lets you know when your employees are working and allows easy video chat communication by “stopping by” someone’s office.

Services like Abyx do all of the set up and training for you.

Prioritize Video Chat

When you have an important message to deliver and are worried an email may not accurately set the tone, video chats can help because they shed light on tone and social cues.

Consider having a daily video chat every morning to set the day up right and keep your employees excited about the projects they are working on.

Adopt Transparency

The state of the world is uncertain right now and you employees may be questioning their job security.

Whether it’s the state of the company or the workforce, be transparent as to where things are headed. Put your employees’ minds at ease and don’t leave things uncertain.

Even if it’s virtual, keep up with employee evaluations and ask your team for their input on how your team is operating—feedback always helps!

Define Goals

In a remote setting where employees are adapting to a new way of doing things, it’s a good idea to set definable and measurable goals.

This way your team knows what is expected of them and you can hold them accountable to these goals.

Enable Sharing

Allow your team to share and access all files to keep them in the loop and proactive concerning all projects.

Operating an online workplace will enable sharing super easily so if you decide to embrace this, shop around for the right platform.

Keep Promotions

Just because your team now works from home doesn’t mean you need to stop moving employees up the ladder.

Once you’re comfortable with your remote with your remote working program, implement employee reviews and promotions for those who are deserving.

Make Yourself Available

Keep those “office doors” open and be sure that your team knows that you welcome communication.

Whether they have a question or need input about a project, it’s super important for engagement levels for you to be available.

If they can’t talk to you, how do you expect your team to be engaged?

Prioritize Output Over Hours

While it may be tempting to have your employees clock in, it’s more productive to prioritize their quality and level of work over hours worked.

It’s good to allow your employees to have freedom like taking their dog for a walk or taking care of their children than making sure they’re working the normal 9-5 hours. Maybe a team member needs to watch their kids but makes up for by working over the weekend? Not feeling like they have to adhere to a strict schedule gives your employees the comfortability to work when they will do their best work.

Embrace Collaboration

Combat feelings of isolation by implementing teamwork where possible.

Consider assigning as many group projects as you can as this keeps your team accountable and engaged with other team members.

Keep Spirits Up With Perks

Just because you can’t bring donuts into the office doesn’t mean you can’t provide your employees with perks. Foster a happy work environment by ordering perks to your employees’ homes albeit snack foods or office supplies.

Employees who feel like they’re rewarded makes for more productive and passionate team members and result in good things for your brand.

What tips do you have for running a more engaged workforce? We would love to hear from you in the comments below!