It seems like an oxymoron. While our teams worry about keeping safe, learn from home, work from home, and alternate schedules, how do we ensure that they remained engaged with their work?
Employee engagement has many definitions, but my favorite comes from Wikipedia: An engaged employee has a positive attitude toward an organization and its values. You may want to read that again. More and more employees are placing higher emphasis on organizational values.
Employee engagement is infused into every part of the employee life cycle. Whether you’re an employee or an employer, it’s important to ensure that your values are on display, beginning with the hiring process. Keep in mind that interviewing goes both ways. Make sure that you’re asking questions about expectations and that the expectations align from both an employee and employer perspective.
A great example in the current environment is working from home. Some employers have been firm believers in working from the office. Whether or not the employees could work from home never came into question — until the pandemic. Employers had to make a quick shift to allowing more flexibility to their workforce. Some employers made this transition gracefully, and some did not. Those that did have seen a spike in engagement. Those that did not are paying the price. So what happens next? Now that we know employees can legitimately work from home, do we bring them back into the office? It will depend on your organization’s values and belief system. You may quickly find out whether they align with the values and beliefs of your employees.
Engagement isn’t one-size-fits-all. We work with people, not widgets, so each individual will be engaged in a different way. It’s best to get to know your team, and there’s no better time to get to know them than now.
Just because we’re not all face-to-face doesn’t mean engagement activities should stop. It just looks different. Here are a few suggestions for keeping your team engaged from a distance:
- Write thank you notes and mail them to your employees’ homes. Thank not only your team members — thank their families as well.
- Create challenges based on healthy habits, for example, drinking a certain amount of water or taking a certain amount of steps per day. Be sure to celebrate the wins.
- Continue regularly scheduled meetings, but send out an agenda ahead of time. No one wants to participate in another unproductive video chat.
- Host a virtual lunch or coffee hour. Make it extra special by having something delivered to your team. During that time, make a rule that no one is allowed to talk about work.
- Call your team just to check in. You can no longer stop by to chat in the office, but checking in with them shouldn’t stop.
- Be honest — it’s okay to let your team know if you’re struggling too. A little vulnerability will go a long way.
You can find many more engagement activities online. It’s important to make sure that the activities you choose fit within your organization’s value system. Otherwise you’ll be sending mixed signals.
For years, employers have worked with the mantra of treating people consistently. As long as you’re consistently treating them like human beings, you’re pointed in the right direction.
