Employee engagement activities for remote workers

With 74% of jobseekers looking for roles with at least some days of remote work, it’s clear that working from home isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. But, with such a demand for remote working, HR has been left with the difficult task of engaging remote employees.

To provide some clarity on how remote employee engagement works, we’ve shared some of the top employee engagement activities for remote workers you can implement today. 

Remote employee engagement 

In a world where 63% of UK employees work remotely at least once a week, remote employee engagement is high on the agenda for HR teams and line managers everywhere. Just like in-person employees, your remote workers will need that extra push to ensure they produce the standard and quality of work you expect. 

Luckily engaging remote employees isn’t too dissimilar to regular employee engagement methods, and there are plenty of employee engagement ideas for remote workers that you can implement almost instantly. 

Why is engaging remote employees important?

Just like with in-office employees, engaging remote employees is crucial to the success of your remote workers. Not only does supporting and engaging remote workers help produce a more effective team, but it can also do wonders for your turnover rate.

Here are just some of the reasons why employee engagement activities for remote workers are essential. 

1. Increased productivity 

Engaging remote employees can result in a significant increase in the productivity of your work-from-home staff. In fact, according to Gallup, remote employee engagement strategies have helped to boost work productivity in remote teams, making them 18% more productive than their disengaged counterparts. 

2. Stronger employer brand 

Your employer brand is just as important for your current employees as it is when you are sourcing candidates. By implementing the right employee engagement ideas for remote workers, you can better showcase your employer brand, and demonstrate to remote employees just why they chose your organisation

3. Better retention

Ask anyone why it’s important to engage remote employees, and 9 times out of 10, you’ll hear ‘higher employee retention’. Why? Because it’s a well-known fact that engaging remote workers is the best way to build trust and loyalty with your remote workers.

Pair your remote employee engagement strategy with a strong remote onboarding process, and you’ve got yourself more than a good chance of holding on to your work-from-home talent. 

What are the challenges to engaging remote workers?

While over half of employers in the UK offer remote working, there are still a number of challenges brought by the change in working style. Here are some of the challenges employers face with remote employee engagement. 

1. Lack of contact time with colleagues

For remote workers, the lack of face-to-face contact with colleagues may lead to a ‘disconnect’ from your workplace culture, further harming your remote employee engagement. 

This not only reduces the collaborative potential of your workforce but may stagnate the social, more cultural side of your company culture.

2. Increased risk of burnout when working remotely

Employee burnout is a huge concern for HR teams – an inevitable consequence of overworked employees who lack a healthy work-life balance. 

Remote employees – especially those new to the lifestyle – can often struggle to develop a structured working routine. Not only can this impact their day-to-day performance, but it can hinder your chances of engaging remote employees. 

3. Reduced exposure to your workplace values

Remote employees are given less exposure to your workplace values, meaning they’re less likely to align with your company culture, and likely to miss out on a lot of the employee engagement activities you have in person. 

While this may not have a direct impact on remote employee engagement, it does have implications for employees’ career satisfaction. 86% of candidates prefer to work for a company whose culture matches their personality. Any disturbance to this cultural compatibility will run the risk of higher staff turnover, reduced employee engagement, and damage to your employer brand.

How to engage remote employees

While engaging a team of remote workers may seem challenging, the right approach will allow your employees to thrive in their roles – while enjoying the benefits of flexible working.

Here are six employee engagement activities for remote workers that you can try today to better support remote employees. 

1. Adapt your HR strategy

Your remote employees’ expectations are dynamic, shifting along with any changes to their roles or working environment. Dynamic expectations require a dynamic HR strategy – one that is built to adapt to the changing wants and needs within your workforce.

When considering your remote employee engagement strategy, use surveys and polls to evaluate your employees’ wants and needs on a regular basis. This will help you to adapt your leadership strategy to the renewed expectations of remote and hybrid workers.

2. Maintain transparency

Transparency is a critical part of gaining the trust and loyalty of your employees. This becomes even more important when teams are working remotely, due to the infrequency of face-to-face contact with your leadership team.

Companies that are great at engaging remote employees use events like company-wide meetings to inform their colleagues of any necessary business updates. 

Don’t be afraid to broadcast these over zoom/teams to your remote workers! This will ensure everyone remains up to date with the latest developments within your company – no matter their working location!

3. Hold regular 1:1 check-ups

When working remotely, it’s important for managers to maintain a 1:1 relationship with their employees, rather than focusing strictly on their team as a whole. Make sure to check in with your remote colleagues individually and on a regular basis. 

With consistent 1:1 contact, you can gauge your remote employees’ wellbeing, understand any issues they may be facing, and discuss ways you can adapt your remote engagement strategy to better support your people. 

4. Set SMART goals 

With the increased risk of burnout amongst remote workers, SMART targeting is a valuable tool for combating potential burnout and helping employees manage their workloads. This focuses on setting objectives with the following attributes:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-based

Using SMART targeting provides workers with the structure and support necessary to achieve their goals and makes it easier for their managers to track their progress.

Managing your employee’s workload by setting realistic targets doesn’t just help to reduce the risk of burnout, but helps to keep remote employees actively engaged in their work.

Our remote employee engagement ideas should be combined with ‘switch-off’ training, encouraging remote employees to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

5. Allow time for learning

Learning and development continue to be one of the biggest drivers of remote employee engagement, with 76% of remote employees looking for opportunities for career growth. 

While you’ll undoubtedly focus on maintaining the productivity levels of your employees working from home, it’s important to provide opportunities for your people to grow and develop their skill-set. 

6. Hold virtual company events

The social aspects of working in a team, including such community activities as charity and simply getting a brew together, are obviously hindered when working from home, but these are great ways of engaging remote employees. 

Keep your remote workers involved in any business vent you have, invite them to join in person, or online. If you manage a whole team of remote employees, hold regular catch up calls outside of work times. 

Another example of employee engagement ideas for remote workers is holding paid business events or retreats to encourage employees to build relationships, generate ideas, and work as a team. 

How can I track the performance of remote workers?

For some managers, remote working influences anxiety over their employees’ long-term performance. This is why it’s important to measure goals, achievements, and progress on a regular basis. 

Don’t micro-manage

One mistake some employers make is to over-manage their remote workers. While it’s good to be in the loop regarding employees’ performance, applying too much pressure and surveillance can be counterproductive. 

Make sure to avoid micromanagement of your remote employees; you need to have faith in their ability to reach their goals, while offering support when needed.

Do carry out regular reviews & catch-ups

A great way to remain informed on employees’ performance is to host frequent formal/informal catch-ups. Meeting regularly with your employees to discuss their goals, targets, and development is key to ensuring engagement, and identifying performance strengths and weaknesses.

Easily drive engagement within your teams, and boost staff retention rates across your business – all with one tool!