With COVID-19 changing the way many of us have had to work for the past 2 months, it has been important to consider how to look after your team from afar. Looking after staff wellbeing is as important when working remotely as when you’re in the office, and below are some tips on how to drive employee morale ensuring top productivity!
- Check in!
It may sound obvious to state the need to check in on staff during these times, but a simple ‘How are you?’ can go a long way. Whether it is a quick message (we recently started using Google Hangouts to ensure quick and easy messaging) or a scheduled one to one video call, the power of conversation is vital to keep morale high. Be sure to have a HR member of staff available with an ‘open door’ policy for any members of staff to be able to voice any concerns or just to have a confidential chat!
- Take a break
When working from home, it can be easy to be stuck at your desk and the next time you look at the clock, hours have flown by. Ensure that each hour, you are taking a short screen break. When it’s time for lunch, step away from your desk completely and sit out of your designated work from home space. Maybe even try an in-home workout for a great lunchtime activity!
- Equipment
Make sure your team has the correct equipment in order to be able to do their jobs to the best of their abilities, comfortably! Not everyone has the same technology and comfort for an office-based setting within their homes, so allowing staff to take the equipment they need will enhance productivity and wellbeing. Simple measures such as an additional screen or an appropriate chair can be helpful.
- Don’t shy away from the situation
It is normal that each member of your team may feel differently about the situation happening with Coronavirus at the moment. Being transparent about the business and communicating internally in an effective manner, will help to diffuse worry and could help to drive company culture.
- Socialise!
Just because you can’t all be together physically, does not mean team socials should suffer. Those after-work drinks can quickly become an after-work remote drink or even a quiz night, something we have been doing at Wild PR taking turns to be the quizmaster.
Although times have been challenging on occasions, the people within a business are one of the greatest assets and with the support of others, we have gotten through this and there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. Have you ditched the office for good in favour of fully remote working? Can you not wait to get back to the office? Let us know and reach out if you have any other suggestions on how to raise morale, I’d love to hear some ideas and suggestions from other teams working remotely at the moment.