Although this article is catered for employers, instead of giving the usual "employer-centric copy," we're going to show you what working from home can be like from an employee's perspective.
Let's begin
Since governments imposed restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is going through significant changes; many businesses and entrepreneurs have made remote work optional or, in some cases even compulsory, using it as a way to shed unnecessary overhead.
Employees are now figuring out that to work from home doesn't necessarily mean staying in bed and lazing around. Being part of a remote team means you are still waiting as productive as you would do in a typical office.
Remote work has posed a challenge for most of us because of the pandemic's global impact. People rely heavily on mindless social media scrolls as they look for headlines from news programs, which makes them less productive when it comes to working. Most companies are now more open to working from home.
With the adjustments that the new normal brings, you might seek some ways to boost morale as part of a remote team. We gathered some tips on how to get that drive back while at home.
Maintain relationships with your coworkers
When you were still reporting in the office, you might not have appreciated your colleagues that much, considering you would see them almost every day as your work shoulder to shoulder with them inside a common work area.
Not seeing them wasn't much of an issue, and you rarely ever missed them. Now that you're cooped up reporting to work in your pajamas, you might forget that old sense of community. Try to take the extra step by maintaining old friendships far away from each other.
Hanging out online isn't the same as catching up in person, but it's better than nothing. You allow yourself to maintain relationships while home gives you that extra morale shot to get the day rolling. You might also enjoy hearing fun stories and see yourself smiling from ear to ear, just like old times.
Make a reliable routine
You might have trouble adjusting to isolation with the complete disconnect between your team as you work from home. You can dodge this problem by creating an outline for your daily work-from-home routine to create a more structured workflow.
If you're so used to working at a regular office, you might have gotten so used to a routine that was able to make your transition to tasks so flawlessly. While you're at home, you might surround yourself with a lot of distractions that keep you away from the task at hand.
To manage the problem, you can craft a routine that sort of reflects how you perform in the office. If you would usually strike a conversation with a workmate while grabbing a cup of coffee, you can recreate this habit by running a Zoom meeting with your best office pal while taking sips of your favorite morning drink.
If you were so used to making reports after meals on a particular day of the week, you have to remind yourself to reserve this time in the day to solely do that instead of letting simple household distractions keep you astray.
Developing healthy habits while doing remote work
It might seem unclear, but taking care of yourself as your work from home can be quite a challenge. Though you have all your needs at arm's length at home, you still need to establish healthy work habits in your new workplace.
You might tend to answer important emails and wind up not eating the whole day, do your daily exercise, or even worse, take a bath. The key is to plot specific times to step away from your work area and take small breaks so you can take care of yourself.
You don't need to go on long stressful commutes any longer, and you only get to see your coworkers on tiny screens. It's still so important to recognize that you need to take care of yourself and prioritize your health above all else.
Top 5 things you can do to boost the morale of your remote staff
- Have a channel where staff can communicate. This could be something such as Slack or a Skype group. We'd suggest you have one for work and one for "chit chat."
- Don't just do live chat messaging. Instead, have actual audio or video calls with your staff.
- Give bonuses and randomly reward staff for accomplishing goals.
- Create a suggestion/ideas board. This is an excellent way for getting staff to come out of their shell and provide you input. Maybe pose a question and ask your remote team to give their ideas before the end of the day.
- Allow flexi-time. This does not work for jobs such as customer support and live chat. However, for jobs that are not 9-5 dependent, you could perhaps allow your staff to have flexi-time, which would enable them not to miss their kids' events or other important personal stuff.
