Author: Gabby Davis

Gabby Davis is the Lead Trainer for the US Division of the Customer Experience Team. She develops and implements processes and collaterals related to the client onboarding experience and guides clients across all tiers through the initial implementation of Engagedly as well as Mentoring Complete. She is passionate about delivering stellar client experiences and ensuring high adoption rates of the Engagedly product through engaging and impactful training and onboarding.

Goal Setting for Remote Employees: What Goes In

In today’s world, there is not much option when it comes to where people want to work from. If you wish to be safe, you have got to stay in and work from home. On the brighter side, technology has evolved to such an extent that you don’t feel the necessity to be present in an office space to be able to accomplish all the tasks that is in your kitty. Of course, there will be exceptions. But what about setting remote workforce goals?

Continue reading “Goal Setting for Remote Employees: What Goes In”

Employee Performance Review for Remote Employees

The thought of employee performance review and evaluation is often very painful for most employees. The process is tedious, complex and time-consuming in most cases, especially for remote workers. But, it does not necessarily need to be so.

The most important factor of a performance review is the performance analysis of an employee. If that is done right, the data can be used to improve employee output as well as in other decision-making processes. Things get slightly more complex when the employees are working remotely. While some traditional in-office methods can be used to evaluate remote employees, it’s best to streamline the process according to the situation.

Here are some tips to improve your employee performance review process for remote employees:

It’s the output that matters

If an employee is professionally dressed, comes in on time, pours over his or her system throughout the day, is that enough signs to show that he or she is working efficiently? How does that help when it comes to evaluating remote employees?

You can act like an obsessive boss and keep checking their login, logout details and the quantity of work, but does that really showcase productivity?

It does not. In all great companies, the focus is on the quality of work, the output, not the input. To be honest, in the current world affairs all businesses are focusing more on sustenance, not profit. So don’t push your employees to produce enormous work that does not really add value to the organization. Give them the peace of mind and the liberty to give in their best and produce great work. This is what will keep the company afloat through the COVID-19 crisis. It’s not the other way round.

Also read: Is Lack Of Employee Recognition Damaging To The Company?

Gather 360-degree feedback

An employee does not just work with their direct manager, they work with team members, other teams and departments, other managers and supervisors among others. So when you are evaluating remote employee performance, make sure you gather feedback from everyone else who is associated with them. That way you don’t have to rely only on your evaluation but gather more insight about their performance, their style of work, their coordination skills, and where their talent and skills can be best utilized. This is a great way to accurately review your remote employees’ performance.

Get them to Self-evaluate

A Harvard Business Review article says that an employee can be susceptible to two different traps when it comes to self-evaluation. One of them is, they tend to get overconfident (termed as the Overconfidence Effect) and set higher bars than they can possibly achieve. The second one is, they attribute their successes to talent and skill, overlooking the other environmental factors (termed as Fundamental Attribution Error).

So when you get your remote employees to review themselves, you can then compare what other employees think of them, how they see themselves and then compare those data to how you as their manager see them. That gives a wholesome view of each employee. Moreover, the employees also feel that their own perspectives matter. So giving them a chance to evaluate their own performance can also lead to employee engagement and drive them to access themselves better.

Provide valuable feedback consistently

Most employees are used to working in an office environment where they interact well and receive regular feedback. So when these employees start working from home, they might feel anxious in the face of prolonged silence and may start thinking up negative scenarios. As a manager it is important for you to keep providing them feedback often, and document it. That way they won’t feel disconnected from the work environment and would continue to perform stably. And you will be able to follow the pattern of their performances.

Also read: Why You Need A Real Time Performance Management Software

Have a sense of trust

It’s not easy to trust employees, even when you are working with them in an office environment, let alone when they are working remotely. But in the given situation, it’s something you would need to practice. Even if you are not able to see them in action, you need to trust them, unless you have evidence of them not working.

Evaluating remote employee performance efficiently is a significant element of consideration in the coming quarter. Given the world scenario, it’s important to get it right and make sure that your company and your people, both benefit from your employee performance review process.

Want to know how Engagedly can help you implement seamless performance reviews for your remote employees?

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How to Build and Sustain Company Culture in a Hybrid Work Environment?

Hybrid work environments create unique challenges and opportunities for building and sustaining company culture, but they don’t have to be impossible to navigate. The rise of remote and freelance work has changed the way we look at traditional Hybrid workplaces, but it’s not always easy to put those new ideas into practice. If you have clients all over the world, or if you outsource some of your own functions, creating an environment that values company culture can be challenging. With these tips on how to build and sustain company culture in a hybrid work environment, though, you can bring this approach into your day-to-day life as much as possible without sacrificing quality or productivity.

Not all work takes place in the office, but that doesn’t mean that a company culture can’t be fostered and sustained. With the right strategies, you can foster and maintain company culture even if your team doesn’t regularly meet in person.

Here are 10 ways to build and sustain company culture in Hybrid work culture.

1) Communicate and listen to your employees

No two employees are alike, so why would you treat them that way? So many companies end up treating their remote workers as second-class citizens who can’t be trusted with as much responsibility or leeway, but that’s simply not fair. Do your best to get acquainted with each employee on an individual level; when you do, you’ll find that they’re all working for your success. Your team members should feel like their ideas are welcomed, regardless of where they’re sitting. Keep lines of communication open between yourself and remote employees—good communication will boost morale and productivity.

When communicating from a distance, think about things from their perspective; what is it like for them? What can you do to make it easier for them? Then act accordingly! If you want a culture that promotes trust and growth, then embrace remote work. It takes effort, but it’s worth it in the long run.

It’s also important to remember that out of sight doesn’t mean out of mind. Although virtual teams don’t have to see each other every day, they still need some form of communication (like video calls) just to keep everyone connected. That said, keep meetings short and focused on goals; time together is valuable! A 30-minute weekly call is enough time for everyone to touch base and check-in with one another—if there’s more information sharing needed than usual (for example project updates), then schedule more frequent calls throughout the week or month instead.

2) Share Vision

If everyone is constantly looking at their own tasks or goals, then it’s impossible for your team members to see how they fit into your organization as a whole. So begin by making sure that each employee knows why they are part of your company’s vision. It should be evident from their daily activities what role they play within that bigger picture, but there’s nothing wrong with ensuring your employees know exactly how it all works. Provide examples: Show, don’t tell. Create situations where employees can experience working together towards common goals, with success being collectively achieved through individual efforts.

As you provide these opportunities, also highlight how much easier it is to work as a cohesive unit than it would be if everyone was doing their own thing. Shared Values: Once you have made sure that every member of your team understands why they are part of your organization, make sure they understand what values you expect them to carry out during their time with you. This will help them understand not only what makes up good work habits but also what makes up good character. Be consistent: As human beings, we crave consistency and routine so when there isn’t any we feel lost and out of place.

3) What type of culture do you want?

Start by creating a list of values that embodies what your organization stands for. It’s helpful to consider whether your company will have multiple offices or locations, as some cultures can be effective at one location but toxic at another. Also think about how you want employees and clients alike to feel: Are you looking for an innovative team that is forward-thinking? An environment where people are empowered? These are just some of many important things to consider when building culture—and it’s something that should evolve as your business changes.

If your business grows, it may need more structure, while if it shrinks, expect less. Make sure these factors are always included when thinking about what type of culture you want, no matter where you are or who joins your team. What behaviors do you want?

Having established a foundation of what kind of culture you’re looking for, it’s time to move on to behavioral expectations. This part is all about accountability. Once again, make sure there are clearly defined expectations around work ethic, collaboration and communication styles, customer service habits and decision-making processes. Many companies use personality assessments such as Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) tests with their teams so they can better understand how each person prefers to work. When individuals know how they fit into the big picture—as well as others on their team—they tend to feel more motivated because they understand their role within the group dynamic and its purpose within their overall mission statement.

4) Make sure there are clear rules

When you let your employees work remotely, it’s important to make sure they’re not just doing whatever they want. Establishing clear guidelines for working remotely will help prevent your team from becoming too distracted. If you’re working for a growing company, consider allowing employees to work remotely on Fridays or only when their performance is top-notch. Just be sure that you communicate rules clearly upfront so everyone understands what’s expected of them. Before your team members set their own hours, get clear agreements about who owns what duties and how people are expected to perform them (and monitor performance).

Remote work can lead to fuzzy boundaries between life and business—make sure everyone knows where these lines are drawn. The most successful remote workers have bosses who check in regularly with them via phone calls, video calls, email, etc. No matter how good at communication someone is, regular face time with your boss should be non-negotiable.

Set specific goals: If you’re thinking about hiring remote workers but don’t know exactly what kind of role you’d like to fill, set some specific goals before making any offers. For example: Do you need someone to provide customer support? Create a process by which your remote workers can share customer feedback and concerns with other employees if needed; make sure all feedback goes through one person who’s responsible for recording it all so that no customer gets lost in translation.

Define concrete processes: You may find yourself facing unique challenges when managing remote teams.

5) Give autonomy and freedom

The main feature of Hybrid work culture is that it combines remote workers with your on-site team. This means that you don’t need to micromanage your employees. Instead, you can trust them and their judgment. Offer freedom at work; let them work from home or abroad if they want to, and allow each employee to set his own working hours. Give them autonomy over how they do their jobs—as long as it gets done correctly!

Be open about what needs to be done: If you’re working remotely, there are no walls separating your employees from one another. They know exactly what everyone else is doing, which allows for open communication between them. This also helps break down barriers between departments and offices, making communication more effective overall. Encourage your employees to communicate openly by holding weekly meetings where everyone shares what they accomplished last week and what they plan on doing next week.

You could even use tools like Slack or Google Hangouts for these meetings so that all of your teams can participate simultaneously—and you won’t have to worry about scheduling conflicts because everyone will be available at once!

6) Foster Interdepartmental Communication

Because teams that work together do better work. In departments where managers are of similar rank, be open about your objectives for both sales and service, not just one or the other. Be transparent with each other’s metrics: Knowing your co-workers’ numbers gives you more opportunities to team up and cross-sell each other’s services.

Play friendly competitions against each other: Keep score on games like Quora (the question-and-answer platform) have fun but get you talking across departmental lines.

Start weekly interdepartmental lunches or social events: If you don’t know who people are outside of their cubicles, get to know them! It doesn’t matter if it’s lunch or happy hour, as long as you’re getting to know each other personally.

Celebrate company wins together: Don’t celebrate alone—celebrate together! Everyone wants to feel included when something good happens at work, so make sure everyone feels like they’re part of a winning team by celebrating big wins with company-wide parties and office celebrations.

