Top 5 Ways to Motivate a Remote Workforce
by: Maria Alaez
Remote working has increased dramatically this year, with more than twice as many people are working remotely in North America compared to last year’s average.
Making the transition to a remote workforce is very difficult. It can be challenging to maintain effective communication and nurture the employee experience, and this may lead to an unmotivated, discouraged workforce. Despite the growth of remote working, studies show that 38% of remote workers and 15% of remote managers received no training on how to work remotely!
The Harvard Business Review “found that when people care about and believe in the brand, they’re motivated to work harder and their loyalty to the company increases.”
While remote working can bring benefits to your employees and your business, maintaining a strong company culture continues to be the greatest challenge. “Happiness raises business productivity in employees by 31 percent. 65 percent of employees haven't received any form of recognition for good work in the last year!”
Imprint Genius can create a merch store for your business that will foster employee engagement and retention. Our automated merch management solution is best for connecting remote employees with your brand.
Here are some strategies our clients have found to keep their employees happy and connected, even during a remote work experience:
- Keep It Consistent
Whether it be weekly meetings, emails, check-ins, morale-boosters, etc., create a consistent engagement strategy and stick to it. When these calls are “regular and predictable”, you can make sure your team can rely on you for a sense of stability and assurance. Without face-to-face communication, it can be difficult to effectively convey team goals and tasks, so establishing a consistent and open form of conversation is very important.
Our automation solution can schedule repeating dates for employees to receive gift cards to your company’s merch store. Whether these rewards are based on certain dates and holidays, or employee goal attainment, we can make sure that the rewards system is kept consistent for every employee.
- Personalize It
When it comes to employee engagement and satisfaction, one size does not fit all. You have a diverse team, and they require a diverse approach to ensure your work reaches them all effectively. Try and incorporate different methods of engagement and involvement in your strategy in order to reach every type of employee you have. Oh, and avoid the cheap, bland giveaways and generic gift baskets.
Companies that work remote have lower turnover rates, giving you more time to find a personalized engagement and satisfaction approach that works for the members of your team. Employees already like remote work! Now that they have more work-life balance and productivity flexibility, you can find creative ways to reward them! This is why we developed a Swag On-Demand solution that has no item minimum, so every employee can choose from thousands of items to select exactly what works best for them.
- Celebrate achievements!
Virtual high fives just aren't going to cut it! You need to find ways to celebrate your employees now that they are not in the office. If you have an Imprint Genius company merch store, you can send employees e-gift cards for them to pick out branded items! These gifts arrive directly at the employees’ home, what a great way to remind them that you are thinking about their accomplishments!
- Collaboration is key!
It can be easy for individual members of your team to work with their “heads down” on projects since they are not sitting next to each other anymore. While it may take some setting up, integrating collaboration tools into your company flow can increase the communication of ideas in your team. Check out some great collaboration tools below!
Brilliant Collaboration Tools for Remote Teams of 2020:
- Get Feedback From Employees
Establish an open communication and feedback system with your employees so they can tell you what’s working and what’s not. After all, you’re doing this for them. Make sure that they feel appreciated and heard by incorporating their feedback into your engagement plans.
With remote working, companies are spending less time onboarding employees. Studies show that fully distributed companies take 33% less time to hire a new employee. This is the perfect opportunity to establish a strong sense of communication with the distanced workers joining your team.
How Imprint Genius Can Help:
We create custom company swag stores with over 100,000 branded gifts with no minimums. Our clients use our platform to set up employee rewards programs that keep employees engaged and motivated while working from home. Every month or quarter, they send out electronic gift cards to employees who have reached their goals as a reward for their perseverance and hard work while out of the office. Their employees choose exactly which products from the company merch store, taking the guesswork out of it and ensuring they’ll enjoy the products and represent the brand proudly.
Learn more about how our custom merch stores can boost company morale and keep employees engaged while working from home.