Remote Workers Engagement

1. Company’s purpose

For employees to be highly engaged, they must feel personally aligned with their organization’s strategy and mission. For virtual workers, who are removed from their organization’s physical community, alignment with strategy and mission is particularly important.

Expose remote workers to the company's decision makers; it opens remote workers to career opportunities and provides executives with options they might not otherwise have considered.

Be sure to put into words the significance and importance of any job up front, the same holds true virtually. To help align remote workers, list the company strategy and mission on the Intranet. Computers can be loaded with a screensaver highlighting strategy and mission.

2. Direct contact

Use video chat and phone calls instead of emails and texts. Schedule the next face-to-face meeting immediately after the last one. This helps remote workers maintain the momentum from the meeting, and it strengthens the manager-employee connection.

3. Frequent contact - Employees who are not kept informed think the worst. Fill the communication gap between the head office and the virtual workplace.

4. Work impact

Managers should set daily, weekly, and monthly reminders to consider their remote workers’ accomplishments and identify means for recognizing them. Show remote workers the impact of their work, making it clear they shape the company even in absentia.

Recognition could involve bestowing an award on the employee at a virtual staff meeting or sending a thank-you email. Even a simple phone call thanking your employee for his or her hard work can be a powerful motivator.

5. Leadership

One of the most powerful driver of Employee Engagement is employees’ belief in their supervisors’ managerial abilities.