Remote Wednesdays: Keeping your team engaged while working from home

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Written by Trisha Bhullar

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Keeping your team engaged across years of working together is challenging at work, let alone when everyone’s home! Your team members are too busy being worried about their health, getting distracted by kids, or fixing themselves snacks in the kitchen to be fully engaged in work. What’s the secret to keeping your team engaged while working from home? Let’s start with these handy tips. 

 

#1 Literally engage them

The first tip to keeping your team engaged while working from home involves literally engaging them. Assign intra-team buddies to check up on each other a couple times a week. Schedule team zoom calls to remind everyone of what they’re working towards and what it feels like to be part of a team. Getting a taste of team spirit, even if it’s just 30 minutes a day, could be enough to motivate employees while they work from home. 

 

#2 Promote wellness

Here at Timeqube, we love spreading awareness of the importance of having wellness in our daily lives. Considering how unexpected and jarring the current circumstances are, many employees might feel emotionally isolated, which could also lead to disengagement from their team. In order to keep teams engaged while working from home, try promoting wellness within your team. Encourage frank discussions about the issue at hand, and listen to each other’s challenges. Also take the time to acknowledge the positives of the current circumstances, no matter how small they may be. As a team, you can further practice wellness exercises, such as by organising morning Zoom yoga sessions or evening mindful meditation sessions. 

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#3 Realign roles

Give everyone a chance to feel part of the team. There’s no better way to do this than giving them some form of fun leadership role. A Chief Happiness Officer could be in charge of checking in with teammates, while a Master Yogi can plan and lead Zoom yoga classes. By giving everyone a fun stake in the team, you can engage them in a stress-free way which makes them look forward to work. They’ll then carry this attitude with them when completing other tasks. 

 

Create, invent and don’t give up!

In challenging times, it’s most important to stick together and create moments of fun. Keeping employees engaged while they work from home shouldn’t be a chore to boost ROI. It should be a genuine effort to keep everyone productive, excited and happy.