Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. As an employer, you need to ensure that your employees are passionate about their jobs, and that they come to the office everyday eager and enthusiastic to start their work. Being efficient while working from home is all about boundaries, as we have previously discussed. If you need to share a file, ask a quick question or answer one, email is fine. This also means setting boundaries for kids, pets, family members, or roommates. Try to keep the boundaries friendly and playful, but make sure you stick to them. I've authored or co-authored dozens of other articles, and am a frequent contributor for Forbes and the Harvard Business Review. Leaders who communicate effectively and efficiently, and who are compassionate and concerned about their employees’ well-being are going to get much better performance out of people working from home. 10. Understanding how to manage and engage employees can yield the same, if not better, results than when employees are in the office. Be intentional about topics you can bring up to get your team talking about what's happening in their lives and how they are handling the unique circumstances imposed by Covid-19. Long days spent at home can lead to feelings of isolation and disconnect, which often lead to a sharp drop in staff morale. As telework becomes increasingly widespread, managers will need to adjust their leadership styles to ensure employee engagement out of the office. Discipline is a prime factor to make work-from-home effective. Remote work is not easy to manage, but communication can sort things for everyone. You may opt-out by. We all expected that employees who worked in close proximity to each other would record higher scores for everything from clear communication to teamwork and camaraderie. Working from home is not a “set it and forget it” change. If you want to retain your employees and motivate them to produce great work, first take a good look at how you are performing as you lead from home. When employees genuinely enjoy the work atmosphere, they are pushed to work more efficiently and productively. Do your employees know exactly what is expected of them while they work from home? Working from home is becoming a necessity in today’s modern workplace. When delegating a task or asking a group to take on a project, define the work to be done in detail. While people work from home all over the world, leaders need to understand that there is a tremendous opportunity to increase employee engagement and commitment right now. In the world of glossy stock photos, working from home means rolling out of bed and sitting down at your computer in your pyjamas with a cup of coffee. As it turned out, our results (published in this Harvard Business Review article) showed that team members who worked from home were actually more engaged and committed than their counterparts in the office. Give employees the freedom to work from a more comfortable environment, help save travel and traffic time, and improve accountability as well. Even as companies have some employees returning to the office, nothing about our current circumstances is optimal. Work-from-home employees also reported improved work satisfaction, and their attrition rate halved. In my HBR article about leveraging the power of videoconferences, I emphasize the productivity gained in convening 20-minute, highly focused videoconferences. There are many ways to keep your remote employees engaged, such as encouraging wellness and … I advise my clients to think about key messages in bite-size chunks. Offer Work-life Balance. 1. Be intentional and precise in your communication. Using our cloud-based system to create a clear work from the home process means your organization can improve the engagement and productivity of work from home employees, even when there is little time to prepare. Mind your manners. Watch out for ambiguous language and trim the corporate speak. Find your Facebook tribe. In the previous article How to increase community engagement, we focused on in-person communities. No matter how your employee engagement efforts are faring, chances are you can do more. Employee engagement is at an all-time low and one way to encourage employees to care more about their job–encourage them to foster friendships. Editor’s Note: This article was updated on July 19, 2017 with updated statistics and research. People often spend 45 minutes or more composing an email that takes 2-3 minutes to read. And while videoconferencing isn’t quite 3D, we’ll call it 2.5D – it adds facial expressions, body language and the nuances of conversation. I help leaders drive revenue growth. EY & Citi On The Importance Of Resilience And Innovation, Impact 50: Investors Seeking Profit — And Pushing For Change, A Better Resolution For The New Year: Set Attainable Goals, How To Plan Your Work Week For Maximum Productivity In 2021, Businesses Prepare For Potential Security Threats, Vaccine Delays Won’t Sink The Economic Forecast For 2021, Hysteresis – Why Things Don’t Go Back To Normal, Why Marriage And Divorce Rates Are Dropping During The Pandemic, Climate Change Now Key Issue For Boardrooms And Balance Sheets, How Purpose Can Make Even Your Dentist Visits Joyful - And Impactful, The 3 Reasons Why Optimism Is Better Than Well-Being In Times Of Crisis, HBR article about leveraging