Remote work became the new norm in 2020, and it is here to stay. Prior to the pandemic, most Canadian employees (82%) worked primarily from the office, and today, that’s down to 27%, with 59% now working out of their homes.
Since the majority of employees did not experience what it truly felt like to work from home five days a week prior to the pandemic, many are now struggling with the loss of face-to-face interaction that they were used to while working in the office. The most common challenge reported by remote workers across Canada was not feeling connected to their colleagues, with more than half (57%) expressing this sentiment.
Additionally, working from home has its own distractions, especially with the kids and family around. Most young employees aged 18-35 said they find it difficult to stay focused and many others (with varying ages) seem to have a hard time managing their mental and physical health.
For these reasons, employers are scrambling to uncover efficient and effective ways to keep their employees engaged and excited to work in remote environments. Below you will find five ways to help you create a motivating virtual workplace culture for your remote team members.
1. Host virtual health and wellness classes
Ensuring your employees stay motivated and engaged at work depends a lot on their mental and physical wellbeing. A great way to promote health and wellness within your organization is to host virtual classes such as yoga classes, fitness challenges, or meditation sessions. Once a week, you can hire a professional to host a particular class and add some sort of a reward at the end of it to maximize the number of employees that take part in it.
2. Organize team building games and activities
Team building games and activities encourage communication and increase collaboration. There are a number of different and fun ideas available online that you can choose from and add to your calendars. Many companies have been hosting cooking sessions, weekly trivia contests, group games, etc. via Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams.
We have included links here to some awesome ideas for your next team building sessions:
3. Encourage learning
This is a great time to build on skills and enhance knowledge. Employees prefer working for companies that encourage their personal and professional development. When an organization promotes learning among employees, it instinctively keeps them motivated and engaged. As a manager, you can introduce different e-learning platforms to your team and encourage them to take up some non-work-related courses such as music, arts, etc., or any other course which they have always wanted to study but never had the time for. Many platforms are also offering free or discounted courses online, such as LinkedIn Learning, Udemy, Skillshare, and more. Check them out!
4. Communicate as much as you can
An effective two-way communication strategy needs to be in place to build connections and enable your employees to be independent and productive. Hold weekly check-in meetings, set performance goals for the month, quarter, and year, create channels on Slack or Google Meet to share ideas, exchange feedback, and most importantly, set clear expectations and requirements for tasks.
5. Show appreciation
Show appreciation to your employees for their hard work and great effort. Employee recognition and rewards can go a long way. It shows employees that their extra effort truly makes a difference, and they are thought of wherever they are. Give them a reward at the end of a successful task or send care packages to their doorsteps with a new theme every month. Care packages have proven to spur creativity, boost employee happiness, and increase engagement.
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