Share best practices across departments: The best way to learn is from others’ mistakes—so share those lessons learned by publishing success stories from different departments on your internal intranet or sending out an email newsletter highlighting what worked well in different areas of your business. These are some shot steps to building a hybrid work culture.

7) Encourage everyone’s participation

There is no one right way to do hybrid work. How you run your project management software or remote teams may vary from person to person, but one thing that should remain consistent is an open-door policy. Give team members all of your contact information and encourage them to ask questions, share feedback, and discuss problems—whatever it takes. If there’s ever a discrepancy or concern within your team regarding something as simple as email etiquette or communication methods, take time on that issue immediately with everyone who’s involved (both in-person and remote) so it doesn’t snowball into bigger issues later on.

At its core, creating a company culture in a Hybrid work culture means encouraging participation from every single member of your team. Without participation, you can’t foster teamwork; without teamwork, your business will fail. Period.

Communicating clearly and regularly is key to establishing trust among co-workers (and clients). Set up weekly video calls with all employees to keep lines of communication open, regardless of location or role within the organization; even more frequent phone calls are encouraged if they make sense for each individual team member’s situation.

8) Support your employees’ growth

As workforces transition from traditional, in-office jobs to more flexible, remote ones, it’s important that managers continue to support their team members’ growth. This is especially true for employees who aren’t necessarily sitting across from you or working out of your company’s office. You’ll want to communicate with employees frequently and check in on their progress with ongoing conversations about both their career goals and how you can help them reach those goals. Even if you’re managing your team virtually or partially remotely, there are still plenty of ways for you as a manager to learn about your team members’ skill sets and how they operate within your organization.

Keep an eye out for these signs that indicate your employees need some additional guidance: They don’t have many opportunities coming up at work. Your virtual workers may not be getting enough assignments because you’re not giving them opportunities to demonstrate their skill set. While it might seem like assigning tasks will take too much time away from your other responsibilities, consider delegating more often so each employee has something new to do every week (or even every day).

They get stuck on one project and have trouble. If an employee seems stuck on one project and isn’t able to move forward with anything else, ask what’s going on.

Also read: HOW PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE HELPS IN EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT

9) Develop leaders inside your company

By placing perks on offer for employees, you can attract talent that matches your corporate culture and make sure you’re picking up folks who will stick around. We all know traditional perks like free food are a great place to start, but there’s no reason your non-traditional benefits have to be any less enticing. For example, one of our client companies is using membership badges at select fitness centers as employee perks, while another has put together an intramural softball league. A player’s lounge stocked with games like ping-pong or pool isn’t just fun—it also gives workers space away from their desks that they might not otherwise use if it weren’t available. These types of amenities give new hires something to look forward to and keep current employees happy. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.

Besides perks like these, consider implementing other company culture-building initiatives into your hiring process. You could try interviewing applicants via video chat, having them complete a project instead of writing a cover letter, or asking them to submit samples of previous work. Doing so will allow you to determine how well candidates would fit into your office environment before bringing them on board full time.

If you aren’t already doing so, take some time to map out what your company culture looks like today and where it needs improvement before drawing up goals for its future state. Note both tangible things (like office layout) and intangible aspects (like attitudes). Then build hiring strategies based on those findings so you can recruit people who align with those goals.

10) Use perks that fit your brand

Whether your team is entirely remote or you have some coworkers who work from home, it’s hard to define what your company culture looks like. Since you’re not all in one place, there are new opportunities for keeping your workforce happy. Instead of offering fun food options for workers who come into the office (it’s easy enough for remote workers to just bring their own), consider offering an employee discount on healthy food items instead. Or, when it comes time for your annual company retreat, don’t make everyone fly somewhere—invite them (remotely) to dinner at a local restaurant instead.

These perks can help people feel more connected with one another while giving you brand visibility that doesn’t cost as much as travel or fancy snacks would. You could even save money by asking your employees to share their favorite restaurants. This makes it easy for everyone involved and helps spread awareness about your business as well.

When thinking about how to build and sustain company culture in Hybrid work culture, keep in mind that building connections between coworkers aren’t always based on physical proximity. By offering incentives that encourage teamwork rather than those based around location, you can build up goodwill among employees no matter where they live or how they get things done during off-hours. These were the 10 ways how to build and Sustain Company Culture in a Hybrid Work Environment.

Want to know how Engagedly can help you mange your hybrid employees better? Request us for a demo.

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6 Ways to Effectively Manage Your Remote Talents

Managing remote teams poses many challenges, not the least of which is the constant need to get people together and ensure that everyone’s working on the right tasks. The problem is exacerbated by time zone differences, which can make it a real challenge to keep remote teams productive and on schedule.

While the road ahead of you may be tricky, it’s not entirely impossible to manage your remote talents effectively. Below, we’ve rounded up some of the best tips to keep your team efficient and on track.

1. Set Clear Expectations

It’s important to set clear expectations when working with a remote team. You’ll want to map out exactly what each member’s role entails, from their goals and job descriptions to their weekly responsibilities.

Additionally, you’ll want to let them know what’s expected of them and how much time they’ll have to accomplish specific tasks. It’s also important that you respect the roles that each person is playing in the process and don’t overload an individual team member. Working as a cohesive unit is vital for success when managing your remote talents.

2. When it’s Time to Meet, Meet

Whether it’s for your virtual corporate events or a weekly huddle, it’s essential that team members from both sides maintain a healthy level of communication and regular meetings. This will make sure that everyone is on the same page, which is essential for ensuring that everyone’s on task and productive at all times.

You’ll also want to schedule meetings with your remote team members when you’re in different time zones so they can communicate effectively.

For example, if your employees are clustered around the East Coast, consider scheduling a meeting to have everyone in sync with one another. If your team members are scattered across time zones, consider holding a weekly huddle to ensure that everyone knows how their job is progressing.

A good rule of thumb is to keep your team well-versed in virtual meeting etiquette. Some of them may not be as seasoned as others when it comes to working remotely, so it’s important to remember that there may be a learning curve for other members of your team.

3. Successful Teams Need Nice Things!

If you’re working with a remote team, it’s important to keep an eye on the morale of your group. You should never fall victim to the trap of assuming that your employees are motivated solely by money. As a matter of fact, people are often motivated by more intangible things, like recognition and encouragement.

In order to keep your team members happy, it’s important that you give them positive reinforcement and helpful feedback. Let them know how their work is directly contributing to the success of the company. You should also be on the lookout for opportunities to reward them for their efforts and hard work.

4. Cultivate a Culture for Growth

It’s important to make sure you nourish your team’s well of knowledge. To do so, you’ll want to foster an environment of learning and development.

For example, you should think about compiling a library of resources to help them stay up-to-date on relevant trends and techniques. Another way you could go about it is by offering your team members mentoring programs to help them sharpen their skill set.

In addition to cultivating that culture of growth, it’s also important that you allocate time for your employees to collaborate together. Encourage them to bounce ideas off one another, swap tips and tricks, and so on.

5. Be Organized, But Flexible

One of the biggest challenges with remote teams is knowing where everyone stands. To make sure you can keep a close eye on everyone’s tasks, it’s important that you create a system that works for you and your team.

This could be as easy as creating an organizational chart or weekly calendar. The goal is to have a clear picture of what everyone is supposed to be doing and when they should be doing it.

One way you can do this is by making sure you have performance management software in place. Here are a few tips you should keep in mind when looking into team management software:

You’ll want to make sure that your software works with all different types of devices so you can access your team members from anywhere, but you’ll also want to make sure it’s compatible with most standard operating systems.
It’s important that your software is flexible; this will allow you to add and remove members as they’re added or removed from the company. As a result, management software should allow you to quickly send out tasks and track their status so you can stay on top of everyone’s progress.
Make sure the software you choose has all the features and integrations you need. This will ensure that you can enable your team members to work from anywhere and collaborate easily.

Also read: Top 10 Performance Management Software To Use In 2022

On the flip side, it’s important that you allow yourself and your team members to be flexible when necessary. Remote teams can easily fall into the trap of over-planning, so it’s important that you allow some flexibility when it comes to assigning tasks. That way, you can avoid any unnecessary roadblocks and keep your team members on task while they work.

6. Emphasize Communication

Remote teams won’t flourish without proper communication. Since you won’t meet in the office every day, you’ll want to collaborate by email and through instant messaging if possible. As a result, you’ll want to establish a consistent communication channel that’s inclusive of everyone.

One of the best ways to ensure this is by having a chat board at your disposal. This way, you can have all members post questions and feedback on their screens as soon as they log in. This helps keep communication between members open and fair between them; it also helps prevent any misunderstandings or miscommunication that could lead to problems later on down the road.

The Takeaway

Working with a remote team can be challenging at first. But if you have the right tools and procedures in place, it can be a positive experience for everyone. You’ll need to make sure that your employees know the ins and outs of working remotely. That way, they can do their jobs effectively while working at home or on the beach.

Learn how Engagedly can make your remote talent management easy by requesting a demo with us!

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Guest blog contribution by Chatty Garrate

Chatty is a freelance writer from Manila. She finds joy in inspiring and educating others through writing. That’s why aside from her job as a language evaluator for local and international students, she spends her leisure time writing about various topics, such as lifestyle, technology, and business.

Virtual Team Building: Making Virtual Teams Work

In the contemporary business world, a spectrum of paradigm shifts is transpiring with the ideation of a virtual work environment at the epicenter. Organizations are increasingly going remote or are embracing the culture of a hybrid workplace. In fact, even employees are more than happy to be a part of permanent remote working arrangements.

More than 95 percent of employees would prefer to work remotely for the rest of their careers. In fact, at present, more than 58 percent of Americans are working remotely as per Findstack. Moreover, Upwork concluded that by the end of 2028, 73 percent of corporate departments will have remote workers.

Also read: What Is A Performance Management System?

Clearly, the remote working culture is thriving at a prompt pace and it would not be incorrect to say that the future is virtual. However, to ensure that your organization’s remote working or hybrid culture succeeds, you ought to focus on some critical parameters. Needless to say, in this revamped corporate world, there are new critical factors of business success to deliver on.

Among these determinants of high-performing remote work environments, virtual team building is something you cannot ignore as an employer. After all, an organization’s growth and advancement would always have a direct correlation to workplace relationships. Having said that, it becomes essential for every remote or hybrid company to invest in virtual team building.

In this thoughtful blog, we look at some distinguished strategies that can optimize team building in a virtual work environment. So, let us get started without further delay.

1. Make room for candid virtual conversations

If we look at the major challenges faced by remote workers, the lack of personal connections is one of them. In a virtual work environment, interpersonal connections take a back seat and virtual interactions become all about work. So, why not promote greater interpersonal connections in the virtual space?