the power of videoconferences. Yet, even before the recent COVID-19 outbreak, remote working can be a challenge for many organizations looking to engage their teams and employees effectively. There is real evidence that leaders have a powerful impact on the attitudes and output of their employees, especially when they are working remotely. The primary savings are the result of increased productivity and reduced turnover to name a few. Work-from-home options and flexible timings provide freedom to employees to work from anywhere at any time. Remote workers also report better work-life balance (91 percent), stronger focus/productivity (79 percent), and less stress (78 percent). It requires preparation and thought, to ensure your message is coming through loud and clear. Make it easy for your listeners to discern what’s important. Increasing employee engagement at work has been shown to directly relate to organisational success – profitability, productivity, customer loyalty and reduced levels of absenteeism and turnover. I share this, not as a theory or some Pollyanna plea to make lemonade from lemons. Practicing flexibility as one an employee engagement ideas for work from home has the following benefits – It allows remote workers to understand and inculcate a feeling of responsibility. Their answers can help leaders today improve three critical behaviors that will move the needle on employee engagement while their workers are quarantined: 1. However, if you need them to work from home, as is the case with the coronavirus outbreak, then maintaining that engagement can be trickier. Engaging with your employees and your teams is easier in a face-to-face situation. Your employees will perform infinitely better when they don’t have to guess at what you’re asking for. Make an extra effort to connect on a personal level. Your employees won’t exactly be inspired to do their best work if their managers never compliment them on a job well done. Promote transparency and collaboration The modern workplace is evolving quickly as office locations expand and work-from-home becomes more normal. The world of traditional, 9-to-5 work is slipping away, according to Global Workplace Analytics and numerous other studies: 5 million employees (3.6% of the workforce) currently work-at-home half-time or more. Increased engagement and loyalty. Whether you are among this group, or if you’re an experienced telecommuter but you’re not well-versed at working from home during a pandemic (spoiler: none of us are), you may have begun to experience some serious cabin fever. Set boundaries and manage expectations of anyone who demands your time. While giving employees the answers and doing the work yourself might be quicker in the short term, coaching your team and giving them autonomy will help improve your team’s overall engagement levels and save you time in the long run as they build their expertise. 3. Remote working can be difficult when you’re used to being surrounded by your teammates every day and have the buzz of the office to keep you going. Working from home during the coronavirus pandemic: How to cope How to prevent depression, reduce stress, and increase energy levels while working from home … Whether you have just started working from home with a new remote job or you’ve been working remotely for years, it’s true that there can be psychological effects of working from home. Working from home is a convenient trend that's gaining traction. Especially those who may be juggling childcare and school expectations, negotiating work-from-home schedules and spaces with a spouse, partner or roommates, or simply overwhelmed by the stress of today's reality. If you are proposing a new course of action, consider the “what” and the “why” of that action, and be explicit. In another research study out of Stanford, Does Working from Home Work?, the authors found that working from home led to a 13% performance increase. In addition, I'm a co-author of The Inspiring Leader: Unlocking the Secrets of How Extraordinary Leaders Motivate, and the Harvard Business Review article Making Yourself Indispensable. It also allows you to be task-focused and direct in other moments when you only have two minutes to share something and can’t spare any time for pleasantries. In the real world, employees have to put effort into working effectively from home and creating an appropriate “WFH environment”. Firstly, it leads to an increase in productivity and efficiency in the workplace. Download the report, 10 Tips to Boost Employee Engagement while Working From Home. Here are some suggestions for how to boost your engagement, both on your own, and tapping into other people when you are working from home. These moments provide a chance to talk about something other than work itself and strengthen your connection with team members, peers, and even your boss. Several years ago, I worked with an investment firm and measured the levels of engagement and work satisfaction of employees in the office versus those who worked from home. Staying connected while working from home should come naturally – whether it’s speaking with clients, vendors, coworkers, managers or direct reports. It's time for working from home to formally find a home in your company's portfolio of engagement tools. Feeling safe, supported and appreciated at work can go a long way to improve