Working from home has only increased in popularity since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, when many companies were forced to abandon their office spaces. This meant that teams were experiencing a new way of working, sitting at their kitchen tables or at built in office spaces in their homes.
For employers, it’s a huge way to save money as a business, but you have to ensure that productivity and efficiency does not fall.
Here, we have detailed some of the ways in which you can keep your team motivated when they are working from home.
1. Have an ‘open door’ policy over video chat
Working from home often makes employees feel like they do not have anyone to turn to if they are struggling either personally or with work, as it is not as easy as going to speak to a colleague or team member in the office space.
As an employer, you should make your team aware that when they are working from home, there are certain times of the day which they can ring you or schedule a conversation so that they are aware they aren’t alone. This should help the team to feel as though they have someone to turn to for advice, and that they know where to go if they do need assistance.
2. Encourage employees to take breaks
When working from home, it can become easier than ever to work through lunch breaks if you are busy and feel overwhelmed. As there may not be the same working day schedule that exists in the office, each employee should be reminded to take regular breaks to find time for things they enjoy, and to recharge. When they come back from their scheduled breaks, they should feel more productive and motivated to continue with their working day and week.
3. Schedule team calls
“One of the best ways to increase motivation and productivity within a team is to remind them that even when they are physically apart, they are working together,” explains Justine Gray of Rosca Technologies.
“Organising team calls to discuss projects which employees are working on alongside what is going on in their lives can help to instil a feeling of teamwork and therefore increase motivation. It should also remind employees that they can schedule their own calls and times to speak to one another to collaborate and work together on shared tasks.”
4. Ensure all documents are easy to find
One of the main tasks of working from home is struggling to access required documents or files. As an employer, it is your responsibility to ensure that all required documents can be accessed and that physical copies are scanned in to ensure that employees working from home have access to anything they might need in their working day.
This should save time and take some of the stress out of the working day, and can be as easy as uploading everything from one device to a shared drive for the company.
