It’s a brave new world.
According to the US Census Bureau, the number of people working from home has tripled in the wake of the Covid-19 Pandemic.
This spike in remote workers began as a public health necessity.
But remote teamwork has so many perks that companies are keeping their virtual office open.
Employees benefit by saving time and money on commuting and childcare.
Employers can recruit candidates that live beyond the commuter radius.
But working from home has its downside.
Remote teams often feel less connected to their coworkers and company values, causing a drop in performance and productivity.
Hence the conundrum: How do we keep remote employees focused, excited, and functioning as a team without face-to-face interactions in the office?
How to Create an Energized Remote Work Environment
- Use all the features of your communication tools.
- Be present for your employees by giving them feedback and personal training.
- Offer them all the benefits of an in-office job plus the flexibility of working remotely.
- Recognize remote team members on a job well done.
We work day in and out with virtual teams from a vast range of industries, and we’ve collected some top-tier strategies for motivating your remote workers.
How To Keep Remote Teams Motivated and Engaged
Employee engagement — both with coworkers and management — is paramount in keeping your remote teams motivated and productive.
But building connections in a virtual or hybrid work model is tough, especially when remote members work different hours than those in the office.
The key is frequent and transparent communication. Your employees need to understand expectations, instructions, and company values clearly — and also feel like they are valued members of the team.
This is true in any work setting, but communication needs to become even more intentional when your employees aren’t doing daily life together at the office. The feeling of isolation is a massive demotivator in any work environment.
Let’s dive into our favorite strategies for building connections among your remote workforce.
Improve Communication
Communication is the first step in building a team that’s driven, excited, and pumping out quality work.
1 – Use All the Slack Features
Many remote teams use Slack as a digital headquarters.
Get the most out of Slack by exploring underutilized features that can tighten the bond between your employees.
Make sure everyone knows they can set up private channels, send audio and screen recording files, and set reminders in the app.
Craft the perfect communication app for your business using Slack’s app directory and third-party integrations.
2 – Rely on Video Conferencing for Face-to-Face Interaction
When it really can’t be an email, use a video conferencing platform like Zoom or Teams for meetings rather than rely on phone calls.
Looping in remote coworkers to relevant video calls can help build the sense of community that they may be missing.
A quick video or phone call builds a stronger connection than a DM and gives more room for your employee to ask questions.
Don’t hesitate to start each week or each project with a conference call to check in with your remote teams.
3 – Express Interest in Your Employee’s Personal Lives
Sometimes we need small talk.
Show your employees that you care about their personal lives, and encourage a healthy work-life balance.
Simply including a line in an email to ask how little Susie’s dance recital went can go a long way in boosting morale.
Send virtual birthday cards to let your remote team members know you value them as individuals.
Afino integrates with Slack to share employees’ birthdays and personal interests with the team, fostering conversation.
123Greetings can help you keep up with sending virtual greetings. It will send out preselected cards on the date you choose, making sure no one’s birthday or anniversary is left out.
4 – Be Available for Remote Team Members to Get in Touch with You
While you can’t be available 24/7, make sure your remote employees know the hours that they can pop into your virtual office and ask questions.
Encourage them to reach out to you when there’s a problem and to request quick one-on-one calls to discuss concerns.
Work Together in Real Time
When employees are working independently, they can fall prey to the pressure of perfectionism.
Ease the burden of the “Rugged Individualist” mentality by creating real-time space for people to work as a team.
1 – Digital Buddies
You can pair up remote team members to promote camaraderie and accountability.
Digital buddies should check in with each other a few times a day to chat, cheer each other on, and provide a sounding board.
Having a work buddy will regularly remind your staff that no person is an island.
This can also reduce the burden of employee engagement on the management.
In larger companies, managers may not be able to connect one-on-one with remote employees on a regular basis.
Pairing up employees doesn’t replace the need for management to check in, but a work buddy becomes the first line of accountability.
2 – Remote Coworking
Zoom, Microsoft Teams, WebEx- popular video conferencing software isn’t just for working through agendas!
You can connect with your remote team by setting up an hour in which everyone works together via video chat.
Employees can chat, play music, or simply work in silent companionship.
This builds rapport and keeps the door open for someone to speak up if they have questions while working.
3 – Host a Virtual Lunch
Since the origin of humanity, eating together has been a bonding ritual.
Nothing fully replaces going out to a favorite cafe with your coworkers, but there are some great alternatives in this digital age!
You can host a lunchtime meeting over video chat or carve out some time for team building activities.
Check out some of our unique Virtual Lunch ideas.
The best part of a virtual lunch? Someone can reheat fish in the microwave, and it won’t bother anybody.
Focus On Productivity
It’s important to acknowledge your employees’ personal lives without losing sight of the job to be done.
These techniques will help you maximize your team’s productivity.
1 – Don’t be a Helicopter Boss
It can be tempting to hover, but nothing kills employee motivation like a micromanager.
Instead, learn the work style of your employees and allow them to sharpen their time management skills as they take ownership of the projects assigned to them.