Your employees will have greater motivation when they feel strong connections with their colleagues. Moreover, there would be greater trust and comfort between them when they have some candid virtual discussions. As a matter of fact, casual discussions in a virtual work environment will help employees overcome communication barriers.

To explain, as per SalesForce, inaccuracy in communication is the primary reason for project failures as per 86 percent of corporate people. Therefore, there is a need for stronger interpersonal connections among teams to promote prerequisite collaboration.

In this context, virtual coffee breaks, virtual movie nights, and virtual celebrations on special occasions can help in bridging the gap in interpersonal connections. Your employees will definitely bond well if they have the space to improve their relationships in the virtual environment.

Those candid, humorous, and intriguing conversations about anything and everything will help them deepen the bonds. As a direct outcome of that, you will see the team collaboration improve dramatically.

Also read: Crucial Conversations: Strengthen Relationships & Contribute Better

2. Engaging virtual onboarding

So glorious is the saga of technological advancements that even onboarding has gone virtual. It’s amazing how remote work is helping the corporate world overcome geographical constraints. For instance, a company based out of Chicago can virtually hire a web developer in Tokyo and that is amazing.

However, any new employee coming into an organization remains nervous and reluctant at first. In due course of time, they begin to blend into the team environment while having meals together and in-person interactions with teammates. However, that is not going to happen in a virtual work environment in the absence of in-person communication.

So, to ensure that your new virtual hires feel a sense of belonging in a virtual environment, the onboarding process has to be more welcoming and engaging. A great way to do that would be to bring in more personalization in the whole process of onboarding. For instance, you can send a personalized mail welcoming your new employees and enquiring about their well-being.

Furthermore, the HR department should introduce every recruit to each of their team members individually. Even a five-minute conversation with each team member will give newcomers a great head start to build great relations in the future.

Besides, it is interesting to pay heed to the fact that great onboarding experiences can boost employee retention by a whopping 82 percent. This vital inference from the research carried out by Brandon Hall Group makes an even stronger case for engaging onboarding policies.

Again, a virtual coffee break can be conducted to welcome new employees on their first day. Besides, such welcoming onboarding will also have a great impact on the confidence and motivation of the new employee.

3. Gamify employee training

What could be better than your employees in fostering great relationships on the sidelines of gamified learning experiences? In fact, gamified training modules are gaining great traction in the corporate world. You would be amused to know that the corporate sector is the largest consumer of gamified learning solutions.

If we look at it statistically, the market size of gamified learning solutions is anticipated to reach USD 30.7 billion by the end of 2025 as per MarketsandMarkets. Now, if we look at it in the context of corporate training, 80 percent of American employees find gamification far more engaging. Also, as per FinancesOnline, gamified learning solutions have been successful in driving engagement levels 60 percent higher than usual.

Having said that, in your virtual organization, gamification in employee training can be an incredible way to optimize team building and engagement. Besides, of course, the effectiveness of gamified learning in terms of employee development too will be priceless to your company. Higher engagement will definitely facilitate better team participation, collaboration, and learning outcomes.

4. Identify signs of workplace conflicts

In any kind of work environment, conflicts pose recurring threats to the overall organizational morale. Having said that, organizations need long-term strategies to resolve conflicts and hence sustain a positive work environment. Besides, when it comes to handling virtual teams, the top management needs to be extra cautious with handling conflicts.

This is for the simple reason that in a virtual work environment, there would be a lack of interpersonal communication. Hence, the scope of misunderstandings or signs of conflict would be more than that in a traditional office setup. You ought to be smart enough to pick signs of conflicts and address them before they begin to affect the team morale.

Moreover, you should look to win the trust of your employees such that they can report their issues to you without any hesitation. This is where you need to incorporate an open door policy in the workplace wherein you are accessible enough to your employees. Who says an open door policy cannot be a part of a remote working setup?

The key is to resolve team conflicts or interpersonal conflicts before it takes a toll on the entire organization. If you feel a certain development can be conflicting, you should address it with immediate effect. The greater your ability to handle team conflicts, the better will be the state of virtual team building.

5. Encourage cross-functional collaboration

The prowess and effectiveness of cross-functional teams are quite underrated in the corporate world. However, you will be amused to know that in accordance with Stanford research, efficient collaboration across cross-functional teams can optimize success in projects by 76 percent.

Moreover, cultivating a celebrated culture of cross-functional teams can also be a unique way to foster team building. To explain, when employees from different departments within the organization collaborate, through different webinar softwares like zoom, strong working relationships will be formed. Otherwise, in the absence of cross-functional teams, the idea of team building may remain limited to specific departments.

However, with cross-functional teams, you can extend the idea of team-building at a macro-level within the organization. There would be more open discussions beyond the limits of specific departments when you promote a culture of cross-functional teams. The outcomes in terms of virtual team building will be incredible.

At the same time, you also need to ensure that you support remote cross-functional teams with the best communication and project management tools. In a virtual environment, the efficiency of remote working tools will always have a great influence on the state of team building. Strategic communication holds an even greater significance in the virtual workplace. Make sure you are allocating your operating expenses to the most effective tools and software.

Also read: 5 Common Teamwork Challenges In Workplaces

A CRM software like EngageBay is another great way to improve interdepartmental efficiency, and by extension, boost sales. With all customer data located in a centralized database, all employees can access, view, and update customer information remotely—this eliminates confusion, improves efficiency, and paves the way for exceptional customer support.

6. Introduce reverse mentoring programs

Mentoring programs have become the talk of the corporate world. Business organizations are now introducing thoughtful mentoring programs to promote employee learning and development. Thanks to technology, mentoring programs are now being implemented even remotely in organizations working virtually. Mentoring programs provide a great opportunity for employees to add more value to their impressive resumes.

This is where reverse mentoring programs can be a great add-on to the league of mentoring programs keeping virtual team building in view. In these reverse mentoring programs, subordinates can mentor their superiors on new technologies, productivity tools, and skills of the new age.

To elaborate, it can surely be a great way to trigger greater employee engagement and bonding between virtual teams. Reverse mentoring programs will pave way for a greater sense of belonging among the young millennials and Gen Z talents that come into the workforce.

It could be a perfect icebreaker for young talents looking to blend into the work environment. When mentoring programs and reverse mentoring programs run parallel in the workplace, the engagement and virtues of team building will certainly scale to new heights. This explains how the likes of KPMG and General Electric have reaped great success via remote mentoring arrangements.

7. Bring D&I activities to the floor

The rising inclination of the corporate world towards diversity and inclusion is another paradigm trend of the ever-evolving business world. In fact, organizations are embracing remote and diverse cultures simultaneously. In a diverse remote workplace, the team-building activities need to be inclusive of D&I activities.

There is a wide spectrum of enticing virtual D&I activities to choose from that can make a significant difference in team building and employee engagement. These fun and engaging activities promoting diversity and inclusion will give a great boost to team building. To elaborate, they will facilitate better association between employees from diverse social or cultural backgrounds. Furthermore, they will help you create a positive and productive work culture.

As stated above, virtual team building in a diverse organization needs to go hand in hand with the celebration of diversity. Moreover, the greater the inclusion of every team member in the team environment, the more cordial will be the interpersonal relationships. D&I activities can be easily blended into a virtual work environment and can become a weekly affair.

To conclude, virtual team building has become an essential fundamental of the modern-day workplace where people are largely connected digitally. Having said that, organizations need to rethink their approach to team building and cultivating effective collaboration. In doing so, the above innovative strategies can prove to be exceptionally effective. It is time you change the status quo to keep pace with the proliferation of new changes in the corporate world.

Want to know how Engagedly can help you with effective virtual team building? Request for a demo with us!

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How to Develop and Sustain Employee Engagement in Remote Workplace

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic struck the world in 2019, remote work was becoming increasingly popular. More and more companies realized the benefits of decentralization as well as letting people work from home. But, like with anything else, remote work comes with its own problems, mainly disengagement. It’s very difficult to keep employees engaged from a distance, but it’s also extremely vital to do so.

In the absence of proper employee engagement, your employees will become demotivated and work less effectively. Many companies already struggle with maintaining workplace engagement, but it’s especially difficult in remote work situations. But don’t worry, we’ll guide you on how to maintain workplace engagement remotely.

What is employee engagement?

The first thing we need to tackle is understanding ‘What is employee engagement?’. The simple answer is employee engagement refers to your employee’s emotional engagement to your organization and goals. Essentially, employee engagement relates to the degree to which your employee is committed and connected to your organization.

Employee engagement is important for your business because it’s definitive in determining the success of your firm in today’s competitive environment. Highly engaged employees devote much greater time and energy towards their work and create better value for your organization. Ideally, you want all of your employees to be highly engaged individuals so that you derive maximum benefits from them.

Engagement vs Satisfaction

Some people confuse employee engagement for satisfaction; the two are not synonyms. Employee satisfaction is different from employee engagement. It refers to the extent an employee experiences a difference between what they expect and what they experience.

Employee satisfaction is also important, no doubt, but it’s very different from engagement. An engaged employee could be unsatisfied, and conversely, a satisfied employee could be unengaged.

Both employee engagement and satisfaction are subjective feelings. They often coexist, and they’re even connected to an extent. But the key difference is that employee engagement involves a relationship between you and your employee, but employee satisfaction does not.

In other words, employee engagement is dependent on the employee’s relationship with their organization. Employee satisfaction, conversely, does not depend on the employee’s relationship with their company.

Why you need both engagement and satisfaction?

Like we said, an employee does not need to be satisfied to be engaged, nor do they need to be engaged to be satisfied. You should approach each of these two feelings separately while understanding that both are important.

It’s very important to understand the difference between satisfaction and engagement, and especially to understand which feeling happens when. A satisfied employee will not necessarily have to invest a large amount of effort in their work. In fact, an employee could be satisfied while performing only the bare minimum.

As such, it’s not enough for your employees to be satisfied, but you also have to make sure that they’re engaged. When your employees are engaged, they’ll work better.

Qualities of engaged employees

Now that you’ve understood why employee engagement matters, and you are familiar with the difference between engagement and satisfaction, it’s time to talk about the qualities and benefits of engaged employees.

Takes initiative

Engaged employees seize the initiative. Because of their faith in their company and belief that they will be properly rewarded for their efforts, highly engaged employees will strive to achieve above and beyond what’s expected of them.

In contrast, disengaged employees will lose interest in their work. Because of their certain pessimism, disengaged employees will not want to devote any time or effort at all towards work.

Also, engaged employees are the most productive and able to improve and learn. Their certain optimism propels these employees to devote themselves to gaining new knowledge and learning more.

Whereas you’ll find that disengaged employees not only actively avoid learning new material or improving their skills, but over time, their existing skills grow weaker from lack of sharpening.

