10 Ways to Keep Telecommuting Workforce Engaged

Telecommuting has become a necessity in this current situation of the ongoing pandemic- Covid-19. Thus, organizations across the world have made a sudden shift to adopting themselves to the culture of work from home. Among all these organizations, many are experiencing the remote working culture for the first time. As a result, the HR professionals are wondering about ways to keep the telecommuting workforce engaged.

To learn even more about managing remote teams and keeping employees working at home highly engaged, download our ebook now.

Download now

This article elucidates 10 ways through which the HR professionals can keep telecommuting employees engaged.

1. Beginning the day on a positive note with motivation.

Motivation is an elixir which nourishes employee engagement. Thus, HR professionals hold a great responsibility of keeping the employees motivated to work. This responsibility gets further heightened, when the same employees are working from home. This is because the employees may not feel motivated to work in the restful and comfortable environment of home. Under such circumstances, the HR professionals can instill a wave of motivation in the employees by beginning every day at work with inspiring messages, audio clips and videos. Furthermore, it depends on the HR professional whether he uses individual communicating platforms or group communicating platforms to address the employees.

2. Letting the employees create their own work-schedule. 

After having shifted to the remote working culture, it is also important to let the employees create their own work-schedule. This is because every household runs with a different kind of setting and thus, different employees may have a different set of hours during which they can work at the peak level of their productivity. Furthermore, flexible working is even more essential in the current period of pandemic. This is because many employees need to shoulder multiple responsibilities all at the same time such as handling the kids, taking care of the elderly and managing household chores. It is with the introduction of flexible working that the HR professionals can help the employees achieve a fine work-life balance and thus, succeed in keeping them engaged while telecommuting.

3. Keeping the employees involved through virtual meetings.

HR professionals are well aware about the importance of making the employees feel valued in keeping them engaged. Thus, they put their best efforts in making the employees feel important by involving them in decision making activities through meetings. No doubt, the current work from home setting has made it nearly impossible for the HR professionals to have real time meetings with the employees, but they can still keep the employees involved through virtual meetings. There are many online applications available on the internet, which offer the feature of conducting virtual meetings online such as GoToMeeting, FaceTime and ReadyTalk.

4. Instilling some fun with online group gaming. 

Making the employees play games together is an effective way to cultivate cordial relationships, enhanced trust and mutual understanding among them. All these factors together work wonders in promoting the employees’ engagement at work. In fact, HR professionals can continue making use of the fun gaming strategy, uninterrupted by the commencement of remote working culture, amidst Coronavirus outbreak, with the help of online group gaming. It just needs the HR professionals to create a list of some virtual games which can be played together on group video calls such as Pictionary, Word games and charades.

5. Investing in the employees through online training sessions.

As discussed earlier, making the employees’ feel valued is an effective way to keep them engaged. Investing in the employees’ professional growth is an influential way to make them feel admired. Thus, the HR professionals can offer online training programs to the employees and promote their sense of being treasured assets of the organization.

6. Taking charge to keep employee communications intact.

HR professionals leave no stone unturned in promoting cordial interactions between the employees. This is because the work culture of an organization is built upon the basis of the employees’ conduct with each other. When the employees possess a friendly demeanor, the work culture of an organization gradually blooms into a cordial one, and thus, the rate of employee engagement witnesses an increment. Further, the current state of remote working due to the pandemic, has introduced the HR professionals with the challenge of preventing the relationships between the employees from being disrupted. Under such circumstances, the HR professionals can keep the communications between the employees intact by initiating conversations in the office group. This will ultimately stimulate the employees to interact with each other.

7. Refraining from micromanagement.

Micromanagement may pose a threat to employee engagement in the current situation. This is because the global lockdown has made it really challenging for the employees to manage their work from home while having to handle their kids and household chores simultaneously. Thus, micromanaging at such times when the employees are already struggling to establish a fine work-life balance, may negatively impact their engrossment in work. Thus, it is advisable for the HR professionals to refrain from micromanaging the employees under the current situation.

8. Extending words of appreciation.

Appreciation is a constructive tool through which the HR professionals can keep the telecommuting employees working with their absolute engrossment in work. Amidst situations like that of the ongoing pandemic, which has left the employees struggling to shoulder both their household as well as work related responsibilities with perfection, appreciation becomes even more important. Therefore, the HR professionals should make it a point to appreciate the employees who are performing consistently well, even while handling multiple responsibilities at home. Moreover, by appreciating the deserving employees, the HR professionals can ignite a spirit to work even better, within the rest of the employees.

9. Having a supportive conduct.

The employees devote all their heart and soul in their work, only if they feel a sense of emotional connection with the organization. This implies that an emotional connection plays a significant role in the employees’ engagement at work. Being supportive of the employees is the best way to promote their emotional connect with the company. Further, it is even more essential for the HR professionals to be naturally soft and understanding towards the employees in this ongoing situation of the pandemic. Thus, if at times any employee is unable to complete his target for the day because of his heightened responsibilities, the HR should be considerate of his situation and refrain himself from being angry or harsh.

10. Holding virtual get- together through video calls.

As discussed earlier, cordial relationships among employees are necessary for promoting the employees’ engagement at work. Telecommuting amidst the global lockdown has acted as a big interruption in the employees’ regular interactions with each other and thus, resulted in increased responsibilities of the HR professionals towards keeping the employee relationships intact. Conducting virtual get- together on conference video calls is an efficacious way through which the HR professionals can strengthen the bond between the employees. It is advisable to avoid discussing professional matters in the get-together sessions as they will make these sessions appear more like meetings. Instead, the get-together time should be focused on promoting informal interactions between the employees.

To conclude, the HR professionals can successfully keep the telecommuting employees engaged by following the 10 effective ways which have been discussed above.

About Author: This article is written by a marketing team member at HR Cloud. HR Cloud is a leading provider of proven HR solutions, including recruiting, onboarding, employee communications & engagement, and rewards & recognition. Our user-friendly software  increases employee productivity, delivers time and cost savings, and minimizes compliance risk.

A New Way to Manage
Frontline Workers and Remote Teams

Start Free Trial