How to keep teams connected when working remotely
Over the past few years, many of us were forced to work from home due to the pandemic sweeping the globe. Although everyday life has returned to almost normal, many employees are resisting going back to the office. Working from home allows many of us to have a better work life balance, whether it be spending more time with family rather than travelling or having time in the morning to exercise and meditate. Some employers may not be in favour of this switch over as they feel that their employees and projects become disconnected. This does not have to be the case, read on to learn how to keep your team connected when working remotely.
Make use of technology
One of the best and probably most obvious ways to keep you team connected and happy is to make full use of the technology available to you. By this point most of us who have worked from home will be used to using platforms such as Zoom or Teams. It is a good idea to use tools such as these to conduct regular meetings, one each morning for internal teams and perhaps one at the start and end of each week on a more company wide level depending on your business size to catch up on plans for the week ahead and any developments. There are also other even more innovative platforms where you can keep track of employee benefits, bonuses and other HR related issues with this benefits platform via Zest. So, it could be useful to look into these for connecting with your employees outside of actual work tasks and projects.
Offer support and development
Supporting your employees’ training and development is another great way to keep better connected with them. It is normal for team members to want to progress and keep building on their skills so make sure this a possibility for them. Put in place regular catch ups to keep up to speed on both how employees are feeling about their current role and workload, as well as putting in place more long term plans. You could ask them what skills they want to develop on and offer courses or mentorship to help them reach these goals. It is also imperative to listen to your teams’ needs not just in a work context but on a more personal level. Are they feeling burnt out or stressed? If you can, give them a day or two to decompress and have some time to themselves so that they can come back feeling more motivated and refreshed. However, as an employer you should also try to get to the root cause of the problem causing the anxiety in order to avoid reoccurring problems in the future and the team member not feeling supported.
Arrange team days
Finally, although your team may be working from home, this does not mean that you can never connect in person. Arrange regular team days in which your employees meet in person whether it just be just for a dinner or drinks or something more active. You could arrange things like escape rooms to give them e bit of a challenge and team build. These sorts of team building days will work wonders for you team in and out of the office, your employees will feel more connected and as a result productivity should be increased.
Working remotely by no means leads to your team feeling disconnected. By ensuring regular meetings, catch ups and team days, you can keep company morale high and stay connected to your team members and colleagues alike.