Effective Communication

Engaged employees are active communicators who enthusiastically share their opinions and contribute to workplace meetings and discussions to advance company interests.

Disengaged employees, on the other hand, will avoid every possible interaction they can with management and relegate themselves to a corner, away from everyone else.

Engaged employees will actively socialize with team members during working hours and build strong professional relationships with others.

Meanwhile, disengaged employees will treat their coworkers poorly, hardly communicate with them, and show complete disinterest in talking to others in the company.

Positive Attitude

A positive attitude is one of the best signs of an engaged worker and one of the greatest benefits of employee engagement. Having a positive attitude allows workers to invest far more energy and enthusiasm into their work, generating greater returns for your company. A positive attitude by a single employee also contributes to an overall improvement in the company morale.

Conversely, a chronic negative attitude is one of the most telltale signs of a disengaged employee. Disengaged employees will develop a pessimistic outlook on work and view it as little more than a ‘necessary evil.’ When employees think in such a cynical manner, they’re far less likely to actively invest themselves in their work. Pessimistic attitudes by a single employee also damage company morale.

Productivity oriented

Because of their positive outlook on life, engaged employees will devote substantial time and energy towards improving their productivity. Engaged employees fully believe that focusing on their productivity is one of the most critical aspects of their profession and that productivity improvements translate to real-world benefits.

Disengaged employees will care little, if at all, about their productivity. Their bleak outlook on work convinces them that they will not benefit no matter how much time and effort they invest in their productivity. As such, disengaged employees will actively lose their productive abilities, and their productivity will decline over time.

What drives employee engagement?

Employee engagement is built upon a foundation of trust, opportunity, and consistent performance. Building employee engagement requires a substantial emotional and resource investment by management.

Manager Employee Relationship

Manager-employee relations is the dominant contributor to employee engagement levels. Your employees need to have a good relationship with management, which entails being given appropriate treatment and sufficient opportunity to address their concerns. Therefore, you need to prioritize developing good relationships between employees and management that are based on mutual respect and understanding.

Intrinsic Motivation

Every individual has a level of internal or ‘intrinsic’ motivation that they derive from their personalities and ambitions. Each of your employees has an intrinsic motivation that affects their engagement levels.

You need to understand that you cannot always change an employee’s engagement level by as much as you want. Some employees will react better to attempts to foster engagement than others because they’re just more internally motivated.

Leadership

Leadership is an invaluable component of encouraging employee engagement, since employees often receive inspiration from their leaders. Good leadership offers employees hope for future improvements in addition to increased confidence in the company’s overall direction.

Charismatic leadership can also do much to inspire and encourage employees, raising their morale and helping them stay engaged with the company.

Performance Management

Performance management is an aspect of management that involves measuring an employee’s performance over time. Effective employee management can raise employee engagement levels markedly since performance management allows employees to understand their position in the company better and develop the perspective they need to improve themselves.

Building and Sustaining Employee engagement For remote

Unsurprisingly, maintaining employee engagement in remote working arrangements has become increasingly difficult for managers across the world. The loss of social interaction and organized workflow caused by remote work makes it especially difficult to maintain engagement.

That being said, it’s not impossible to build a highly engaging remote work environment by following these steps:

Monitor Workload

Employees with excessive workloads are the most susceptible to disengagement. As such, have your managers place a special emphasis on monitoring workload levels to make sure no employees are overburdened. It’s also important to be sure no employees are under-burdened as well, since it can lead to dissatisfaction with the workplace.

Have a Consistent Meeting Schedule

Having routine work meetings can be difficult in a remote working scenario. But it’s especially vital to have routine meetings with remote employees. These meetings are a valuable way for management and employees to communicate with one another and the employer and the organization.

Make Sure Your Employees Connect

In remote work scenarios, people are far less likely to know or bond with one another. You need to correct this by encouraging all your employees to speak with one another and providing your team with time to acquaint themselves. Having positive professional relationships with their coworkers is one of the best ways for employees to develop positive engagement with their companies.

Reward Efficiency

Sometimes, the best way to encourage workplace engagement is to provide practical benefits and incentives. Occasionally rewarding the most engaged employees with bonuses or benefits is one of the most effective ways to boost their productivity and showcase to other employees that the best way to improve their office standing is to become more engaged.

Cultivate a Healthy Remote Work Culture

Workplace culture has a dominating effect on people engagement at work. As such, you need to make sure your remote workplace culture is positively oriented and can provide your employees with the most positive reinforcement.

Your employees need a work culture that positively stimulates them, convinces them of future prospects, and emphasizes the positive aspects of remote work for this company. You want to create a work environment where employees actively want to retain their position with you.

Identify Technology Needs

Using productivity and communication tools is vital for any remote working arrangement. One of the best ways to take advantage of that fact for employee engagement is to purposefully use those applications that your employees support and give positive feedback to.

Consistently speak to your employees about how they feel about their current tech arrangements and whether or not they need any support. Employee engagement will rise when employees see that organization gives importance to their opinions.

Conclusion

In conclusion, maintaining people engagement at work is vital if you want to maintain workplace productivity. Engaged employees produce the best results, but engaging employees in remote working scenarios is not easy. Generally speaking, the best way to improve remote workplace engagement is to increase communication, monitor employee performance, actively take employee feedback, and carefully monitor employee performance. It will prevent employees from taking stress and overburdening themselves.

How To Build A Successful Upskilling and Reskilling Program

If you have been keeping your ear to the ground, upskilling and reskilling have been the buzzwords of the HR industry for a long time now. But with the pandemic changing the way everyone works, it has become a prime focus for organizations to keep the workforce agile.

This article is a part of our two-part blog series. In our previous article, we stressed on the importance of upskilling and reskilling your employees. In this article, we will guide you on how to do so efficiently.

Career Pathing And Skill Gap Analysis

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HR leaders and managers often end up creating complicated and disconnected upskilling and reskilling strategies for their employees. They are mostly based on business needs, and employees are rarely involved in the process. As a result, it fails to align with employees’ personal and professional goals. Ultimately, such initiatives feel forced and tend to disengage the employees.

Skill Gap Analysis helps organizations to map the skill inventory with business needs and goals. They are able to bridge the gap between the desired and current skills of the workforce and plan for the future. It helps in identifying knowledge and skills missing from the workforce. Career pathing, on the other hand, is the process by which employees chart their career progression and development within the organization. It requires a sound understanding of one’s own skills, goals, competencies, knowledge, personal characteristics, and experience.

Also Read: Giving Constructive Feedback To Peers

A proper understanding of skill gap analysis and career pathing of employees helps in designing effective upskilling and reskilling strategies. When organizations align skill training with an employee’s career path, they are more engaged and satisfied working at the organization.

Shortlist The Eligible Employees

This is one of the most difficult tasks in an upskilling and reskilling initiative. After career pathing and skill gap analysis are over, the next step involves short-listing the eligible employees. It requires thoroughly understanding the skills of each employee and asking the following questions to self as an employer:

Is it going to be a department/organization-wide initiative or only for a selected few?
Will technology changes or other factors affect any department drastically that will require employee reskilling?
If it is for an employee, then what impact it will have on the employee’s current team?
Have I identified the critical skills of the employees?
How to utilize the secondary and tertiary skills of the employees?
Do the employee’s professional goals align with the business goals?
Will the cost of upskilling/reskilling be more than the cost of onboarding new hires?

It will give a clear vision and a better understanding of which employees to select for reskilling and upskilling initiatives.

Choose The Method

Source: rawpixel

Once the candidates have been shortlisted, the next step involves choosing the correct method for upskilling and reskilling your employees. Here are some common ways:

1) Learning and Development: It is one of the most common upskilling and reskilling initiatives adopted by organizations.

Give your employees access to online academies such as edX, Udemy, Coursera, etc. These online learning options are easily accessible from anywhere and anytime, thus making the process more flexible. It also gives them access to a wide variety of options to learn from.

Organize skill-specific trainings, workshops, seminars, etc., for your employees by industry-recognized experts. Currently, as everything is remote, virtual platforms such as Zoom and Google Meet can be utilized to conduct these events.

Also Read: 5 Tips For Building A Learning Culture In An Organization

2) Job Shadowing and Rotation: Job shadowing is a budget-friendly reskilling process in which an employee follows the day-to-day activities of an experienced employee. The new employee or the employee who wants to be reskilled follows and observes everything the experienced employee does. It helps employees to understand the daily tasks and take up a new position easily.

Job rotations are generally time bound and require employees to work in different departments of the organization. It helps them to understand how other departments function. And also, it gives them ideas on how to improve their own department. Job rotations improve employee retention as employees get more flexibility to change roles within the organization.

3) Mentoring: According to Forbes, 70% of Fortune 500 companies have a mentoring program in place.

Mentoring is an effective way for employees to connect with the seniors of the organization. Presence of a mentor in these uncertain times will be helpful for your employees. Mentoring will not only help them develop professionally but personally too. It also helps them to connect better with the senior leadership and the organization. Invest in mentoring software such as Mentoring Complete that uses their proprietary algorithm and a 3 step matching process to find the correct mentor-mentee match.

Also Read: 4 Leadership Skills To Improve In a Hybrid Work Environment

4) Form Learning Communities: Often, employees who are at a similar level or are from the same department show interest in learning the same new skills. It is a great opportunity for organizations to create peer learning platforms. Employees with similar interests can collaborate and learn together. It will give them a common platform to share learning content, guides, study materials, industry-related news, etc. Not only will it help them learn, but will also allow them to connect with others and stay engaged.

5) Digital & Soft Skills: Although this is not a method of upskilling or reskilling your employees, focussing on digital and soft skills is vital for all organizations.

When the pandemic hit, everything became remote and employees became completely technology dependent. Consequently, it is important for employees to stay continuously updated with the changes taking place in technology. As employers, train your employees on the latest software, tools, and applications that will help them work remotely efficiently. It will especially be helpful to the older generation of employees and bridge the digital gap.

Often organizations focus too much on hard skills or technical skills and tend to ignore the soft skills. Hard skills are important, but so are soft skills. Teamwork, communication, time management, leadership, etc. are some of the common soft skills which are required by employees in the long run.

Measure Success

Just upskilling and reskilling your employees is not the end. Measuring the success of the process is as important. Set up parameters and metrics to track success. Connect with your employees from time to time, learn how they are implementing their new skills and how it is helping them in their job roles. Conduct 360 degree feedback and employee surveys involving their managers and team members. It will give an accurate view of your employee’s performance. The reskilling and upskilling programs can be iterated accordingly.

Encourage Continuous Learning

Reskilling and upskilling is a continuous process and not a one-time process. Promote a culture of learning, growth, and development in the workplace. Employees should be enthusiastic about learning new skills and improve themselves. They should be excited about and eager to choose their own learning paths and development process. When employees are open to the process of learning, implementing reskilling and upskilling initiatives will become easy.