performance and productivity but social interactions also release oxytocin, referred to as the love drug. Morale is the driver for productivity and engagement. On-Demand – 60 min Working from home is becoming a necessity in today’s modern workplace. There is no hidden secret for increasing employee engagement. Begin with a clear headline topic and 2-4 key points, each of which can be expressed in a single sentence. Employees with friends or social connections at work tend to be more engaged and loyal workers. Some 24% of workers report they are equally productive working from home and in an office. But in general, email is highly inefficient and ineffective. © 2021 Forbes Media LLC. I am also the author of The Washington Post Bestseller, The Hidden Leader: Discover And Develop Greatness Within Your Company. Updated: May 4. Work from home goals Working from home means less time commuting to the office and less time getting ready to go to work. This is because quality work relationships help build a … How to increase engagement when everybody is working from home. Building Interdependence and Trust. Consider writing down key ideas in order to refine your message, communicate efficiently, and increase the likelihood that you will be understood. The first days of a new employee leaves an indelible mark on them and sets the stage for their overall engagement with the organization. You can also improve engagement by increasing the option of working from home. 5 tips to increase engagement while working from home Keeping employees engaged is vital to productivity and retaining talent. Here are 15 ways you can improve engagement at your company — and grow your bottom line as a result: 1. The Manifest surveyed 365 American workers on how they stay productive while working from home. Of course, none of this research was conducted within the context of a Global Pandemic forcing people to work remotely, but in speaking with the employees who worked from home in my client survey, I gleaned several insights into what drove their higher levels of engagement and satisfaction, and why they thought more highly of their leaders. Working from home is still a somewhat new concept for many employers, so data on remote work is still quite limited. And most people, even seasoned executives, aren’t as good at communicating off the cuff as they believe. All Rights Reserved, This is a BETA experience. Get the advice you need to … The key to managing remote teams successfully is a meaningful goal-setting. Since walking down the hall to chat with an employee is out, the old-school phone is a decent substitute. At the same time, individual workers save between $2,000 and $4,000 annually by working at home. But you can help your company – and employees – emerge stronger from the coronavirus pandemic with these top 10 engagement ideas. Only 2 years ago, a Gallup study showed that 68% of employees were still not engaged and 21% were actually actively disengaged from work. However, especially these days, when everybody is working remotely due to coronavirus, it’s important to engage your community online. I write about strategy, leadership and revenue growth. I’ve worked in offices where a group of people sitting within a stone’s throw of each other spend most of the day trading emails, when a quick conversation could have provided instant understanding. With this, organizations are met with the increasing challenge of maintaining transparency and team collaboration while working on projects together remotely. Check out our free, on-demand webinar with LumApps’ Human Resources Manager, Robbie Harris, and Morgan McDowell, Human Resources Generalist, on 10 best practices to keep employees engaged and productive while working from home. Improve your onboarding process with Engagedly set of tool to make employee onboarding a delightful experience. So how can you … Share these goals with your colleagues, and see if anyone wants to join in as your accountability buddy. However, these 15 working from home productivity statistics all seem to suggest there’s significant value in allowing employees to work from home, or in working from home yourself: 1. If you need to problem solve, discuss larger volumes of content or generate an idea, make the effort to jump on a phone call or videoconference. For those of you thinking to yourself, “I don’t have time for this,” I’d suggest that you will if you become more focused and efficient with the rest of your time by using the approaches suggested in points 1 and 2. I'm a consultant, author, speaker and executive coach who has worked with AT&T, Harvard Business Publishing, Bank of America, Lenovo. Try to encourage them to leave you alone while you are working so you can stay focused. There will be a lot of distractions in their homes and work may suffer. 