4 Ways Remote Employees Feel Connected

Categories: Remote Hiring and Virtual Staffing

Remote jobs are not so uncommon anymore. After 2020, many companies made the switch to a remote workspace, as more employees began their search for one. While this has opened up opportunities for growth, it has also brought some challenges forcing companies to incorporate a flexible workplace. One of the biggest challenges was finding new ways to help employees feel connected while working away from the office. Here are four ways that your company can help its employees stay connected while working remotely.

1. Interviews and Recruitment

Switching to a remote company, whether fully remote or hybrid, can bring new pros and cons when it comes to hiring new employees. Now that many companies are holding interviews over a phone or video call, it can be slightly more difficult to fully connect with the interviewee. Solely relying on résumés to try to better understand the person you’re interviewing can be tough. Try looking into alternatives you should use in your recruitment process.

Holding more than one interview can help you in making sure you cover all the necessary questions. Sometimes holding a more personal interview can help calm the nerves and open up the conversation to topics that truly allow you to get to know the interviewee. These interviews should probably be held at the end of all interviews. It is important to conclude on whether or not they would be a good fit for the position being offered before getting to know them on a personal level.

If your company is finding it to be more difficult to navigate the recruiting process and bring in qualified candidates, look into an agency to help with recruitment. This will not only free up some of your current employees time, but it will allow you a chance to hit the ground running with new hires that have a background in what it is your company specializes in.

2. Meetings and Announcements

One major challenge that remote work brought to companies was finding a way to allow communication to happen with ease across all departments. Many companies looked to platforms that focused on video meetings or chats to solve this problem. Video meetings allow for face-to-face communication with remote employees. Video chats have opened so many doors when it comes to a remote work environment. Not only can they be added to most calendars for planned meetings, but they are an extremely easy way to communicate with a coworker quickly if a question arises.

Video chats can be used for meetings within the department such as brainstorming sessions or running through numbers and the week’s pipeline with your direct team. They can also be used to host hundreds of employees if there is an update within the company that needs to be shared with all departments. It can be tough to find ways to engage your employees in not-so-enjoyable conversations, but not impossible. Allowing time for employees to communicate through video meetings could increase productivity, motivation, and connections throughout the company.

With our new remote work world, try holding some fun company events through a video chat. Not all meetings need to be business related, especially during the holiday season. Some fun examples could be having a meeting for trivia sessions or telling the teams to wear an ugly Christmas sweater. These won’t be weekly meetings, so plan them out and try to have fun with them. Consider it a team-building activity through your computer.

3. Recognition and Appreciation

Working remotely can be tough on anyone. Letting your employees know how they’re doing might be the most important thing to focus on when switching to a remote workspace. Working from home usually entails an office space with your laptop and a monitor. This can get pretty lonely as there are no coworkers right around the corner anymore. Keeping up with how employees are doing can boost morale and increase productivity.

This doesn’t just mean letting someone know when they’re doing a great job. It means reaching out to be a resource for others. Some people learn best by following and taking notes on how others work. Letting your people know that the work they are doing is not going unnoticed and that they are appreciated will lead to happier employees. Answering questions, holding each other accountable, and shouting someone out for their achievements can transform your remote company for the better.

Another idea to show appreciation to your employees could be a platform for recognition points. Research different recognition platforms that allow you to show your employees that their work is valuable.

4. Benefits and Perks

This part of a company could change after switching to a remote environment. Different companies can offer a variety of benefits. Make sure your employees know about the open enrollment period. This is important as they only have the chance to choose and make changes to their benefits once a year during this time. The benefits and perks companies offer might be the most important to some employees. Focusing on how specific benefits could help your employees the best could be a key factor in their decision to stay with your company.

Some companies might even offer more fun and inclusive perks such as a fitness bonus. This could look like giving employees a certain amount of money for products that will increase their fitness routine. Many companies are also offering a work-from-home stipend to help with the cost of office products that are now their responsibility to purchase. There are many more ideas for perks to offer employees that will help them feel more connected to their company, these are just a few.

Do your remote employees feel connected?

People that work for a company don’t want to spend their days zoned in on a computer with no interaction. Holding meetings and sharing announcements through video conferencing is a great way to bring back some feeling of being in the office. Giving recognition and showing appreciation go a long way and can increase employee motivation. Including benefits and fun perks can encourage your employees to strive to be better every day. We hope this article helps you better understand where your company could focus more of its efforts to help remote employees feel more connected.