7 Tips for Not Getting Stagnant with Employee Satisfaction a Year into the Pandemic

It may be years until we fully understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, but even now it’s becoming obvious that big changes are on the horizon for business. These new trends are most visible when it comes to how companies adapt to the post-pandemic needs, priorities, and expectations of their employees.

While many companies are desperate to get back to the business-as-usual status quo of 2019, the reality is that it’s not going to happen. Workers have seen the benefits of going remote, and now most of them have no intention of coming back into the office five days a week.

It’s a brave new world out there. If you want your company to thrive in this new era, it’s time to rethink some things. There’s no better place to start than how to improve employee satisfaction in a remote-work reality.

The Basics

Many companies now have a year of experience managing remote teams, making it almost impossible to argue against the viability of a work-from-home model. While some workers will eventually want to return to a physical office, a recent PwC report claims that as of January 2021, an astonishing 83 percent of employers say the shift to remote work has been successful for their company. Additionally, over half of employees would prefer to be remote at least three days a week moving forward. Hundreds of major companies are now offering work-from-home options as a kind of job perk, and even reducing the size of their office space in anticipation of a smaller in-person workforce.

It’s clear that the new “hybrid work model” isn’t going anywhere. But how do you actually make it work for your business? How do you keep your employees productive and satisfied without those daily face-to-face interactions? Do you want to prevent stagnation? How do you improve motivation, and keep productivity levels high?

Here are seven tips to keep things dynamic and fresh during this post-pandemic remote-work restart.

1. Provide Clear and Consistent Communication:

   One of the drawbacks of a remote-work system is that there is less opportunity to casually check in with team members throughout the day. This means that it’s essential that the communication workflows — particularly when it comes to things like assignments, deadlines, and status updates — are as clear as possible. This also means investing in the right communication technology, including cloud-based solutions for video conferencing, project management, and virtual workspaces.

2. Focus on Giving Timely Feedback:
   

   Constructive feedback is one of the keys to strong employee satisfaction. This is relatively easy to do in a traditional office setting, but it’s surprisingly easy to overlook opportunities for this feedback in a remote-work context. Something as simple as an end-of-week email or instant message recognizing employees’ efforts can have huge results in overall employee satisfaction.

3. Invest in Productivity-Tracking Tools:

   It’s not exactly a secret that some workers struggle to maintain their normal levels of productivity in a work-from-home context. They may get distracted without in-person oversight, or even become a little lazy. Productivity-tracking tools help to keep everyone honest. These tools can also help to identify potential problems with tricky assignments or heavy workloads before they start to impact employee job satisfaction.

4. Motivation is More Important Than Ever:

   Many of the most-effective and time-tested methods for improving employee motivation just aren’t as effective for remote workers. What good is taking everyone out for lunch, for example, if half your team doesn’t even live in the same city? One option is to have a virtual lunch. You can buy  delivery service gift cards for employees and then they can pick what meal they’d like to purchase for the virtual meeting. While thing can boost team morale, it might not be enough to truly motivate your team. It’s worth considering some remote-ready motivation strategies instead. One great example? Use a gamification platform, such as Splash for SugarCRM or Flare Gamification for Zendesk, to motivate your employees to do exactly what you need them to do in your software.

5. Find Opportunities to Build Trust:
   

   It can be difficult to build a sense of trust and comradery between team members when they work in a distributed workspace. This can have a negative impact on morale. This is particularly true during crunch periods or when team projects get bogged down by delays. By creating a space for casual interactions, team members can steadily build up those all-important trust levels. Try chatting for a few minutes immediately before a video conference or hosting an after-hours game or trivia contest.

6. Rethink Your Onboarding Strategy:

   Your company has changed during the pandemic. Why would you force new employees to learn the old way of doing things? Now is the perfect time to update onboarding processes for new employees. The truth is, many of them may never set foot in the company’s physical offices anyway. Hiring priorities may also need an update. Think about what the skill sets your employees may now need to have. These could include more of a focus on computer literacy, technical skills, and an improved understanding of distributed workflows.

7. Schedule One-On-One Meetings:
   

   Even if face-to-face meetings become a thing of the past, it’s still important for managers to have strong personal connections with their workers. One-on-one video conferences are a great way to do this. They provide an opportunity to talk about issues outside of a conference call or group chat. This is essential for things like performance reviews, constructive criticism, and other personalized guidance. One of the most important things for any employee is to understand his or her place within the company. How does their role matter in the big picture? It’s something employers sometimes forget to show in a physical office, let alone a distributed one. Having these one-on-one meetings allow you to regularly check.

Conclusion

As the world adjusts to the “new normal,” it’s tempting to obsess over the things we’ve lost. Forcing employees to fit into the old workplace model is a recipe for resentment, frustration, and plummeting job satisfaction. Instead, let’s focus on rebuilding a better, more efficient, and more satisfying workplace. Acceptance can go a long way.

Is your company struggling to come up with a post-pandemic strategy for its workforce? FayeBSG can help. Let us show you how to use today’s smartest technology — CRM, ERP, CX, and more — to improve your business, streamline your workflows, and increase your profits. Contact us today for a no-risk consultation.

The post 7 Tips for Not Getting Stagnant with Employee Satisfaction a Year into the Pandemic appeared first on FayeBSG.