The pandemic has hit the charm of working in an office. We missed working with our colleagues and virtual meets became the new normal. The gossip, chit chats over the coffee vending machine, or while taking a walk – talk about the boss ☺ is lost. Ever since we started working from home, the feeling of being isolated engulfed in fear resulted in low morale and less engagement towards the work performance. This has been challenging for both businesses and HR to design strategies and activities to boost the morale of employees working remotely.
However, engaging employees has become the top priority for the organizations, and here are few morale-boosting recommendations:
Communication: Organizing frequent communication programs with the employees working remotely is more necessary than ever. Frequent town halls, managers checking on their team, inspiring pep talks for the motivational push goes a long way. These programs help employees to feel secure and give their best on the job when they know they can rely on, ask for help at the time of need.
Sharing High & Lows weekly: Managers speak to the team members to share their high and low points during the week. This helps the employee to ask for help if needed and managers also get to know what the high point is and the challenges the team is facing. Including gratitude for what we have in the weekly meet also helps to count on the blessing and look for the positive side of the situation.
Cover-ups: It is ideal to create cover-ups for the critical roles, if any tragedy struck/ team member goes on leave then there will be someone to take care of the job. The employee can also take leave without stressing much about the task.
Recognize: Employee appreciation plays a big role in morale-boosting and motivating them. Appreciate the small wins continuously and acknowledge them in presence of all other team members. It is a big morale booster. This will also help in winning employee loyalty and retention.
Virtual Team fun meet: Virtual meet has become the new normal and conducting virtual fun team meetings is a good idea. The team can unwind and not talk about work. The team can meet, greet and can have talked over coffee /lunch/dinner and play games it is energizing for the team. This also helps to connect with other team members in an informal setup and get to know each other which sows the seed of a relationship that would help to work in collaboration in the future.
Care: It is the need of the hour to take care of the well-being of the employee and their family members. Designing programs like sending wellness kits, arranging vaccination camps, and organizing hospital beds, medicines when employees are vulnerable dealing with the pandemic. The sense of security in the subconscious mind keeps the employee going and helps them to give their best at work.
Surprise the team: In the remote working set up creative ways to surprise the employees with a personalized experience. Maybe a birthday cake delivered with a bouquet might pleasantly surprise them; these small acts generally influence the vibe of the company.
There are no fixed solutions to boost the morale of the remote workers; it varies from the nature of the job to the organization. The moment organization realizes the employees are having low morale from high attrition to fewer conversations, it’s time to work on morale-boosting activities. HR and business have to align/tweak the activities with the set of the section they are dealing with to get the maximum output. What may work for one business unit or organization might not work for another.
Author – Moumita Ray
Moumita Ray is a human resource leader with rich experience in designing & developing strategies, processes, enhancing capabilities, and building a culture to help businesses achieve their excellence.