What tips do you have for strengthening employee engagement in the remote workplace?
More check-ins about how your team is doing, not details of what they're doing, and more thank-yous—neither are expensive, but the effect could be invaluable.
—Martha Kramer, New York, New York
Implement virtual variations of in-office engagement activities that existed prior to the transition to a remote workplace, such as birthday and employee-of-the-month celebrations. This continuity can assist remote workers in adapting while maintaining a sense of normalcy and community. To further build on the sense of an engaged community, assign a buddy-type system where partners are responsible for checking in on each other on a daily or weekly basis. Orchestrating this is particularly useful for bigger teams to ensure no one is left behind or feels isolated from that personal connection and interaction that is often naturally facilitated in physical office environments. Get creative with soliciting employee feedback for projects and decision making through apps like Slido and Mentimeter.
—Khadija Moore, Bridgetown, Barbados
Having informal virtual gatherings and happy hours are a great way to re-create your regular team bonding events and mimic those casual corridor chats your remote team would be missing at this time. Deliberately carving out small talk minutes into your remote meetings is essential to ensure you have a pulse on how your team is doing mentally and emotionally. I would err on the side of overcommunication—having a sense of community has never been more important.
—Nina Narayanan, Seattle, Washington