Want to know how Engagedly can help manage your employees better? Then request for a live demo!

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Upskilling and Reskilling : Prepare Employees For The Future

When the pandemic began 1.5 years back, organizations saw a rapid change in the way they functioned. Not only this, the skill gap which was prevalent because of technology, increased after COVID hit. It became a challenge for organizations and leaders to fill the ever-increasing skill gap accelerated by the pandemic. The solution comes with upskilling and reskilling your employees. With the volatile nature of business and rapidly changing economy, now is the right time for HR leaders and employers to start these initiatives. It will not only help them in bridging the skill gap, but also help them achieve higher retention rates.

Also Read: Employee Retention Strategy – How To Retain Top Talent?

What Is Upskilling and Reskilling?

Upskilling and reskilling, although used interchangeably, have completely different meanings and significance. Both are ways for businesses to help their employees grow in the organization and improve their skills.

Upskilling – Upskilling involves employees improvising on the existing skill sets that help them grow in the current role. It ultimately prepares them to take up greater responsibilities and move to more senior roles.
Reskilling – Reskilling refers to employees learning new skills to move to different job roles in the organization. This is mainly done in two scenarios:

i) When an employee wishes to learn new skill sets and transition to a new role in the organization.
ii) When an employer wishes to retain an existing employee and train them on new skills for a new role within the organization.

Also Read: The Top 8 Leadership Skills You Need In 2021

According to McKinsey, organizations that implemented reskilling programs were better able to address the skill gap created by technological advancement.

Skill Gap Analysis

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Skill Gap Analysis is a tool or process which helps in identifying and bridging the gap between the current skills and desired skills of the workforce. It helps employers and organizations to identify the training needs, uncover gaps, and help in succession planning, and career progression of employees. It serves as a tool for identifying individuals or teams suitable for upskilling and reskilling according to changing business needs.

Benefits of Upskilling And Reskilling Your Employees

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Improves Employee Retention: Employees when see that their organization is invested in their career development and growth, they tend to stay with the organization for a longer period. It shows that employers and organizations care for their employees, which helps in retaining top talent and improves the overall retention rate.

Saves Costs: Hiring and training a new employee is costly! Getting a new hire onboard involves costs in terms of time and money. A study estimates that in the U.S. cost per hire is $4700, and takes about 42 days to fill a new position. Whenever an organization plans for a new hire, some of the costs involved is:

Advertising for a new role on job portals
Short-listing and interviewing candidates
Readjusting budget to meet new hire’s salary expectations
Waiting for the new hire’s term of employment to get over at the previous organization
Onboarding the new hire
Training them

Instead of hiring someone from outside the organization, upskilling and reskilling your own employees reduces the cost significantly. Although it involves the cost of training, it is much less than what goes into hiring someone new.

Also Read: Common Mistakes That Destroy Employee Engagement

Helps Bridge The Digital Gap: The new generation of workforce is tech-savvy and cognizant of all the changes taking place in the field of AI, analytics, digital marketing, cloud computing, and so on. Upskilling and reskilling opportunities will help the older generation of employees to adapt to digital technologies easily. It will not only make them technology cognizant, but will also help them perform their roles effectively.

Builds A Culture Of Learning: Upskilling and reskilling initiatives create a culture of continuous learning in the organization. Learning becomes an ongoing process for all the employees. Employees continuously learn and hone their skills to stay updated with the latest in-demand skills in the market.

Workforce Is Resilient: Upskilling and reskilling your workforce prepares them for the future. It helps them to adapt easily and makes them more resilient to market changes. In a tumultuous pandemic-stricken business market like this, a resilient workforce is what makes a business stronger.

Also Read: 5 Key Focus Areas For CEOs : The Post Pandemic Shift

Employees become more engaged: A continuous culture of upskilling and reskilling keeps employees engaged and motivated. They become satisfied and happy at work. It increases the efficiency and productivity of the employees and the organization.

Upskilling and reskilling have now become an integral part of organization strategy and the way to sustain businesses in the post-pandemic era. Have you identified your employees who are eligible for upskilling and reskilling yet?

(This article is part of our two-part blog series. Subscribe to our blog to get notified about ‘How To Build An Upskilling and Reskilling Program That Works?‘)

Want to know how Engagedly can help manage your employees better in the post-pandemic era? Then request for a live demo!

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Employee Recognition & Rewards: 4 Common Mistakes to Avoid For Remote Employees

When some or all of your team is working remotely, proper communication is critical. Managers need to keep remote workforces engaged and happy now more than ever. Having a plan to recognize and reward your outstanding employees makes sure they feel satisfied doing their job.

It takes more effort to be vocal about your praises or concerns in a remote setting than in a traditional face-to-face workspace . Whether your team is working from home temporarily or is from international time zones, managers must regularly acknowledge and recognize their work. OC Tanner conducted research that found 97% of employees who quit their jobs listed lack of appreciation as a major reason.

Here are some common mistakes to avoid in order to keep your employees happy!

Also Read: 5 Benefits of Investing in Employee Recognition Software

WAITING FOR REPORTING SESSION

DON’T WAIT until the next report to recognize employees when they do something outstanding. Call it out immediately. Avoid saving compliments to soften the blow of criticism, as keeping them separate is a better strategy. Be direct and specific about what you liked or how they helped. Not only will this help in making them feel recognized, it will reinforce these behaviors.

If a customer praises an employee or their work, pass it along immediately. Daily micro-recognitions can help create a work culture of support. If leaders hold a habit of immediate praise, it will spread to all levels of the organization and make a welcoming work environment. Familiarize your employees with peer-to-peer recognition so as to help achieve positive 360 degree feedback.

NOT BEING GENUINE

Employee recognition should be consistent, but not automated. A short and genuine “Thank You” email or text will be more impactful than an automated, cookie-cutter recognition email. If your praise feels forced or hollow, they won’t feel value in their work. A common mistake many managers make is they have generic rewards. Instead, employee rewards and recognition should be tailored appropriately.

Also Read: How to Support Mental Health of Your Remote Team

When you praise someone, specifically point out how they have improved. It’s also a good idea to praise them for personal achievements outside of work too. Without office small talk to mention personal praises, it is worth having a way to informally keep in touch with employees achievements. Congratulate your employees for buying their first home. Congratulate them on earning their MBA. Throw a virtual baby shower.

WHAT ARE VIRTUAL REWARDS?

Many managers don’t know how to reward their employees virtually. It was so easy in-person. You could just give them a gift card, or buy them lunch. While some of the traditional reward and recognition practices are not possible any more. But, you can still do a lot of those things with remote employees. You can email restaurant gift cards or movie ticket passes as small rewards for a good job. An Amazon digital gift card is a safe gift for anyone.

Lets not forget about Employee Appreciation day. Have a themed dress up day, or change your zoom background. Take advantage of the virtual setting and play games with everyone! Make a Kahoot with creative icebreakers for fun team bonding. Instead of a catered lunch, use a delivery service like Doordash, Grubhub, or Postmates to deliver a meal from a restaurant nearby straight to your employees home.

MEASURING ONLY PERFORMANCE

Many managers associate giving an employee reward and recognition when they hit a goal or milestone. There are a lot more behaviors that deserve recognition, such as effort, honesty, dependability, ambition, innovation, professionalism, or problem-solving skills. These qualities aren’t as easy to measure as tracking performance towards a specific goal. Especially in the remote workspace, managers need to take extra effort to recognize when an employee shows these values.

One important employee measurement to consider besides performance is time management. Time management can help you see what positions are overloaded or are underutilized. Goals for different team members will need to be adjusted based on who is and isn’t making deadlines. To be the most effective, tools like Asana, Trello, or Basecamp.

Talk to employees about more than just their results, but ask them about their overall process. Did they run into any problems? If they worked with other team members for a project, get feedback about how they worked together. It will take more investigation, but making sure virtual workers are recognized and rewarded for more than just hitting goals will make them feel more valued.

Want to know how Engagedly can make your remote employee recognition programs easy? Request for a demo from our experts.

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Know How To Make Remote Employee Check-Ins Effective

We are almost half-way through 2021, and in most countries employees are still working remotely. Remote working has become a norm in today’s world. Given the current scenario, it’s necessary that you have an effective employee check-in strategy in place. Essentially, employee performance check-ins are one-on-one conversations between managers and employees about their goals and objectives and their performance plans.

The check-ins help you gain an understanding of what your employees are working on and the issues they face from time to time. It will help you resolve it without having to wait for annual performance reviews.

Also Read: Tips To Manage Stress Of Remote Team

The basic process for conducting an employee performance check-in is that managers and employees typically meet for a few minutes and have a quick chat over the work that has been done over a particular period of time. Alternatively, it can also be carried out in the form of a structured questionnaire, which can then be followed up by a video chat. Effective managers use employee check-ins to gain insight into how their direct reports work, what works for them, and what needs to change. Employee check-ins require you immediately to acknowledge the issues addressed and act on them.

In this article, let’s find out about the best practices for employee check-ins. If you want to make the most of employee check-ins, there are a few areas you need to focus on.

Decide the Purpose

Always have a clear agenda for employee check-ins. Understand and communicate what is expected of your employees through these check-ins. Decide on their objectives and key results and agree on expected deliverables of your employees. Be clear and specific. The check-in form shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes for your employees to fill out.

Frequency Of The Check-Ins

It is important to have an employee check-in based on your organisational needs and business cycles. This frequency also depends on the department. For example, the engineering team might need an employee check-in every week because of the major weekly updates in the product, while the support team might need it once every two weeks. So depending on the performance cycles and the agendas of different teams, the frequency of employee check-ins also changes.

Give Them Feedback

Depending on the employee check-ins, managers understand and plan a few things about their employees. Give them feedback based on their check-ins on what behaviours they should continue to demonstrate and what behaviours should be modified so that they contribute to organisational success. Providing frequent feedback on this is vital.

Also Read: Importance of Continuous Feedback In The Post COVID Era

Employee Development Is The Priority

Track employee development and understand their areas of expertise. You can utilise this opportunity to understand where they need help and how as an organisation you can provide support for employee development. You can even encourage your employees to come up with an actionable plan for their development.

If you wish to know how we at Engagedly can help you manage your employees better, request for a demo.

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7 Video Conferencing Etiquettes For You To Follow

According to a recent research by Forbes, 80% of employees agree that video conferencing is the go-to method of communication among internal teams, and 84% agree that it is preferable over audio conferencing for communicating with external stakeholders.

