Posted on: Monday February 25, 2019
Employee engagement is high on the business agenda, primarily because of its close links to staff motivation and productivity. Finding ways to increase levels of engagement has become one of the biggest challenges for organisations with large numbers of staff, and especially for those whose employees have flexible work schedules or work remotely.
Employee recognition is a key tool for increasing employee engagement, so managers must remember to give feedback and praise frequently. However, this means more than sending generic messages of thanks. Employees want to hear that their individual efforts are recognised and valued. Unfortunately, when implementing reward and recognition programmes for a remote or dispersed workforce, even communication can be a challenge.
Communication
This may come as a surprise to many companies, but it’s likely that you already have an effective, low cost communications infrastructure in place, you just need to utilise it correctly. Nearly every remote worker will have a smartphone, either provided by work or for their personal use. With people spending up to 4 hours a day on their smartphones, it seems like a no brainer to utilise this technology to help with motivating employees.
Even in this age of mobile optimisation, it can still be a clunky and unpleasant process to access a website on a mobile device, so why not cut out the middle man and go straight for an app? Making an improved employee experience accessible anytime, anywhere. This allows for the use of push notifications to say a quick thank you to a team or department, or to publicly recognise the hard work of an employee.
Rewards
Going beyond verbal recognition can be somewhat of a challenge, as it is hard to know what each employee desires, and often there isn’t enough time to ask. Fortunately, technology solves this issue too, as implementing an online reward system which allows employees to pick from a set of rewards will allow you to give them the exact gift they want. However, it is important to ensure that if the gift card, voucher, or points are not redeemed, the cost is refunded back to your company pot rather than disappearing into the ether. Benefits are supposed to boost your bottom line, not break the bank.
Employee Benefits
Reward and recognition should not be the only weapon in your employee engagement arsenal. Whilst remote team members aren’t going to benefit from free fruit in the office or the in-house seminar on Pensions, this doesn’t mean you should remove these benefits altogether, but it is important that your benefits are inclusive and appeal to all staff, wherever they are. If you are having a financial wellbeing seminar, make sure to record it or stream it for remote staff to watch online at a time convenient to them. Posting out free fruit to the staff who work at home may not be the wisest idea, but you can implement an employee discount programme that allows staff to save on their weekly shop.
These are simple examples but it goes to show that a multi-faceted approach to employee engagement programmes can improve your overall employee experience and help your employees work happier.
To discuss your employee engagement strategy get in touch with one of our experts or call 01908 605000.
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