5 Management & Motivation Tips for Work-from-Home Employees

Cabin fever is real for work-from-home employees.

Working from home can make employees more efficient and productive as they have more time and energy to get things done. The challenge lies in encouraging teamwork as well as motivating and rewarding your employees. The key is to establish trust, open communications, and the groundwork necessary to foster effective and seamless team collaboration and connection despite the remote setup.

Doing so is already a struggle in the best of times, even more so now with the stress and anxiety in this pandemic. As an employer, here are 5 ways you can effectively manage and motivate your work-from-home employees during the lockdown.

1. Stay connected to your employees

Keeping open communication lines during these challenging times is key to a successful remote work collaboration and engagement within your teams. As a leader, it is up to you to establish strong communication within your staff by setting up regular Zoom meetings to keep them updated about company and work developments. Your staff will also crave human interaction during this long period of isolation so constant communication is important to keep them sane, engaged, and motivated at work.

2. Help out your employees any way that you can

People are hit hard by all the uncertainties and difficulties that the pandemic brings. This makes it hard for them to focus on their jobs and maintain their physical and emotional wellbeing. Extending your help any way you can (does not have to be limited to financial assistance) can have a huge impact on the productivity and morale of your staff.

Make sure that the transition from office to work-from-home is seamless by providing your employees with the tools and supplies they need to do their jobs. Send them work-from-home kits with office stationery, exercise necessities, first aid kits, and even the same snacks they’ll have if they were in the office.

(L-R): Home Office Pack, Hamper – The Snack Attack, and Handy Helper Pack

3. Show your appreciation to your staff

Showing your appreciation to your staff keeps them engaged and motivated. Unfortunately, it is a struggle to show employee appreciation when everyone is working in different places. What you can do is recognise your employee and team achievements and contributions through online means like a simple announcement in your communication channels.

You could also set up a cloud-based employee rewards system where they can accrue points and redeem them for a prize. Fellow employees can also appreciate and nominate each other through the system, fostering peer recognition.

Why wait until things go back to normal before sending rewards to your staff? You can order small tokens of appreciation and send them to their homes. You can order employee reward items from Brandconnect and have the items sent to your staff members directly.

4. Loosen up the reins a bit

Working at home makes it difficult for employees to focus on just their jobs. They have other things going on at home, like children, household chores and more. Therefore, don’t expect constant availability from the employees. What’s more important is to keep them accountable for their actions. Exercise a bit of flexibility as long as they are fulfilling their job responsibilities and doing their jobs well.

5. Set up a virtual support community with your employees

Staying cooped up at home can take its toll on the mental health of your remote employees. They have nowhere else to go after working their jobs and no one else to interact with, so it is easy to get burned out. Build a virtual support group with your employees so that everyone can commiserate and communicate with each other. Keep the environment light and casual in order to make them feel comfortable enough to open up to their work friends.

If possible, you could hire a mental health professional to help those who are having mental and emotional difficulties with coping with the situation. This lockdown will be in place for a while and your employees need all the support they can get to keep them mentally and emotionally healthy.

Keep your work-from-home employees engaged and motivated this lockdown period!

It is important now more than ever to keep your remote employees engaged and motivated to ensure that your business is running in tip-top shape. For ideas on employee rewards and work-from-home kits, you can request for a free consultation from our Account Managers. You can also call or email us.