With the transition that has happened over the past one and a half years, virtual meetings have become a common thing for all remote teams. From board meetings to Fun-Fridays, everything has gone virtual. Zoom, Skype, and Google Meet are some common tools on which we now spend hours collaborating with internal and external teams. Thus, video conferencing etiquettes have become important for the meetings to be professional and productive.

Here are seven common video conferencing etiquettes to follow.

1. Test Your Tech (Hardware & Software)

In this current era of remote working, almost everyone depends on technology for their day-to-day office work. The in-person all-hands and team meetings have transitioned to virtual remote meetings. Technical difficulties are a common occurrence. To make sure technical problems do not hinder your meetings, here are few things to check before you start:

Install the latest version of the videoconferencing software
Keep your conferencing tool open before the meeting starts, as most of the tools will throw a series of pop-ups asking for different accesses
Keep your laptop charged or keep the charger handy
Check your laptop camera and test your video recording software if needed.
Test if your microphone is working
If you are presenting, keep your presentation ready

2. Be On Time

Virtually or otherwise, it goes without saying that being on time for meetings is important. So, video calls are no less official than in-person meetings at the office. Be on time or rather be ready a few minutes before the meeting. Utilize the grace period, and as mentioned in the above point, check your tech before the meeting starts. This will ensure that you have a smooth meeting with no technical glitches. Not only this, once you miss the start of the meeting, it is difficult to understand the context. Moreover, when you walk in late to a video meeting, it disturbs everyone else present in it.

So being on time is one of the key aspects of virtual meetings. And it also shows that you value everyone’s time.

3. Mute yourself when not speaking

Working from home can be quite noisy at times with various background noises. Children playing in the other room, construction going on in the next lane, someone watching TV, kitchen noises, dogs barking, etc., are some common distractions. If you are not speaking, then get in the habit of muting yourself while on the call. It will prevent others on the call from hearing distracting background noises. Unmute yourself only when you are going to speak. If you are the speaker, then work on reducing or eliminating the background noises before the call starts.

Also mute any loud notifications on your device if you are the speaker of the video call.

4. Dress Appropriately (At Least Bottom Up)

The need to get ready for office has become a redundant concept now. With everyone working remotely, employees need not follow a dress code anymore and work anyhow they want. But the scenario is slightly different if you are taking part in a video call. Get ready for a video call in the same way as if you are meeting someone in person. Brush or comb your hair, wear an ironed shirt or polo T-shirt, and be as presentable as possible. You not only dress for yourself but for the colleagues and clients you are connecting with.

5. Don’t Miss The Eye Contact

In a video conferencing call, many of us do the blunder of looking at the video instead of the camera. While we will say it is not wrong, looking on the screen makes you look distracted and not attentive. Instead, practice looking at the camera while on a video call. Put the webcam lens at eye level and look into it while you speak. This will give others the impression that you are maintaining eye contact continuously while on the call. This helps you establish a connection with your meeting attendees.

6. Don’t Multitask and Be Attentive

Stop working on other things or multitasking when you are on a video conferencing call. You will not only miss out on important things but it is also rude to do so. In a video meeting, it is very easy to understand when you are engaged in the meeting and when you are distracted doing something else. Behave in the same way as you would do in an in-person conversation and keep your other tasks on hold till the meeting gets over.

7. Lighting

Lighting plays an important role in a video call. Too little light and you will appear dark, and with too much light you will appear unnaturally white. There should be an optimal amount of light in the area from where you do your video call. To check lighting conditions log in before time and check the camera settings and its lighting. Adjust it till your face appears clear, natural, and non-grainy.

Want to know how Engagedly can help you with Employee Engagement? Request for a live demo!

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How To Support Mental Health Of Your Remote Team

The World Health Organization estimates that the global economy loses 1 trillion dollars per year of productivity because of anxiety and depression. Contrary to this, they found EVERY DOLLAR spent on treating mental health issues; the return is FOUR TIMES improved productivity and health.

The above numbers are not surprising, and the impact of mental health is real. In 2019, that is two years back, none of us could have imagined working from home continuously. The shift to remote working was sudden. While many adjusted to the new norm, for others it was difficult. Consequently, they suffered from isolation, anxiety, depression, stress, screen fatigue, burnout, etc. Employee well-being and mental health are now a top priority for all organizations as it affects employee engagement, retention, and productivity.

6 Ways To Support Mental Health Of Your Remote Team

While in our previous articles we have highlighted the impact of work-life balance and a culture of appreciation on employees and their wellbeing. In this article we will focus on how organizations can support the mental health of their remote teams.

1. Leadership Support

Employee wellbeing initiatives cannot be effective without leaders actively supporting the cause. As leaders or managers, share your own struggles and stories of mental health issues. Make your employees feel it is ‘OK’ to speak about it. This will encourage your employees to speak up and reduce the stigma. Understanding how to support your employees’ well-being is important, but it’s just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to successfully managing a remote team. Remote leadership comes with other challenges as well, like understanding that your employees might have a harder time disconnecting from work, and that it’s not uncommon to feel lonely and isolated from colleagues.

Also Read: Leadership In Times Of Crisis : How To Lead Efficiently

2. Conduct Employee Training Sessions

In a survey by the U.S. National Comorbidity, 18% of employed individuals with ages between 15 to 54 experienced symptoms of mental health issues. Mental Health issues are not always easy to identify, unlike physical health issues. It’s difficult to identify the signs of anxiety, depression, isolation, burnout, stress, etc. easily. Often they go unnoticed. And as a result, your employee’s productivity goes spiralling down with no one knowing the actual reason behind it.

Also Read: How Performance Management Has Changed In 2021?

To prevent this, conduct virtual training sessions with your remote employees on mental health. With so many video conferencing tools such as FaceTime, Google Meet, Skype, and Zoom it should be easy to organize one. The key focus of these sessions should focus on identifying mental health issues and preventing stress and burnout. Onboard shrink or mental health experts with whom the employees can connect on a one-on-one session virtually.

This will help you create an engaged and a productive workforce who are cognizant of their mental wellbeing.

3. Communication & Check-In With Your Team Frequently

Communication is the key through any crisis! The amount of communication that an employee used to have with their colleagues reduced drastically, be it work-related or socializing. Not only this, but they are also in the constant fear of missing out on information from the organization. This has added to the stress and anxiety of the employees.

Communicate with your remote employees often. Have a one-on-one’s over a video call or just ping them on official chat to know their wellbeing and if they need help. With Engagedly’s inbuilt survey feature, create and assign simple surveys for your employees to measure employee engagement, employee motivation, and employee happiness quotient. Besides that, keep them in loop about organization-related information, policy changes or rule changes. As a manager, ensure that your employees have all the tools in hand for communication and collaboration to be seamless. Some common tools which they can have access to are:

Asana, Basecamp, and Trello for Project Management
Engagedly, Lattice, 15Five for real-time performance management, feedback, rewards, and goal setting
Slack, Google Meet, and Skype for communication and easy collaboration

Effectively communicating with your employees will not only reduce their stress and anxiety, but will also help them be more productive and engaged at work.

4. Benefits and Perks

Organizations often develop health policies that give importance to physical health and tend to ignore mental health issues. In the current scenario, where mental health has become a matter of concern for all, developing a holistic employee wellbeing policy is the need of the hour.

Establish and offer Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) to your employees. According to a poll by SHRM, 91% of organizations have EAP as a part of their employee benefits, but most of them go under-used. The aim of these programs is to find solutions to employee’s work-related or personal problems that might affect work and productivity. Let your employees know what EAP offers so that they can know the benefits and use them whenever necessary.

Also Read: 5 Employee Appreciation Ideas For Your Remote Team

5. Organize Virtual Team-Building Activities

The weekly ‘Fun-Fridays’, team lunches, water-cooler breaks or a casual chit-chat with colleagues is not possible anymore. But these casual or planned team-building activities are necessary to build a cohesive team. As a manager, plan team-building activities for your remote teams. Conduct quizzes, book clubs, trivia, virtual team lunches or ask your employees to share their childhood photos or workspace photos. Team-building activities help in generating a sense of trust among your employees and increase collaboration. Although connected digitally, they still get a sense of being in the office, and it helps them take their mind off from work. It also reduces the feeling of isolation and reduces stress and anxiety.

Encourage your employees to have virtual water-cooler breaks and meet with their peers.

6. Physical Wellbeing Of Remote Employees

While addressing mental health issues is important, it is necessary to pay attention to physical wellbeing too. We cannot undermine its impact on mental health. Working from home has altered our habits to a large extent. For many of us, we confined our workstations to beds or couches with little or no movement throughout the day. Further, the flexible working schedule has blurred the lines between personal and office time. As a result, it has resulted in untimely breaks, unnatural sleeping patterns, irregular eating habits, etc. This has resulted in obesity and fatigue. Companies can play a big part in making sure that their employees are physically fit. Some of those initiatives can be:

Setting up of an ergonomically friendly workspace
Organizing virtual yoga and exercise classes
Reimbursement for fitness equipments
Gamification for calories burnt
Encourage your employees to take breaks for physical workout

Also Read: 7 Common Goal Setting Mistakes Managers Should Avoid

Needless to say, the list of ways in which you can support your employees doesn’t end here. Organizations can come with their own ways to support employees. Do you have something else in mind? Let us know in the comments.

Want to know how Engagedly can help you manage your remote teams better? Then request for a live demo.

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3 Simple Tips To Manage Your Remote Team

Everyone has been working remotely for some time now, and it has become the new norm globally. While some managers and leaders got adjusted to the new ways of managing their remote workforce, some are still facing challenges.

Also Read: Tips To Manage Stress Of Your Remote Team

The most challenging part for managers is when it comes to tracking progress and reviewing their remote employees. And if it is the annual or half-yearly performance review season, the managers need to give effective and unbiased reviews.

Here are a few tips which could help review your remote employees better.

Know Your Employees

Knowing your remote employees and building trust with them is crucial. It is often underrated, but it cannot be ignored. While we understand it may not be humanly possible for managers with larger teams to know everyone personally, but where there is a will, there is a way.

One way to know your employees is by having frequent one on ones with them. Having a regular two-way regular conversation with your employees builds a sense of trust and respect. They are more comfortable talking about their work.

Also Read: Know How To Make Your Employee Feedback Work

Not only this, these conversations help managers to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the team members. It helps them to perform as a cohesive team, and set team and individual goals aligned to organizational goals.

Measure And Track Progress

When employees are working remotely or working from home, it is important to track their progress. It helps them stay focused, engaged and prevents them from falling back. The simplest way to do this is to set SMART goals for your employees. We at Engagedly use OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) to set our SMART goals. This approach is one of the most effective and popular approaches to goal setting. It allows everyone to set stretchable, short-term, agile goals.

