Engaging your workforce can be a challenge in any situation, but when your workforce is completely remote it can be even more difficult to connect...or so you would think. Based on a 360 degree feedback study done at an investment firm, remote workers are more engaged in their jobs, and here's why:
- Proximity breeds complacency: In a traditional office setting communication and interaction are so easy they are often taken for granted. Managers email employees when they are 50 feet away, and fail to have face-to-face interaction if they sit on another floor or down a different hallway. When a workforce is remote is requires effective communication and interpersonal interaction is less frequent, and must be used wisely.
- Absence makes people try harder to connect: When managers are further from their employees email is constant, but it is important to talk on the phone and see each other in person when they can. The effort it takes to make real professional connections with co-workers in other locations is inherently engaging.
- Leaders of virtual teams make a better use of tools: Communications tools must be used in order to function, remote managers find the correct ways to use the appropriate communication tools at the appropriate time. This is a skill and a leadership tool that non-remote managers could benefit from mastering more often.
- Leaders of remote teams maximize the time their teams spend together: Working efficiently when remote teams gather is a key to success. Eliminating distractions and using people's time efficiently for work is necessary, it is equally important if teams gather for more than one day to spend time socializing and getting to know team-members outside of the meeting environment.
Incorporating rewards into remote employee engagement can strengthen the inherent engagement of a remote workforce. Maintaining a mainstream rewards system, providing small rewards such as gift cards for reaching goals and a job well done, will only improve the employee engagement level.
For more information on remote employee engagement check out this article from Harvard Business Journal.
