5 ways to keep remote employees engaged via communication

Over the next few years, remote working will become more popular. Numerous businesses and workers are now realizing the benefits of remote working as they have grown accustomed to it. 

Digital workplaces are a new normal after the outbreak of COVID-19. This significant career change was undertaken by millions of workers throughout the world, and companies also had to adjust accordingly. The proportion of remote workers who want to continue working remotely has increased from 54% in 2020 to 60% today.

How can companies keep remote workers motivated and engaged? In this modern age of remote workers, it is a rising concern for many managers. Low engagement and low motivation can lead to employee burnout, which is never good for your business. Various solutions, such as time tracking software, were developed throughout the years, but employee monitoring does not automatically make your workers happy and/or engaged.

Further steps can be taken to make your workplace a better remote work environment. Building solid, long-lasting working partnerships and energizing the workforce call for effective team communication in the workplace. 

Companies that wish to support, engage and motivate their international team need to make effective use of communication. In this way, companies can foster team collaboration between remote employees who rarely participate in face-to-face conversations. Consider the following five suggestions if you're seeking strategies to engage your international remote workers with communication.

1. Interact with the employees personally to facilitate socialization

Even though remote work has several advantages, workers reported that loneliness was its worst disadvantage. Companies should make efforts to keep their overseas remote workers engaged by setting social hours to interact and other virtual activities for team-building. 

In addition, companies should assign mentors to newly hired employees. This approach will allow the new hires to have a resource they can turn to with questions and for assistance with getting oriented. Companies need to organize corporate social events and activities to develop such bonds.

2. Make sure you convey your message clearly 

Providing your employees with a clear direction or message will ensure they understand what their roles are and what objectives they should strive for. Managers must convey their ideas properly without offending or confusing the audience. 

To make it easier to communicate clearly, pick the most appropriate medium. It's crucial to consider what you're intending to tell or plan, what the purpose is, and which media to use. Think carefully before deciding whether an instant message, email, or phone conversation is the most effective communication method.

3. Communication can be effective when you use the right technology

Businesses use several methods to encourage successful communication while interacting with employees electronically. By using technology wisely and productive communication tools, you can keep your distant staff in touch. 

Support your team's adoption of technology to share data, files, or documents and improve communication among them. Video conferencing, email, and team chat services are excellent methods to communicate. A video calling tool allows face-to-face contact that can make your remote workforce feel present remotely in the workplace setting.

Sometimes the employees don't open up for what they want. In this case, conducting a survey can be helpful to know what they need. The team at gaming company Solitaire Bliss got amazing employee engagement success by doing surveys.

4. Keep track of progress and have conversations regularly 

Simply asking your staff for their needs might be the most effective thing companies can do to promote engagement. Managers should attempt to engage distant foreign employees by organizing one-on-one conversations to keep them motivated. 

Since remote working allows fewer check-ins, one-on-one talks can be useful to listen to employees' queries and keep track of their progress. 

5. Get professional translation services to help employees with their language needs

When interacting with remote employees, language may be a big hurdle. Now, managers no longer need to acquire other languages to interact successfully with employees who don't speak the same language as they do. 

A trustworthy source, professional translation service providers have a large network of translators and offer one-stop translation solutions. The advantages of this approach include communication abilities and cultural understanding gained through professional translation services.

Why should you engage remote employees?

Let’s face it: remote work is the future. More and more jobs are getting automated, and an increasing number of professionals are now able to perform their job duties online.

Organizations can only expect benefits when they engage their remote workforce. Just as in an in-office setting, engagement is a powerful motivator for employees. 

Some of the benefits that companies see from engaging their remote employees include:

• Increased productivity
• Lower voluntary turnover
• Enhanced team collaboration practices
• Better alignment between coworkers
• Optimized performance and business outputs

Final thoughts

Now an increasing number of businesses have started to realize that many high-performing employees seek remote employment. If your distant workforce is disgruntled or discouraged, they have a myriad of opportunities since firms are increasingly recruiting from a worldwide talent pool. 

Given that other businesses might compete with one another on wages and perks they provide to their employees, effective communication is still essential to corporate success and remote employee engagement.

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