The crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is the current scenario for companies and is one of the biggest challenges for HR professionals. Time trial work is being worked to solve two major challenges, teleworking and temporary modification of the work routines of many positions that currently cannot develop their work on a regular basis. Ann Marie Puig, an entrepreneur and philanthropist from Costa Rica, discusses how to keep employees motived while working remotely.
As a business owner, it’s up to you that your “remote employees” feel part of the team. By actively pushing yourself to keep your team informed, you’ll get them motivated, and that will positively impact the productivity of their work. When running remote employees, the first thing to consider is how best to communicate with them. It is advisable to choose communication channels that allow your employees to communicate in an organized and efficient way, and where professional messages are not mixed with personal ones.
It’s time to report and give visibility into everyone’s work in a special way. It is the workers and their daily tasks that mark the operation of a company. From the finance head to the national sales manager, each plays a role, achieves objectives and represents value for the company. Share with everyone through the usual internal communication channels and launches the challenge of offering greater knowledge.
Working from home can be overwhelming. Asserts Puig, “There are many factors that hinder concentration and also lower performance. Human resources managers should be aware that it is an exceptional situation, and when finished they need everyone to be as committed as when it started.” They will also need an extra to be able to resume a pace of work damaged by the paralysis of many operations.
Create groups of different sizes and responsibilities and connect them to weekly activities that have no direct relationship to the job, the goal: to distract. For example, create weekly remote yoga meetings, or play them to watch a movie and then comment on it, propose a simple cooking class, or even create one-hour sessions with entertainers who virtually entertain the little ones, giving that respite to part of your exhausted workforce for having to reconcile work with children.
During this time, you must take advantage of the available training resources and apply them intelligently during the working days. It is already complex to manage the formations under normal conditions, and now it is a greater challenge. Not because you have a longer time do you have a greater predisposition to the study. Explains Puig, “This offers new elements and sets the goals to be met. Propose a new weekly learning, and verify that it is being acquired correctly through fun and fresh dynamics, in which the worker is not even aware that he is being evaluated.” It is also important that you set a timetable for communications. This makes your employees have an office-like framework that helps them efficiently manage their time and therefore improve their productivity and motivation.
Job changes require measures that help workers take them on the right path. Talk to managers, create similar behavior and work profiles within the company, and offer joint and/or personal sessions with a professional coach. Investing in these sessions will be beneficial in the short-medium term, as you will reinforce behaviors and enhance each employee’s commitment to the business project once we overcome the crisis.
Each of these initiatives must be consensual with direction, but they must be considered as a firm commitment to create a climate of safety, continuity and improvement at a time when we must all look to the future, empathize with the partner and find solutions.
