Five Ways to Support and Motivate Employees
During a Pandemic
Many employees have been turned their homes into offices as a result of a pandemic. The human resource should design a comprehensive strategy to motivate employees and promote remote worker productivity.Â
Some employees have to find a balance when dealing with all their life issues such as taking care of their families. Companies have an opportunity to use their resources and take care of their employees. Here are five ways to support and motivate employees during a pandemic.
1. Focus on employee health
Supporting and motivating employees goes beyond the work into emotional, physical, relational, and mental health. It also goes beyond reminding them to observe the laid down health protocols.Â
According to management research writers for a leading assignment help, if you show the employees that you are concerned about their well-being, they feel recognized as part of an organization’s important resource. During a pandemic, you can make use of the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and extend the services to immediate family members.Â
Constantly remind the employees that EAP is confidential and they can obtain not only work-related services but also services concerning their personal lives. There is a tendency for organizations to focus more on physical health.Â
Mental health disorders that may arise as a result of a pandemic such as the COVID-19 can affect employee performance. Employees deserve support, motivation, and encouragement.
Remote workers tend to be lonely, which calls for the need to constantly connect with them virtually as you address their health issues. To promote the mental and emotional well-being of your employees, allow them to interact with one another as they share life experiences and opinions.Â
As the best writing services mention, physical activities are beneficial to the physical and mental health of individuals. You can use fitness reimbursement to alleviate stress levels and reduce sick days. The reimbursement can be bone partially or in full. This can show that you are taking the mental and physical well-being of your remote employees. Remote employees may suffer from burnout because they consider work to be always there. Your task should be to encourage them to separate their private life and work. Let them take some time off where they don’t connect to their team or respond to emails.Â
2. Communicate openly
During a pandemic, you need to find ways to communicate with your employees. Have virtual clues to understand what they are thinking. Take advantage of free or cheaper digital communication solutions such as remote meeting software. Virtual meetings make employees feel connected and motivated.
Cultivate a culture of adding remote workers on calls and treating them as if they are in a physical set up. You can also introduce appropriate workplace sense of humor in your communication. This can help to establish goodwill on your team while keeping the communication lines open.Â
Focus on being transparent while communicating with your remote employees. Define and communicate organization’s vision in the time of crisis and beyond. The vision must be aligned with the routine tasks performed by every employee.Â
Financial strength and profit are important parts of a company’s vision, but communication should be geared towards motivation and employee productivity. Make your employees understand how their work can make a difference in other people’s lives and the society at large.
Treat employees as business partners and don’t wait for scheduled meetings to update them on what is happening. You can send them videos with company updates while focusing on being honest and transparent. This is an effective way of removing any kind of rumors and anxiety among employees.Â
When sending messages, observe consistency and update all employees when situations change. This can allow employees to remain focused as they clearly understand their roles in the organization.Â
3. Give employees the right tools
Remote employees deserve to be given the right working tools to keep them motivated. An ill-equipped team cannot be productive as they cannot complete their work on time. Lack of the right working tools can interrupt the employee workflow and hinder communication processes.
Remote employees depend on technology and if you can equip them well, this will result in improved productivity. They need good internet connection, email services, video conferencing tools, time tracking tools, and project management tools to do their jobs effectively.Â
The right tools allow for cooperation and communication which are key components of employee motivation and productivity. Ensure that specialist roles such as designers and project managers can access the appropriate workflow apps they need to be successful.Â
Create a budget for reliable technology. Nothing kills employee motivation fast than slow computer programs and crashing laptops that interrupt daily tasks. The company can fund a high-speed internet connection or you can encourage employees to invest in it. It is frustrating to have e video call interrupted or delayed due to poor connection.Â
Upgrading technology begins by searching for the available technology and encouraging employees to do the same. In this way, you can uncover ways to improve efficiency as you familiarize yourselves with the tools.Â
Your team members can also explore other technologies. You can invest in low-cost or free trials to begin with, and advance with time. Holding virtual meetings may require you consider a test run with a virtual meeting interface competitor. Compare the benefits and limitations of the various platforms and select the best suitable for your team.
4. Manage employee workload effectively
Remote employees can easily get overwhelmed with work. Ensure that the employees are aware of expectations. For instance, define how often you want them to check-in and whether you should track their time. Letting your team know about the expectations improves motivation by allowing them to be focused.Â
You can also engage employees as often as possible, whether through instant messaging, video chat, email, or phone calls. If you take long before connecting with them, they may feel left out and get demotivated, leading to poor performance.Â
Schedule regular meetings and sometimes team building activities that can foster unity and allow employees to bond. The meetings can enable employees to know each other feel connected and more inclined to communicate with each other regularly.Â
Being open and transparent with your employees can allow them to follow suit because you will be leading by example. If transparency is part of your team culture, it may be easier to build trust and the employees can feel at ease to approach you with concerns and questions. Ensure that your transparency is non-discriminatory among the team members.Â
Focus on the visibility of the remote support team to ensure that all employees have a healthy workload. When working remotely, employees can easily get anxious and tired and even burn out.Â
Manage the employee workload to monitor burnout issues and create a balance among all the team members. If you find that one employee has so much work to handle and another one has less, consider reallocating. The idea is to ensure that everyone is handling work within their capacity and no one is being overworked.Â
5. Reward employees
Communicating with remote employees regularly is not enough. You should go the extra mile to reward employee performance as you could do if they were working from an office. Employee recognition is one of the most effective ways to motivate employees and increase productivity.Â
Grant employees autonomy and show grace even when they don’t do things your way. The most important thing is for them to deliver the desired results. Know your employees and what their reward to them is likely to be.Â
Provide them with cheap or free online classes, whether they are work-related or not. Allowing the employees to participate in activities such as cooking, meditation, and fitness, in addition to career development courses, can help to improve their physical and mental well-being. Identify career development courses and sign up your team.
You can also give timely gifts such as supplying the employees with stay-safe kits constituting things like hand sanitizers, masks, and so on. Brand these gifts with your company logo to allow them to connect with the vision. Organize virtual team-building events like a scavenger hunt, playing Pictionary, and so on.Â
Mail the employees branded items for a job well done or as a way of appreciating them. This can be an effective way to motivate them and boost productivity. Remember to celebrate successes through team appreciation. Hold virtual socials with a theme showing a sense of collaboration and cooperation.Â
You can design peer-to-peer recognition programs to motivate employees and build team cohesion. Peer recognition helps to create a positive company culture. Employee rewards may extend to sending electronic thank-you notes and acknowledging their anniversaries and birthdays.
Send employees some fun random messages or ask them to name their favorite things such as hobbies, food, and restaurants. Embrace diversity and educate yourself on the various cultures and backgrounds of your employees.Â
Conclusion
Organizations should embrace remote working as a way of enhancing work continuity amid a pandemic and beyond. Employee motivation plays an important role and it continues to be vital for team productivity. The key to achieving ultimate productivity is focusing on employees’ health, providing the right tools, optimizing workloads, creating a productive environment, and fostering communication.Â
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Author's Bio
Charlie Svensson is a talented academic writer working as a freelancer for thesis writing service, dissertation writing services and some well-known professional writing services. His talent comes from his strong academic and research career background and his natural flair for writing and edit complex assignments. His attitude to take up challenges and bringing great results in writing makes him stand out as a writer.Â