Want to know more about OKRs? Download the white paper.

Download The Whitepaper

No matter which goal-setting approach you follow, it is important to know how to measure your progress on those goals. Most of the performance management software available in the market comes with a goal-setting module. When goals are set using a software, it increases transparency and trackability.

Use A Performance Management Software

Though it seems easier to review a team that is traditionally working at an office than a remote team, both come with their own set of challenges. As a manager, it is your responsibility to monitor and review the performance of your remote team without any biases. But often, managerial decisions are clouded by recency bias, inaccurate performance data, etc. You can easily overcome the above issues by using a performance management software.

Also Read: How Performance Management Has Changed In 2021?

A performance management software does not magically solve all your remote performance review issues. It is important to utilize features like performance cycles, timely reviews, competencies, feedback, and OKRs to make it work for your team. We recommend that managers track their employees’ goals regularly and come up with solutions to improve them. Have frequent one-on-one meetings and regular feedback so that employees are engaged and are on the right track.

Giving regular feedback and having frequent discussions with your team members makes reviewing their performance easy even though they are working remotely.

Is your organization planning to invest in a performance management software? Then request for a live demo.

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4 Leadership Skills to Improve in a Hybrid Work Environment

A special edition on Leadership Skills written by Engagedly’s President and Co-Founder Srikant Chellappa.

COVID-19 changed many employees’ interests and overall perspectives on work. Some of them will be eager to return to the office, while others will prefer to work from home to avoid interruptions and time wasting commutes. Transforming your workplace to accommodate their needs is great, but you also need to enhance your leadership skills because they will also help your team stay engaged. Here are a few skills to consider:

Communication

Working from home may cause people to feel excluded from business decisions. Frequently communicating with your team by making weekly or daily updates to your company’s operations and working policies can ensure they are still informed about what’s going on even if they are not in the office. As more alignment and collaboration between people occur, transparent communication will be especially important to make sure both remote and in-person teams are aware about the tasks that need to be completed.

Care

In addition to communicating more often, you also need to invest in the wellbeing of your employees. Returning to the office can be distracting if people got used to working alone. Offering wellness programming like yoga, meditation, or coaching can help them take their minds off those distractions as they readjust to working around other people.

Appreciation and Recognition

Being more appreciative and acknowledging your employees for their work. Doing it publicly using a platform like Engagedly (I am biased here), can be highly motivating. Employers who do not express value for their employees will experience a high turnover rate. Now that businesses are starting to hire again and willing to allow remote work, it will be easier for employees to quit their jobs if their managers fail to recognize them for their accomplishments.

Flexibility

It will take a long time before things start to feel normal again; people will still feel uncomfortable in crowded spaces and thus opt for a hybrid work environment, while many may continue to work remote. Being flexible not only means allowing people who feel most comfortable working from home to do so, but it also means giving them the resources to complete tasks if they need it. For instance, if they need a noise cancelling headset at home or need more time to work on an assignment because they were occupied with taking care of their children, you must be willing to provide them with those requests so they have the resources to be successful at their work.

If there is one important lesson that emerged from this pandemic, its how to be more human-centered. Many articles about returning to the office post COVID-19 focus on transforming the physical structure of the workplace but very few discuss why leaders also need to transform their leadership styles to help employees reintegrate into this new setting.

Want to know how Engagedly can improve collaboration of your remote team? Then request for a live demo.

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5 Employee Appreciation Ideas For Your Remote Team

“Rob, you did a great job! Your presentation is insightful and will help us on our future projects.”

Who does not love appreciation for their work? Positive feedback like this will keep your employees motivated and encouraged. It helps them to take pride in what they do and take ownership of their work. Additionally, it improves the productivity of employees and keeps them engaged. William James, an American psychologist and philosopher, rightly concluded that the deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.

In 1995, Dr. Bob Nelson introduced the first Friday of March as ‘Employee Appreciation Day’. He emphasized the importance of boosting employee morale and satisfaction for organizational success. It serves as a great initiative to appreciate employees for their hard work and strengthen the employer-employee relationship. With all the unprecedented changes since last year, employee appreciation has gained importance now more than ever. As per research in HR Resource Executive, 64% of employees feel that employee appreciation is more important while working remotely.

Also Read: Performance Management Gone Virtual And More Progressive

But with organizations working remotely or in a hybrid model along with the norms of social distancing, a pat on the back would not be possible anymore. Organizations need to adapt to newer processes for appreciating their employees. Here are five simple ways to appreciate your employees virtually and have the same impact on them.

Instant Appreciation

Employee appreciation is effective when done on the spot and on time. Currently, when employees are still working remotely, it is important to keep track of their wins. At times, it is the instant show of gratitude that makes all the difference. When you spot someone going beyond their call of duty, appreciate them immediately.

Using real-time performance management software such as Engagedly or business communication platforms such as Slack, you can appreciate your employees from anywhere and at any time.

Set Up Remote Workspace

Working from home can be exhaustive and overwhelming at times. In a physical office setup, workstations have an ergonomic design. It helps employees to work comfortably without any physical or psychological stress. However, we cannot say the same for a work from home setup. Invest in your employee’s workspace set up so that they work in an ergonomically friendly environment. It will make your employees feel that they are important to the company. Additionally, it will let them know that the organization cares about them beyond their work.

Also Read: Remote Onboarding : Essentials To Know

Peer-to-Peer Recognition

According to a survey by SHRM/Globoforce, 41% of organizations have seen an increase in customer satisfaction, which uses peer-to-peer recognition.

Getting recognition from managers is one thing, but employees love it when colleagues appreciate them. Implement and promote peer-to-peer employee appreciation programs. Encourage your remote employees to appreciate and praise each other’s hard work. Invest in a performance management software that will support peer-to-peer recognition in the form of praises or 360 degree feedback. But in the absence of a software in your organization, peers can praise each other through emails or chats.

It creates a great bond among your employees and reduces the cut-throat competition.

Invest In Virtual Wellness Program

As per a recent research in Harvard Business Review, employers who invested in the well being of their employees saw three times the return of their money spent.

Employee health is known to have a direct impact on productivity. The fear of COVID and its newer strains has affected the mental and physical health of the employees. According to recent reports, employees working remotely have reported increased levels of stress and anxiety. So no other way of employee appreciation would be as useful as organizations investing in employee wellness. Here are some ways to take care of your remote employees:

Offer virtual yoga or gym classes
Awareness sessions on mental wellbeing
Access to online doctor consultation platforms
Sponsor medical insurance for all your employees.

Also Read: Understanding Employee Well Being In 2021

Continuous Employee Development

One of the major reasons why most employees leave is that they don’t find any room for professional growth. Encourage your employees to cross-skill and up-skill themselves. Give them access to online training academies such as Coursera, Udemy, edX, etc. Have frequent one-on-ones to understand their personal development and growth plans and align them with organizational goals. Track their progress from time to time so that they don’t fall off the track.

When employees are allowed to cross-skill and up-skill themselves, they get a reason to stay in the same organization and explore themselves.

Have you appreciated your remote employees yet?

Want to know how Engagedly can help you with implementing employee appreciation program? Then request for a live demo

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5 Reasons Why Weekly Check-Ins Are Important For Your Remote Team

What most managers do not realize is that with the changing work culture, it is important to monitor the employee’s progress and help them with the roadblocks they face from time to time.

Employee check-ins are a great way for managers to gain a clear understanding of their employees. They help you improve your organization’s overall productivity by enabling managers and team members to frequently discuss any questions, concerns, or ideas they have. In the current scenario, where most organizations are still functioning remotely, the importance of weekly check-ins cannot be denied. It will not only help everyone stay updated but will also keep the employees engaged.

Also Read: Want To Measure Employee Engagement? Here’s How

Here’s how having a culture of frequent check-ins at your company, can help you increase overall productivity.

Establishes Communication Channel

Having frequent employee check-ins allows you to communicate with your employees frequently and get a proper understanding of their current work. This also makes employees feel that they have a safe place to share their concerns as well as discuss their ideas. Keeping an open line of communication between managers and employees boosts morale and fosters positive relationships.

Also Read: Awkward Post Review Conversations? We Have Your Back

Builds Trust And Support

Communication is the key to establishing trust between employees and managers. Having weekly employee check-ins allows you to build that rapport with your team members. Encourage employees to come to you with questions, ideas, and concerns so that they understand that you genuinely want to support them.

Instills Sense Of Responsibility

Having healthy work discussions from time to time through weekly check-ins leaves no scope for employees to procrastinate. This practice helps them understand and stay current with what the organization expects of them. It helps in reinforcing good behavioural patterns in employees and make them stay away from bad practices.

Increases Productivity

Having weekly check-ins for your remote employees allows you to fix potential issues before they escalate. It is easy to correct any employee performance issues quickly and enhance employee performance that contributes to an increase in productivity. Employees tend to feel valued and included when their work is validated and approved by their managers. Employee check-ins allow you, as a manager, to motivate your employees to feel validated and heard that in turn results in improved performance and improved productivity.

Leadership And Problem Solving Skills

Having frequent discussions with different levels of employees helps you improve your leadership skills and helps the employees improve their problem-solving skills. This practice is a great way to understand the nature of work and predict any roadblocks and fix them beforehand.

Want to know how Engagedly can help you with your weekly check-ins? Then request for a live demo

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5 Virtual Office Celebration Ideas This Holiday Season

The year 2020 is coming to an end, and it is time for office parties. This year has not turned out exactly how everyone had wished. It has been a year of uncertainty and unprecedented changes with the presence of COVID19. Businesses changed the way they work, and employees shifted to working remotely. While the year may not have been as everyone expected, it can surely end on a high note.

A typical office party, unlike last year, may not be on the cards this time. But thanks to technology, organizations can still conduct a virtual office party. It helps employees to reduce their stress, reduce disengagement, and start the new year with zeal. Moreover, it will also help your employees know that you appreciate them and want them to stay with your organization.

Also Read: 5 Reasons Why You Need A Performance Management Software

Here are five simple virtual celebration ideas for this holiday season that will help your team bond remotely.

A Meet With Close Ones

Celebrations and holidays are incomplete without friends and family. Divide your team into small groups of five or six and invite them with their spouses, children, partners, and pets in the virtual happy hour. It will give everyone a chance to meet each other’s loved ones and know them better. Moreover, it also helps employees to connect at an informal level and improve their bond with each other. Otherwise, remote working has restricted a “business only” connection between the employees. It was not the case when people were working out of the physical workspace.

Online Meal

There’s no better way to connect with your peers and employees than sharing a meal together. In the current scenario, many organizations are still working remotely, and many countries have strict norms for social distancing. But a team lunch or dinner celebration is still possible. Yes, you heard it right! Companies like Amazon have initiated informal luncheons and cocktail parties for employees.

