Remote working has become the new normal in this pandemic situation. Many sectors including IT and corporate functions have started working from home. This forced situation of working from home may soon become the stepping stone towards success for the booming gig economy. Today, remote working can be considered by the majority as a step against natural human behavior, but the perception is changing with new technological advancements and the increasing desire for work-life balance.   

A report by Deloitte reveals that around 75% of millennials opt for flexible work from home and remote working policies to boost their productivity. The millennials are forming the majority of the workforce, and they are not as loyal as their predecessors unless they work with a company that takes interest in their professional career and makes them feel valued. The war for talents has begun. The companies should adopt an excellent performance management system to retain the top talents in the industry.  

Adapting to the New Normal – Everyday Challenges and Needs  

Before participating in the war for talents, it is highly significant to battle the COVID-19 situation and ensures business continuity. Your employees are your weapons and trusted partners to overcome this difficult period. The first and foremost challenge the decision-makers would confront is: How to maintain the overall productivity of the company?  

The other challenges include the follows:  

1. No visibility of workforce that would lead to lower employee engagement level and team collaboration  
2. Ensuring daily attendance and completion of tasks to maintain productivity and ensure on-time completion of deliverables.   
3. Powerful technology in place for uninterrupted communication and tracking of performance.  
4. Providing the right guidance and direction to employees who feel lost and work in their own ways.  
5. Lack of face-to-face meetings can make employees lose their personal connection to their team. Effective communication involves 7% of words, 38% of tone of voice, and 55% of body language. Companies should think of different ways to make up for that lost 55% to maintain employee engagement and interest.  

HANDPICKED RELATED LINKS: 

• Performance Management in the Age of Remote Working 
• Changing Work Culture- a Paradigm Shift From Office to WHF 
• 6 Simple Tips to manage HR Challenges in (COVID-19 Effected) Remote Working 

Focusing on Employee Engagement can Perform Miracles  

Using collaboration tools such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom to conduct frequent one-on-one and team meetings can spare you many business difficulties. Engaging with your team, learning their hardships, providing solutions, and questioning about their work and everyday tasks build mutual trust and increase the morale of the team and an individual. In a nutshell, the following activities may make up for the lost 55% of body language.  

1. Set expectations from the onset  
2. 15 minutes everyday call  
3. Make employees accountable for their time  
4. Constant and continuous feedback   
5. Instant reward and recognition  
6. Ask for status updates  
7. Trust your employees  

Record continuous feedback using a digital solution to track and monitor the performance of an employee. It also reduces the recency effect during the performance appraisal process.  

You can also use the lockdown period to improve employee skill sets. For instance, Synergita organized a design thinking workshop for its employees to boost their creativity and the corporate way of thinking. Analyze and identify the skill gaps in your team and customize the development plans accordingly.   

Goal Setting Process for Increased Productivity  

The goal-setting process, if done properly, may increase the productivity of your remote workers rather than maintaining the productivity of last quarter. A study asserts that the goal-setting process can increase your productivity by 12 to 15%.  

The managers can set SMART goals that align with the organizational goals and have a meaningful discussion with the employees on how to approach and attain them. Besides, tracking and monitoring the progress of an employee help you to predict the results, make adjustments, and change goals. Thus, the probability of not achieving the outcomes would be very low and also, setting clear expectations makes employees work harder to achieve them as they are aware of the direction.  

E-communication – an essential feature of an efficacious management system  

E-communication is a centralized corporate communication tool that announces the organization’s decisions and progressive steps. The advanced filters to choose recipients make the tool one of a kind. For instance, if you, as an HR, like to send an email to the managers in a particular location, you can use the filters to choose the designation and location, the tool will get the information from the employee database and send it to the managers in the specified location. The powerful dashboard allows the HR personnel to learn the email engagement level of employees.  

Culture Score to Measure the Adherence level of Employees to Organization’s Core Values  

The employees’ adherence to the core values guard the company culture and set the company apart from its competitors even in this crisis hour. The core values, when reflected in the everyday work of remote workers, bring success to the company, guide the employees, and attract smart talents in the industry. Synergita’s mobile app helps the company to measure the culture score through multi-rater feedback on colleagues’ adherence levels.   

Conduct regular employee engagement surveys to know the engagement levels of employees and how they feel in this lockdown period. If possible, arrange online therapy sessions for them to cope with their changed lifestyle.