The pandemic of COVID has revolutionized everything; remote working is one of the significant changes. Now companies worldwide are adopting new working styles and hiring remote workers. Remote working comes with many advantages and, at the same time, challenges. As per the stats, around 70% of remote workers telecommunicate at least once weekly. For instance, big companies like Microsoft and Apple allow their employees remote work. But this move is challenging for employees, employers, and managers. Managing them all at once is challenging when people work from different territories and locations. At the same time, it’s difficult for remote teams to stay motivated and engaged. So, if you want a solution to this problem, start understanding this topic from scratch.
Importance of motivating remote teams in 2023:
We all live in a digital age where around 58% of businesses have decided to stay partially remote. So, in this situation, it’s a perfect time to learn how to keep employees motivated, as this is the future. Remote working comes with lots of benefits, but it also has downsides. For instance, you can face negative results if there is a lack of communication, loneliness, and remote teams are less motivated. But if you manage everything well, then you can enjoy these benefits:
- Motivated teams bring more value and productivity to the organization
- If the employees are motivated, their spirits will be high, ensuring they can achieve anything. Besides, motivated people encourage their coworkers and do everything as a unit.
- It helps to increase proactiveness in employees.
- In addition, an organization can lower the turnover rate by motivating employees. If employees are encouraged, they will be satisfied and less likely to quit.
So, an organization’s success depends on its employees’ motivation and engagement. However, if you are setting up a remote office, learn to motivate employees first.
Types of motivation:
Before moving forward, you need to learn more about the types of motivation. Thus, it mainly falls into the following categories:
Intrinsic motivation is linked with internal factors. However, you can focus on skills variety, task identity, significance, autonomy, and feedback to boost intrinsic motivation. Apart from this, extrinsic motivation has a connection with the outcome, and it could be in the shape of reward or punishment.
How to boost motivation in remote employees? A complete guide for 2023:
Many mistakes can kill a startup, and a lack of employee motivation is one of the biggest on the list. But if you think good communication is everything, then you are wrong. According to research, around 93% of communication is non-verbal, including body language and facial expressions. So, here are the following areas other than communication where you need to work to improve motivation in remote employees.
Set and convey clear expectations:
Before starting anything, the first and foremost thing is to set clear expectations. This way, both parties will know the goals, values, and results well. But if you don’t put in any plans, it will be hard for your employees to work in the right direction. However, the goals and expectations could be of the following types:
- You want your employees to be available all the time during working hours
- Do you want an instant response during working hours
- Provide status updates during and at the end of the day
If the performance expectation is realistic, you directly influence team members. But if you don’t convey clear expectations, then it can demotivate your team.
Show remote workers their performance:
It is the best way to motivate employees. So, you can show team members how their tasks are helping the company to achieve final goals. In this way, the team will feel more motivated as they see the bigger picture. You can arrange a company-wide meeting, public dashboard, or internal reports to show employees the result. But while sharing information, consider these points:
- Decide which information you will show to the team members
- Show the results after regular interval
- Show the impact of employees and appreciate their efforts.
Apart from this, it would help if you could talk to the team members individually and appreciate their roles.
Use the right tools:
If a task takes so much time, it will add frustration and anxiety to work life. So, you can eliminate this problem using the right tools because they will help make tasks more manageable. For instance, for payroll management, you can take the help of a paystub generator. Apart from this, here is a list of other valuable tools that can help a lot to make processes easier:
| Video conferencing | Zoom, Skype, and Hangouts |
| Cloud storage & file sharing tools | Dropbox, OneDrive, iCloud |
| File collaboration | Google Suite, Microsoft Office |
| Project management | Work Zone, Asana |
| Time tracking | Toggle, Clockify, Harvest |
| Development & design | Invision and Bamboo |
But before buying any tool, it’s vital to get a trial period and learn the basic features. This way, you can easily understand features and decide whether they fulfill your needs.
Recognize efforts and achievements:
It’s not a secret that people make more effort when they feel appreciated, and someone acknowledges their efforts. However, this is the same mantra in the case of the motivation of remote employees. According to Harvard:
“40% of employees put more effort in their work when management recognizes their efforts.”
So, as a team member, you can recognize individual and team efforts. But before praising your team, don’t forget it’s:
- Genuine
- Specific
- Timely
- And appropriate according to their working role and position
There are many ways to appreciate a team member. For instance, you can call and thank them, reward them, or donate something in their name. Besides, you can give a bonus as a token of appreciation.
Check performance regularly:
It’s another helpful trick to keep employees motivated. If you check performance regularly, they will finish their tasks without delay. You can arrange a meeting to review the presentation. But for a practical check session, follow these rules:
- Prepare an agenda for the session
- Ask open-ended questions to judge the progress
- Discuss long-term career goals
Most importantly, remember to make notes, as it’s the best way to remember everything. Also, always try to choose the best team and trust their abilities. These are small yet crucial if you want to motivate your remote employees in 2023.
Final words:
After encouraging and motivating employees, now it’s time to act. In the next step, you need to measure results and plan strategies for achieving the next milestone. Now that more employees have started remote working, that’s why; you will have to adopt unique methods for engagement, encouragement, retention, and motivation.