Remote work can be liberating, but it can also affect the work-life balance of employees and make them feel less connected to their coworkers. That can lead to a pretty bad work experience – and can even start to affect their productivity.
Want to know what you can do about it? Here are 4 practical ways to improve the work experience of you remote teams:
1. Foster a Sense of Community
If you want to keep your remote teams engaged and motivated, you should foster a sense of belonging in them. Set up communication channels for casual and informal conversation, schedule virtual get-togethers, and find ways to rope people into conversations.
Ultimately your goal should be to build a community where remote workers feel welcome, included, and heard.
2. Provide Flexibility and Trust
Trust your remote workers to get the job done and give them the flexibility to work at the hours that suit them best – as long as they show up when necessary for meetings or collaboration sessions. Be sure not to micromanage employees or try to force them into a rigid workflow that may not suit them.
If you want you can look into the best employee time tracking apps such as Controlio to let you keep tabs on how employees are spending their time without actively micromanaging them. It will let you know everything you need to about their work hours and app or web usage, communications, or other activities.
3. Support Employee Well-Being
The poor work-life balance and increased sense of isolation among remote workers can increase the risk of burnout. To avoid that, you need to support your employees well-being, encourage them to set boundaries and take regular breaks.
Going over the data from Controlio can help as it will let you identify employees who are overworking, not taking regular breaks, or show other signs of declining well-being such as reduced productivity. If you spot these signs early, you can check in on them and try to find ways to support them.
5. Invest in Employee Growth
Arguably the best way to show remote employees that they’re valued is to be willing to invest in their growth. There are a lot of ways to do this, including by providing training opportunities, pairing team members with mentors, and hosting virtual workshops where team members can share their skills.
Employee monitoring can help on this front by assisting in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each employee. Based on that you can tailor a training program that is focused on their needs.
Conclusion
Following these steps will help you to create an environment where remote workers feel more connected, empowered, valued, and cared for. All that will definitely improve their work experience, and give them the opportunity to thrive.
Always remember that improving the work experience of your remote teams isn’t just going to benefit them – in the long term, your business will benefit too from having more focused and invested employees.
