Employee Engagement. Now more important than ever.

The dust has settled. We’re all used to working from home and reality has set in. Now more than ever, it’s important to engage with your team.

By now your employees are either revelling in working from home or feeling stressed, tired, frustrated, disconnected and demotivated. Now more than ever, it’s important to take time out and purposefully engage with your team.

Whilst we can’t have Friday night drinks at the local pub or pat our employees on the back, we can look at other ways to boost morale during the COVID-19 crisis.

We’ve pulled together a handy list of ideas for employers:

• All employees want to feel valued, and they want to hear how you value them. Pick up the phone today and tell someone they’re doing a good job under tough circumstances.

• Providing an unexpected surprise goes a long way. Now, most employers won’t be in a position to pay added bonuses, but a bunch of flowers arriving at the door to say ‘thank-you‘– that’s gold !

• Employee recognition has been changing over time, and we’re finding some employees prefer public recognition to a $100 voucher. If you’re on social media, can you do a shout out to your team?

• Employees want to contribute to a deeper purpose, making a positive difference in people’s lives, giving back to the community and environment. Whilst workplace volunteering is not possible at the moment, if your business has made a charitable donation – tell the team about it and make them feel a part of it.

• Continue to celebrate employee milestones and anniversaries.  A simple email to the individual or entire team acknowledging a milestone or anniversary may be appreciated.

• Make sure fun is still the norm. Send around that Friday silly joke or a pic of your 4-legged furry helper.

• You may well find some team members are glued to their desks working from home and putting in even more hours than they did in the workplace.  Can this be sustained?  Probably not. Eventually it will lead to exhaustion. Encourage recovery time.

• Help the team ‘switch off’ and have a clear separation between work and home, for example, no emails after 5.30pm.

• Ensure employees take plenty of breaks throughout the day, regularly stepping out for fresh air even a quick walk around the block.

• Offering ongoing career development opportunities for staff is still important.  Is there a webinar or other training that can be offered? Just because your team’s working from home does not mean PD falls by the wayside.

• Can you still encourage teamwork and collaboration? With teamwork being a core driver of engagement, provide opportunities for the team to discuss opinions, share ideas and collectively problem solve. A ZOOM meeting is preferably to a long chain of emails!

• Take time to understand the experience your employees are having and not assume. Enable a culture of feedback.

• Ensure your leadership team is united and delivering the same message to the rest of the organisation.

Transparency is key with open and honest communication.  Most importantly, check in with your employees to see how they are doing and provide support if they need it.

Harvest HR & People Solutions has pulled together a number of resources on Mental Health & Wellbeing during crisis.

We also have a range of Mental Health experts in our HR Nexus team that can provide everything from coping with stress, worry and anxiety and cultivating resilience to breathing techniques and mindfulness. Sessions are tailored to your workplace.

Visit our COVID-19 page for more resources or contact Harvest Talent Recruitment and People Solutions for a chat  tel: 1300 363 128