The sudden transition to the virtual world as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has posed considerable challenges to morale in the workplace. Because of this, finding ways to boost morale means that you’ll need to be innovative and imaginative to do so. Luckily, there are a few effective methods for keeping employee morale up virtually. These include the following:
- Prioritize recognition
- Foster collaboration and connection
- Introduce flexible working hours
- Create opportunities for leadership
- Practice listening and empathizing
1. Prioritizing Recognition
The struggle with the virtual setup is that you are unable to give in-person gratitude to your employees. More importantly, it can be easier for employees in remote work to feel as though their efforts are going unnoticed. Recognition, whether virtual or not, really makes an impact on employees because it allows them to feel like a valuable asset to your team. Prioritizing recognition in ways such as sending simple video messages or sharing weekly highlights of small achievements is an effective method of boosting morale.
2. Foster Collaboration and Connection
In the virtual setup, working in isolation can demotivate employees to deliver quality work. One way to address this is to foster an environment of collaboration and connection. Enriching the workplace culture by opening avenues for team-building activities, implementing peer-to-peer coaching, and hosting fun events such as virtual happy hours can help employees feel that they are not alone. This can help uplift your employees and make them feel connected to the team.
3. Introduce Flexible Working Hours
Adjusting to the virtual setup is challenging. Employees might have more responsibilities to attend to at home or might be dealing with a personal challenge. Flexible working hours can help encourage your employees to step away from the screens to recuperate, rest, and relax. Introducing weekly mental health hours, for example, can give employees the time they need to care for themselves and feel recharged to report back to work.
4. Create Opportunities For Leadership
Introducing spaces for new leaders to emerge is an effective method of boosting employee morale. This is because it can help inspire other members of the team to reflect and actualize their wants, needs, and goals as well. Offering spaces through mentorships, resource provision, and more can help form new leaders who can inspire the rest of the team to reach for more.
5. Practice Listening And Empathizing
Now more than ever, it is crucial for leaders to listen to the needs of their employees. One way to improve morale is to acknowledge and listen to what employees need. Compiling a list of your findings and sharing this with the team can help you gauge what ideas can help boost morale on the team. You can use this as a way to allow your employees to feel heard, establish a conducive working dynamic everyone agrees on, and energize your team to perform optimally.
Keeping employee morale up virtually can be challenging but it is critical in sustaining an efficient team. A few examples you can do to keep morale up virtually are through prioritizing recognition, fostering collaboration and connection, introducing flexible working hours, creating opportunities for leadership, and practicing listening and empathizing. All of these methods are great starting points for ensuring that your team feels valued especially in a new working environment.
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