It is high time that organizations address employee engagement in remote work teams and encourage better communication

The Covid-19 pandemic brought a shift in workspaces and redefined communication within an organization. In the current scenario, remote work is the new norm and it is bound to extend to coming years till the uncertainty subsides. A Gartner survey of 800 global HR executives during early 2020 revealed that 88% of organizations have encouraged or required to work from home.

The communication trajectory has undergone drastic changes once the shift occurred. Employee interaction became virtual through various meeting and conferencing platforms like Microsoft Teams, Google Hangout, Owl Labs, and Logitech Meetups.

Further, these virtual interactions encourage better remote working ecosystems and productivity. A Fortune 500 survey of CEOs found that 58.3% of respondents believed that the economic activity will return to the pre-pandemic level only by 2022. And 97.2% were concerned about keeping employees safe and productively employed during the scenario.

Most of the managers are worried about maintaining productivity and keeping employee relations at ease in the absence of a physical set-up. Organizations can incorporate various digital tools and data-driven approaches to ensure efficiency and establish a connection with the employees during remote work.

Promoting Two-Way Communication

The interaction between managers and employees and vice versa can improve productivity level even during remote work. Managers and team leads should ensure constant interaction through various digital tools and apps. They can also circulate spreadsheets to get feedback on employee engagement during a short span. Various platforms have introduced free survey templates to circulate during remote working times. Everybody is going through tough times,  and employees might feel uncertainty and a need to share. Feedback forms and frequent group interactions can ease the stress looming over the team.

Tracking Productivity

Companies can leverage key performance indicators to track productivity. KPIs can ensure the evaluation of work processes during a timeline. This method can help in understanding flaws and improvement of projects with respect to the outcomes. An organization should create a KPI framework concerning its business goals within which teams and employees can be monitored and these should be frequently changed once reviewed. While reviewing the status, employers should focus on communicating expectations and business goals to create a clear idea of how to deal with a project.

Using project management tools like Productboard can provide better work visibility and collaboration with the remote working teams through task prioritization and tracking work progress.

Building Strong Networks Using ONA

Organizational Network Analysis (ONA) can boost the engagement level in an organization. ONA is a methodology to measure the informal networks, communication, and information flow within an organization. ONA studies different nodes or critical people and networks and provides data and visualizations on valuable insights. By employing organizational network analysis, it becomes easier to increase collaboration, efficiency and detect barriers to smooth communication.

Providing Training

Employers and leaders should make sure that the employees are equipped to operate emerging technologies. Since remote work involves a lot of software and apps, organizations should ensure the distribution of adequate skill-development training and tools. Virtual communication might have its nuances and companies cannot expect the employees to have a prerequisite knowledge about technical aspects.

Ensuring employee engagement can be difficult during remote work scenarios. But organizations must understand the needs of their employees and work towards creating a friendly virtual ecosystem to ensure maximum productivity and minimum risks.