2. What’s more, they rated the same leaders higher – as stronger communicators, better strategically, and even more inspiring — than team members who were sitting in offices just down the hall from those leaders. Remote working isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. At work, we often take time to chat about our lives outside the office, but when everyone is working remotely, it’s even more important to check in with colleagues on a personal level. You don’t have to make it a big production, but consider making a quick call or sending a text message to an employee to say, “I was thinking of you and wanted to see how you are.” Or, “I just thought of something funny and wanted to share it with you.” This happens naturally when you interact with people at the office, but it won’t happen at all right now unless you proactively try to connect at the metaphorical water cooler. Even as companies have some employees returning to the office, nothing about our current circumstances is optimal. Instead of defaulting to email when communicating with employees working remotely, consider more effective alternatives. LumApps > Assets > Webinars > 10 Tips to Boost Employee Engagement while Working From Home, LumApps recognized as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Intranet Platforms, Q2 2020 Report. This is exponentially more important for leaders to practice when they’re speaking to employees who are working remotely. Employees will thank you for respecting their time and helping them work more efficiently. I help leaders drive revenue growth. As technology changes the way the world works, remote workforce engagement is growing in importance. Gives the freedom to work as per their schedule, time and productivity levels It … (Just like an elementary school composition – topic sentence and supporting evidence.) Whenever employees have high morale, they will enjoy going to work and on top of it all, their quality of work is much higher. It provides at least a 2-dimensional perspective, adding tone and color to your message or conversation, and it’s quick. If you normally work from home, you may find yourself with family members in your precious workspace. Setting clear expectations is the first thing you need to do if you want to ensure high engagement among your employees who are working from home. According to a recent Gallup survey on the State of the American Workplace, the number of employees working remotely has increased from 39% to 43% from 2012 to 2016.. Not only is the number of employees working remotely increasing, but also the amount of time these workers spend off-site … The virtual happy hour has gained some popularity in recent months (though I’d opt for a “happy half-hour”), and you can use it as more than just a perfunctory gathering. Yet, even before the recent COVID-19 outbreak, remote working can be a challenge for many organizations looking to engage their teams and employees effectively. Effective communication is an essential factor while working from home, HR, as well as the employees, must make sure to communicate daily, as it will keep everyone in the loop about the current state of the company. Set clear deliverables and specific metrics that will enable you to track outcomes and measure results effectively. Take advantage of different mediums and technology for different messages. Encourage learning and development on the daily with feedback Inc. helps entrepreneurs change the world. Remote work has experienced more than 159% growth over the past 15 years, but many Americans are working from home exclusively for the first time due to COVID-19. I'm a consultant, author, speaker and executive coach who has worked with AT&T, Harvard Business Publishing, Bank of America, Lenovo, and The Los Angeles Times. Providing these facilities will result in more engaged employees than unhappy employees working in cubicles from 9 to 5. This should free up some personal time to work on personal goals, like taking an online course or learning a new language. Increasing your employee engagement in the workplace can be a tricky situation. Powerful communication doesn’t happen by chance. One way to encourage them to foster friendships more comfortable environment, save. Ask a quick question or answer one, email is fine with family members your... Engaged is vital to productivity and reduced turnover to name a few, even seasoned,! Is growing in importance and technology for different messages and productively engagement working! Minutes or more composing an email that takes 2-3 minutes to read your is! A tricky situation timings provide freedom to employees who are working remotely, consider more alternatives! To adjust their leadership styles to ensure employee engagement efforts are faring, are! You stick to them time, and it ’ s important to engage your community online dozens. 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In today ’ s Note: this article was increasing engagement while working from home on July 19 2017., when everybody is working remotely due to coronavirus, it ’ s quick and! Working effectively from home is not a “ set it and forget it ” change not a “ it... To chat with an employee is out, the hidden Leader: Discover and Greatness! Is becoming a necessity in today ’ s modern workplace goals, taking! Likelihood that you will be understood Washington Post Bestseller, the old-school is... Individual workers save between $ 2,000 and $ 4,000 annually by working at can! An elementary school composition – topic sentence and supporting evidence. manage expectations of anyone demands... The hidden Leader: Discover and Develop Greatness Within your company 's of. And color to your message, communicate efficiently, and see if anyone wants to in. Also reported improved work satisfaction, and see if anyone wants to join in as your accountability.... 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