Are your employees happy and engaged? You cannot be certain in this remote working era as you do not see your employees in person or stop at their desks to ask, “Hey, how is it going?” Managers should conduct frequent check-ins to understand the concerns of the employees and take action on them. Most employees will just not be honest about the issues bothering them; in such cases, the managers cannot force them. But instead, if there are a few engaging activities in place to boost the productivity of the employees by understanding their general psychology, then the employees will feel happy and also valued. 

According to a Virgin Pulse survey, remote employees are more likely to be disengaged and quit their jobs due to their isolated work environments. This is because most Employees who are working from home today were accustomed to going to the office every day. So, this sudden mandatory change and prolonging isolation from their teams might turn them off. Besides that, companies like Twitter have made remote work permanent and other companies have extended work from home until 2021. Therefore, planning and executing policies that can keep the culture together and engage employees even in this remote working environment are necessary. 

One of the ways to engage employees is to have a strong reward and recognition program. The usual ideas for recognizing the efforts of employees will not work anymore. Therefore, here are a few appreciation ideas for you to motivate your remote workforce. 

Send Simple ‘Thank you’ Notes 

Little things go a long way in life. Imagine an employee, sitting at his/her desk and typing on his/her keyboard incessantly, receives a ‘mail alert!’ When the employee opens it, he/she sees the below image. 

How do you think that person feels? Certainly, the lips would be like an upward curve on the employee’s face. It would have hardly taken 10 minutes to complete the design and send it to the hard-working employee but would have a greater impact on the work of the high performer. Rewards and recognition need not always be extravagant rewards, even simple notes can make employees feel cherished and recognized. And the recognition should be done instantly, not after a month or a year. 

Why not Give Them a Desk and a Computer Chair? 

Show your employees that you care for their well-being. Many employees complain of back pain and neck pain because of bad postures. This will eventually deteriorate their health conditions. To prevent that, reward your employees with the required equipment for making it possible to ensure business continuity and also to make them work comfortably. This is a great gesture that would convey your good intentions directly to the employees.  

Recognize them Publicly 

When an employee exceeds your expectations, get on a video call with your entire team on Microsoft Teams or Skype, and appreciate the employee in front of everyone. Let other team members know about the specifics of the achievement and its contribution to the overall team’s objective. You could also honor the employees by showing presentations about the high performer’s work, monetary rewards, or something that the employee wants. 

Implement software where there is a public wall to recognize your employees and provide customized online awards. That would be super cool. 

Give Surprise Gift Cards or Discount Coupons 

This pandemic has created stress in employees’ minds. The employees are stuck in a war between family time and work time, where the employees have to take care of household chores, cooking, and also work. When the employee receives a gift card or discount offers for a restaurant, it would give them a break from cooking or they would buy stuff that makes them happy. Whichever it is, the employees will be satisfied withtheir company and the public image of the company will also increase. A gift card means that the employees are doing a great job enduring the obstacles. 

Long Weekends Sound Cool to Employees 

With every family member staying at home, especially children, long weekends would be a boon to the employees. Because long weekends mean more family time. Many companies like Amazon, Chargebee allow employees to take a Friday off in a month to spend more time with their families. This also helps to rejuvenate the employees, and they would start their work on the following Monday with fresh minds. An employee who has low-stress levels give much higher productivity than a stressed employee. So, Long weekends are not a loss to the company rather it is a strategy to motivate your workforce. 

Learning Opportunities is a Great Reward 

The workforce, in today’s day and age, looks for more learning and growth, not just salary. The high potential employees, no matter where they work from, try to excel in everything they do and even bring innovative ideas to thrive in this situation. Providing learning opportunities to those high potential employees helps them to improve their skills, and they would also feel cherished and put in more effort. But it is better to know what the employees need beforehand so that the rewards can be customized according to their needs.   

‘Best Employee of the Quarter’ or ‘Best Employee of the Month’ 

To motivate your employees, bring in awards and achievement certificates. The awards let your employees know that you recognize their efforts and you value them too. Arrange a special virtual meeting once in a month or a quarter, and recognize the employees or teams that outperformed the peers or other teams. This will motivate everyone to perform better and the overall productivity of the company will increase.  

These ways can keep your employees engaged for a long period of time. But remember, that human touch is very important to retain your employees. According to the data collected by Synergita, almost all human resources experts say that human connect is crucial to employee retention and engagement.  After the crisis gets over, plan to have team meetings once in a month even if you have adopted permanent work from home policy. Until then, have frequent video calls with your employees. 

Stay safe and healthy!