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TOP 10 WAYS TO ENGAGE AND REWARD REMOTE EMPLOYEES

December 18, 2020

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Working remotely or work-from-home (WFH) was deemed a privilege until it became a new normal. As a routine, WFH came with its share of benefits as well as disadvantages. While the productivity levels rose, the lack of social interaction, a sense of loneliness, and the diminished boundary between work and personal life emerged as new challenges. With noticeable lags in employee engagement and recognition in virtual workplaces, employees’ joy quotient has become a major concern. Therefore, employee happiness, which is directly related to individual productivity and company performance, has become more complex and demands a fresh approach.?

The term “reward” refers to various levels of recognition of staff emblematic, praise, token, monetary, etc.; and the “engagement” refers to constructive, real-time dialogues that allow employees to understand themselves as well as their peers in a better way. Today, we will deep dive into some of the tactics that can re-ignite employees’ passion for their company and team. 

Real-time recognition / Team lead to team member recognition: An instant pat on the back from seniors for a job well-done is the best motivation an employee can get. However, with virtual setups, this small act to boost employee motivation is a lost tradition. A quick virtual shout-out to appreciate an employee is a MUST. You can perform the same by sending an appreciation e-mail or doing a quick team video call. Different employees might have different engagement strategies that might work best, some might prefer a company wide email while others would prefer a one-on-one call from their supervisor. Tweaking Real time recognition depending on the need can boost employee morale and have ripple effect on employees appreciating work of peers.  

Monthly internal newsletters: To add some thrill among employees, companies can create a simple monthly e-newsletter directed at sharing some significant company developments, showcasing success stories, case studies and employee profiling along with some quizzes, puzzles, and personal interviews of an employee to attract engagementThe winners of the quiz, puzzles, etc., can be acknowledged by publishing their names and photos in following issue of the e-newsletter.?

Quarterly performance-based recognition: It is common for companies to perform quarterly audits and measure progress. Adding more thrill to it, companies can also identify top contributors for quarterly achievement and present e-certificates or spot bonuses to the top performers.?

A surprise day-off!?As the boundaries of work and personal life diminish, it is hard for professionals to find a refreshing escape. If your team has worked to achieve/complete a task with a deadline, you could announce a surprise day-off for the team to show appreciation. This welcome break during work from home period can also help in offsetting burnout or exhaustion.

Company value-based e-trophiesPositive work culture is intrinsic to a productive, happy workplace. Therefore, companies develop fundamental company values which they expect their employee to imbibe and live by. Based on soft qualities such as respect for others, customer orientation, etc., these attributes may be immeasurable but not invisible. Hence, you could opt for internal team votes to find out the winners who dominantly display company values. For effective encouragement, you can organize these e-wards on a half-yearly basis.?

Career-milestone appreciation: By acknowledging the association between an employee and the company is sure to make the employee feel special. Companies can present a special gift voucher to employees to celebrate their work anniversaries. One can also look at shorter milestones such as 1-month, 6-months completions and acknowledge the same by letting the employees know how well they contribute to the work.?These short-term appreciations can help instill a sense of belonging among the employees while remote working. 

Surprise door-step delivery on special occasions: In the era of social distancing, organizing large events is a risky venture. Instead, you can celebrate special company milestones such as Founder’s Day, industry acknowledgment (winning an award), etc, by sending goodies or health hampers, vouchers to employees. This small token can help reinstate the organizational culture among the widely spread employees

Ditching company tours for virtual motivating/entertaining?programs:?Team outings?and tours as a reward for employees’ dedication can be temporarily replaced with virtual events. For maximum engagement, provide a choice of events such as art-of-living, a session with stand-up-comedians, a motivational session with a life coach, etc. Organizing exclusive sessions per team based on their choice will allow members to interact, understand each other, and align them to making better team decisions overall.?

Appreciating the other talent of employees: Company events also allow employees to showcase their other talents. With the prevailing social distancing norm and virtual setups, companies can organize virtual talent appreciation. You can request employees to send across videos of their talent – singing, playing guitar, dancing, etc. and announce the winner’s basis vote system.

Organize a game-event: In the pre-pandemic era, Fridays were synonymous with fun at work. You can still claim the fun element of Friday by organizing virtual gaming-events such as Trivia Contest, Bingo, word-building etc. Depending on the employee interest area you could also organize high-energy multiplayer game tournaments with popular Computer or mobile games. This will allow the young workforce to come together to find the qualities of their peers beyond professional realms.?

This article was originally published on Kelly Services Blog


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