Book and schedule a suitable time slot of forty minutes to one hour on your team’s calendar for having the celebratory meal. Everyone can connect over a video call at the scheduled time and have their meal together. You can give them a chance to showcase their culinary skills by letting them bring in their own food. Alternatively, you can even get the meals delivered to their doorstep from nearby restaurants. It will help everyone to bond, especially the ones who joined the organization virtually.

Also Read: Virtual Onboarding: A New Reality

Play An Online Game

Online games are a great way to get your office party started and your employees to bond. Board games are still a favorite among many, and they help in refreshing the mind and boost productivity. Board games like Chess, Checkers, and Scrabbles improve the thinking capacity of individuals. As a result, it leads to creativity and the generation of new ideas. Many online applications such as ‘Tabletopia,’ ‘Vassal,’ ‘Board Game Arena,’ and ‘Dicebreaker’ have online libraries and stimulations where employees can play with each other on their browsers.

Other online games such as UNO, BINGO, Pictionary, and charades are some great options too.

Annual Virtual Award Ceremony

As per a recent study, 69% of employees would have worked harder if they received appreciation for their efforts.

Awards and recognition motivate employees more than anything else. When employees receive rewards, recognition, or praise for their contribution, they feel valued. It makes them feel good and inspires them to continue to work harder. In this era of remote working, it is essential that your employees stay motivated and engaged at all times. So a year-end virtual award ceremony will motivate your employees for the year 2021. Some of the ways how you can recognize and reward your employees in the annual virtual award ceremony are:

– Give them awards digitally
– A call out for all those who performed exceedingly
– Gift cards for all the rewardees
– Announce names on company social media accounts
– Praise using a Real-Time Performance Management Software

You can choose to be creative to reward your employees and add some new and innovative categories for recognition and rewards. It will increase the probability of maximum people getting rewarded.

Also Read: Employee Rewards And Recognition For An Engaged Workforce

Gifts

Holidays are gifting seasons, and everyone loves getting one. Get gifts packaged and delivered to your team at their doorstep. Make sure they keep them wrapped and open them together during the virtual celebration. Depending on the budget, the gifts can be something as simple as a coffee mug or chocolates. You can also send them office goodies or party bags.

You can also organize a Secret Santa where team members give gifts to each other. It is an exciting activity for everyone to guess from whom they have received the gifts.

Do you want to know how Engagedly can help you improve Employee Engagement? Then request a live demo.

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Employee Engagement Ideas For Your Remote Team

“It’s [employee engagement] about getting the best people, retaining them, nurturing a creative environment, and helping to find a way to innovate.” – Marissa Mayer, Co-founder of Lumi Labs, former CEO of Yahoo!

Continue reading “Employee Engagement Ideas For Your Remote Team”

Tips To Manage Stress Of Your Remote Team

Over the past year, more than half of the global working population shifted to remote working due to COVID19. It has been quite some time now that teams have been working remotely and getting adjusted to the new normal. It has proved to be beneficial not only to the employees but also to the organizations. For organizations, it helped them in reducing the costs and recruiting employees globally. And, for employees, it allowed them to work flexibly. Remote working has a lot of benefits, but it comes with its own set of challenges. One of the major challenges faced by remote employees is that they suffer from anxiety and stress, which affects their mental and physical health. It results in disengagement and affects their productivity, which in turn affects the success of the organization.

Also Read: Employee Recognition and Rewards During COVID19

Let us look at some of the common causes of stress and anxiety among remote employees:

– Lack of Social Interaction: When working from home, one might be disconnected from others for long hours. It can lead to loneliness and isolation, and have a negative impact on employee productivity and mental health

– Work / Life Balance: Employees unknowingly put in extra screen hours while working from home as there is no specific demarcation between work hours and non-work hours

– Too Many Distractions: While working from home, employees can get easily disengaged as there are too many distraction

Here are some tips for you which will help you manage your stress and that of your remote team.

Establish A Routine

Establish a clear and well-defined routine for yourself that will help you create a synergy between work and life. Decide on an appropriate start and end time for your work hours and stick to it. In-between your work hours, set apart some time to take breaks or interact with your peers to get your mind off from work. In addition to creating a work schedule, it is also recommended to design a schedule to include reading, exercise, and self-care in your daily routine.

Having a well-established schedule prevents employees from overworking and hence avoiding burnout.

Also Read: Employee Engagement Software To Help Enhance Productivity

Connect With Your Team Frequently

Connect with your employees on a weekly or bi-weekly basis depending on the need, to track their progress and share updates with them. Share with your team members all the rules and policy changes of the organization from time to time. It reduces uncertainty about the future and helps in reducing any possible anxiety.

As a manager, schedule one-on-one meetings over video conferencing tools with each member of your team to hear out their concerns. When communication takes place over a video call, it is easier to understand them as it sets a personal connection.

Frequent check-in with your employees keeps them engaged, reduces their stress, and they feel more connected to the organization.

Virtual Meditation And Yoga Classes

Yoga and meditation are known to reduce stress and calm the mind. Organize virtual yoga/meditation classes for your employees before or after work hours. With so many video conferencing tools such as Zoom, FaceTime, Google Meet, and Skype, it should be very simple to organize one easily. Reduce stress and produce a calming effect on the mind and body by encouraging your employees to practice breathing exercises whenever possible.

Also Read: How To Curb Digital Distractions

Team-Building Activity, But A Virtual One

Team building activities help employees to work better as a cohesive team. But in the current scenario, traditional team-building practices are not feasible anymore. So, plan and organize virtual team-building activities that will help in building a strong team culture. Meet over virtual lunches or conduct activities such as quiz sessions or a virtual book club. These activities will help in building a sense of trust among your team members and will keep them engaged. Moreover, these activities help employees to take some time off from work and reduce stress.

Empathize With Your Employees

Remote work is still a relatively new concept for most employees, so it can be overwhelming for them at times. Acknowledge and empathize with their struggles and anxiety so that they can stay engaged and productive for a longer period of time. Ask them simple questions such as, “Are you managing well so far in the remote work situation?” or ” Do you need any help to make your remote work experience better?”. Listen to their concerns and responses and find a solution. At times just talking and empathizing with your employees about their stress and anxiety can help a lot. Formalize and document the responses with the help of employee survey tools.

Engagedly’s inbuilt survey feature allows you to create and assign simple surveys to measure employee engagement, employee motivation, and employee happiness.

Also Read: Employee Burnout: What You Need To Know About It

Identify High Productive Hours

According to research on ultradian rhythms, the human body follows a cycle that affects how productive they are. They go through a cycle of 90-120 minutes, where they go from a productive peak to an unproductive trough.

Encourage your employees to identify their highly productive hours and schedule their most important work during those hours. During high productive hours, the human body is more active, focused, and more engaged at whatever it does. It helps employees to improve their intensity of focus and produce better results. The routine and less important work can be scheduled for low productive hours when the body is not as focused and engaged. It helps employees to improve their intensity of focus and produce better results.

Do you want to know how Engagedly can help you with Employee Engagement? Then request for a live demo.

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Tips To Improve Productivity As A Remote Worker

When it comes to work, we all know that there isn’t any better feeling than accomplishing all the things you have on your plate. With the current remote working situation, it is understandable that you might not always feel pumped up to work and accomplish the tasks assigned to you.

Continue reading “Tips To Improve Productivity As A Remote Worker”

Be The Organization That Everyone Wants To Work For – Remote Work Edition

With remote working becoming the new norm these days, it has become tough to maintain a positive workplace culture.

Continue reading “Be The Organization That Everyone Wants To Work For – Remote Work Edition”

Here are some tips to improve your employee performance review process for remote employees:

It’s the output that matters

Gather 360-degree feedback

Get them to Self-evaluate

Provide valuable feedback consistently

Have a sense of trust

Here are 10 ways to build and sustain company culture in Hybrid work culture.

1) Communicate and listen to your employees

Also read: A Complete Guide to Performance Management Cycle

2) Share Vision

3) What type of culture do you want?

4) Make sure there are clear rules

5) Give autonomy and freedom

6) Foster Interdepartmental Communication

7) Encourage everyone’s participation

8) Support your employees’ growth

Also read: HOW PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE HELPS IN EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT

9) Develop leaders inside your company

10) Use perks that fit your brand

1. Set Clear Expectations

Also read: 7 Reasons Why Goal Setting Is Important

2. When it’s Time to Meet, Meet

3. Successful Teams Need Nice Things!

Also read: Tips To Manage Stress Of Your Remote Team

4. Cultivate a Culture for Growth

5. Be Organized, But Flexible

Also read: Top 10 Performance Management Software To Use In 2022

6. Emphasize Communication

The Takeaway

Guest blog contribution by Chatty Garrate

Also read: What Is A Performance Management System?

1. Make room for candid virtual conversations

Also read: Crucial Conversations: Strengthen Relationships & Contribute Better

2. Engaging virtual onboarding

3. Gamify employee training

4. Identify signs of workplace conflicts

5. Encourage cross-functional collaboration

Also read: 5 Common Teamwork Challenges In Workplaces

6. Introduce reverse mentoring programs

7. Bring D&I activities to the floor

What is employee engagement?

Engagement vs Satisfaction

Why you need both engagement and satisfaction?

Qualities of engaged employees

Takes initiative

Effective Communication

Positive Attitude

Productivity oriented

What drives employee engagement?

Manager Employee Relationship

Intrinsic Motivation

Leadership

Performance Management

Building and Sustaining Employee engagement For remote

Monitor Workload

Have a Consistent Meeting Schedule

Make Sure Your Employees Connect

Reward Efficiency

Cultivate a Healthy Remote Work Culture

Identify Technology Needs

Conclusion

Career Pathing And Skill Gap Analysis

Also Read: Giving Constructive Feedback To Peers

Shortlist The Eligible Employees

Choose The Method

Also Read: 5 Tips For Building A Learning Culture In An Organization

Also Read: 4 Leadership Skills To Improve In a Hybrid Work Environment

Measure Success

Encourage Continuous Learning

Also Read: Employee Retention Strategy – How To Retain Top Talent?

What Is Upskilling and Reskilling?

Also Read: The Top 8 Leadership Skills You Need In 2021

Skill Gap Analysis

Benefits of Upskilling And Reskilling Your Employees

Also Read: Common Mistakes That Destroy Employee Engagement

Also Read: 5 Key Focus Areas For CEOs : The Post Pandemic Shift

Also Read: 5 Benefits of Investing in Employee Recognition Software

WAITING FOR REPORTING SESSION

NOT BEING GENUINE

Also Read: How to Support Mental Health of Your Remote Team