6 Ways to Make Remote Employees Feel Connected

2018-10-05

You’ll agree motivating employees is no easy task—even if they’re on site. Now imagine trying to keep those not based on the premises happy and in sync with the organisation’s goals.

It’s so easy for remote employees to feel undervalued and excluded from the company. Can you avoid this?

Lucky for you we researched methods you can implement that can help your team feel connected once again. Apart from ensuring their positivity, this can spark higher productivity. That’s worth the effort, right?

Why is it Important for Employees to Feel Connected?

There are many benefits if employees feel like they’re part of the organisation:

• Unity in Vision & Purpose: Every organization has a vision & mission. For any business to thrive, employees (both on site & working remotely) need to be speaking the same language and working towards achieving the same goal.
• Uniformity: If employees feel connected to the organization it means they’ll all practice the same culture and values regardless of where they are. You need this to get the job done and to build your brand.
• Productivity: It’s easier for employees who feel like they’re part of the business to be motivated and productive.

 

Ready to give this a try?

 

5 Ways to Make Remote Employees Feel Connected

Keep in Touch

You want your employees to be productive right? And the old adage ‘out of sight out of mind’ simply rings too true. As a manager you can’t allow this to happen.

 

The last thing you need is for your employees to feel like outsiders: This makes it harder to get them to reach their full potential.

 

One way you can avoid this is by simply reaching out. You’ll be surprised how regular interaction will go a long way in keeping employees feeling appreciated.

 

With the various communication platforms at our disposal, why not take advantage of them? And no, we don’t mean sending another impersonal email or text message. How about using ways that are more interactive?

• Conference calls
• Skype calls
• Regular voice calls

 

But you don’t have to end there. You can schedule regular face to face and group meetings depending on time & availability. For instance you can conduct weekly or monthly meetings during which you:

• Rotate participation
• Allow remote employees to present information to the other on site employees

Never let even one feel left out of the loop.

 

Whatsapp Groups & Communication Apps

Whatsapp isn’t only for communicating with your friends and loved ones. Why not make use of this easy and affordable interactive platform to communicate with your remote employees? Apart from calls, Whatsapp groups are cost effective ways of staying in touch with your remote employees, all at the same time.

 

In this case you can use this platform (or similar communication apps) to post:

• Weekly or monthly targets
• Motivational quotes or messages
• Deadlines
• Important announcements
• Brain teasers everyone can work on at once
• Company events
• News worthy events
• Pictures of products to keep them informed of your new items
• Birthdays and other special news
• Regular project updates

This way everyone is reminded of their individual roles while also being reminded that they are part of a team.

 

Team Building Exercises

Never underestimate the power of meeting with all your employees in a relaxed and fun filled environment. Why not plan and schedule team building events?  It comes with the following advantages:

• Interaction: This is a great chance for your remote employees to interact with all other staff members including management. As a result they’ll get to know the different types of personalities they’ll deal with going forward.
• Relationships: Team building exercises will allow for establishment of relationships across the organization regardless of whether they work on site or not.
• Improve communication: Because of these events you can expect a general improvement in communication as it’s a great way to build trust & connection between staff. When employees know each other, it improves general communication.
• Increased Productivity: The collaborative nature of these exercises will help employees work together more effectively as opposed to working with someone they’ve never met before.
• Motivation: It’s an effective way to show employees that you do care about their success and you showcase the type of leader you are, as well as the brand you’re building. After interactive events employees are generally motivated to perform better since they’ll take pride in the organization.

 

Competitions

Here’s another fun method: Conduct weekly or monthly challenges that involve remote employees as well as on site employees. This will go a long way in making them feel like they’re part of your business.

 

In this case you simply devise and include them in challenges where they compete with the rest of the employees regardless of their location, such as ‘Employee of the Month’.

 

Be Intentional

What better way to make them feel as if they belong somewhere, than to recognize their personal milestones, or showing empathy when they have personal challenges? And see how being intentional pays off such as sending:

• Birthday cards, gifts or messages
• A condolence message
• A get well soon card
• An anniversary card
• A goody bag if there was an office celebration

 

It’s true: It’s the little things that matter.

 

Collaborative Systems

Technology is there to make processes simpler—use it. Take advantage of collaborative software to establish informal communication. An internal system can encourage a variety of actions:

• To follow your lead in using the system, therefore proving that you want to empower them
• Staying in touch to improve communication
• Showing their creativity in how a software program can be utilized even better; when you ask for and use their ideas, you’ll get their buy in

 

Closing Thoughts

The truth is remote employees want the same thing on site employees want:

• Recognition
• Meaningful work
• An opportunity to contribute and to feel included

 

If you want to avoid creating a negative morale, don’t exclude them or inform them as an afterthought. An apology later simply won’t work. By addressing inclusion, location will no longer be a problem. Try it and take your company to the next level.