Getting your employees engaged from home

With the entire shift of working from the office to working from, a lot has changed not only for the employees but also for the organizations. Especially the jobs that were designed to be done from the office now need to be done from home. This means the organizations will need to respond quickly to these changes and may even be required to be proactive to deal with the changes that they may potentially face.

Enabling employees to be operational from home is not an easy task. It requires not only infrastructural support but something more than that. Let’s face it, engaging employees was a challenge even before work from home became a norm. And this new normal has now created more challenges for organizations. When employees are away from their teams, their work environment that they may be familiar with, it affects their morale. Employees who earlier met every day, ate together, participated in informal activities in the office aren’t able to meet each other. And employees who have joined during this pandemic probably haven’t met anyone at all. It may be difficult for them to connect emotionally and cognitively with work or with each other.

Employee engagement refers to the emotional commitment an employee has to their organisation and its employees, vision, and goals. This means it is going to need not only some job designing but also an active involvement from the senior leadership for employees to feel the same vigor, absorption, and dedication in their jobs as earlier.

So what can organizations do?

1. Have more informal ‘connecting with each other sessions’. They could be online coffee meets, getting employees to connect with colleagues they have never interacted before with, the virtual family meets, or simply daily sync-ups.

2. Encourage people to keep their videos on during the meets. With videos on, the connection can be much better.

3. Encourage managers to have a frequent 1-1 check-in. This will help employees receive constant feedback and will help them find goals they could achieve and give them a direction to work in. For the management, it gives crucial performance data that can be further used to boost employee productivity and morale.

4. Giving employees a platform to voice their opinion and raise concerns may also work towards making them feel more connected to the organization generally

5. Cultivate a culture of appreciation and gratitude. If employees are praised more than they are criticized they will feel more trusted. Besides, it releases oxytocin which makes employees feel more energetic and creative

6. Work from home has taught employees and organizations that work and life can be balanced. Though it comes at a cost. Organizations will have to factor in a number of non-work factors that affect an employee and therefore the engagement when designing policies. This also implicates that when people will come back to work, they will still expect to have these employee-friendly policies.

7. With reduced interaction, the grapevine has gone too. This means that organizations will have to create a culture of transparency where employees know what is happening within the organization so that it doesn't lead to feelings of doubt or fear in the employees. This becomes crucial when there is general news of layoffs across organizations

8. Employees also need to know what is their scope for personal growth within the organization. Paying attention to employee learning and development also leads to increased engagement.

Organizations now have an opportunity more than ever to listen to their employees; to know from them, in terms of their needs. Shifting focus on mental health and safety is the key. Different segments will have different experience drivers, which means organizations will have to identify and work towards those. This is the time to create that impact and has employees trust in you as an organization not only now but also in the future.