Remote workers will be more motivated to work well for the boss that entrusts them with projects rather than the one that seems to be in constant doubt that they are doing their jobs.
2- Give Feedback and Professional Training
It’s good to give remote workers time to shine, but it’s equally crucial that you provide meaningful feedback—especially when your team operates from far-flung corners of the world.
Whether you offer praise or constructive criticism, feedback is key to improving the performance of people working remotely.
Team members will feel ignored or unimportant if their work goes unchecked for too long.
It’s up to you as a leader to encourage growth and learning among your remote teams.
Even if it means staying up late at night or logging in early in the morning to catch everyone in different time zones—it all ultimately pays off by building stronger teams, clearer communication and boosting morale.
Offer your remote teams access to professional development training courses as well.
The more education you give them, the more your staff will have the confidence to take on new challenges, the better their teamwork will become.
3 – Schedule Communication and Deep Work
Encourage your remote workers to follow a schedule. Consider sitting down to a video meeting with your team and creating a schedule that works for everyone.
A 2021 study revealed that 60% of remote workers stay up late to work.
Nobody performs their best when underslept; if you let your employees have a hand in crafting their schedules, you can make sure their personal needs are met.
Post a regular time to check in with team members toward the beginning and the end of the day. Set aside time for “deep work” – or distraction-free time where your employees can get into a flow state and make things happen without worrying about what’s going on in Slack.
Then respect employees’ personal schedules and don’t expect them to be within reach once the work day is over.
By designating set work hours and maintaining a schedule similar to the one employees follow in the office, your remote teams can establish a routine that feels efficient, structured, and focused.
4 – Train Your Employees on How to Use Your Productivity Stack for Teamwork
We’ve all seen people do something in twelve steps that could be done in four if only they knew the shortcuts.
So whether you use Asana, Monday.com, or Trello for project management, host virtual training sessions to make sure that everyone understands how to use your productivity stack efficiently.
Recognize Employee Performance
Feeling appreciated at work massively increases job satisfaction, which leads to more energized employees.
A rising tide raises all ships, right? Develop a culture of recognition in your company.
1- Use Kudos for Team Building
Platforms like Kudos.com build a strong team culture through peer-to-peer recognition.
Coworkers and management can send compliments to each other, which are worth a certain number of points.
Once users accumulate points, they can redeem them for gift cards or other rewards. Talk about a motivator to go above and beyond!
Kudos integrates with workforce management platforms like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Ceridian.
2- Implement an Employee of the Month Award
An employee of the month award gives workers something to shoot for, especially if paired with an extra incentive or prize.
In addition to announcing the winner on Slack or your Facebook posts, you can host an online awards ceremony.
At your virtual awards ceremony, in addition to the employee of the month, you can recognize more team members with whimsical awards, such as “office prankster” or “most likely to be wearing pajamas to a meeting.”
Keep it light; laughing together always builds rapport and helps teamwork among remote employees.
3 – Host Team Building Workplace Competitions
Competitions are a classic sales motivation idea and easy to apply to a virtual setting!
Set competition goals to see who can close the most sales, generate the most leads, or have the most productive brainstorming session.
Competitions are highly adaptable and can fit whatever goals your company sets.
Competitions foster a great sense of community. Raise the stakes by offering a digital gift card or coveted technology item as the prize.
4 – Send Remote Workers Goody Packages
Have you ever received a surprise gift in the mail?
Nothing brightens your day quite like a little “thinking of you” gift.
Your team members will feel the same way!
The goody package can contain a little company swag, a box of snacks, or a flower arrangement. In this case, it is truly the thought that counts.
A gift from corporate signals that the employees are valued and that the management is willing to spend resources to develop a positive company culture.
Virtual Team Building Events
Hosting a virtual team building event is a fun and fabulous way to foster connection in your remote office.
Shared laughs and conversation outside of business meetings will stave off isolation or disconnect among your team.
Here are some catchy virtual remote team building activity ideas!
1 – Virtual Holiday Party
It’s beginning to look a lot like ugly sweater season!
A virtual office Christmas party is an easy way to get the laughs rolling as each team member models their very worst holiday sweater!
Are tacky clothes not your thing? There are all kinds of great ideas for virtual holiday parties that will boost camaraderie among your remote coworkers.
For example, you could send an undecorated gingerbread house to employees and decorate them on a video call – or do something unique and host a virtual learn lock-picking event.
Check out our 28 Virtual Holiday Party Ideas here!
2 – Coffee Break
Remote events don’t have to be elaborate.
They can be as simple as grabbing a mug of your favorite work-appropriate beverage and settling into a comfy chair for a bit of chit-chat.
Of course, if you want to get fancy with your caffeination, you can work with the Jelly Donut Events team to treat your employees to a virtual coffee tasting!
3 – Virtual Cocktail Hour
If coffee isn’t your thing, consider hosting an after-work virtual cocktail hour!
Employees become guests at this virtual team building event and play a few games between drinks.
One of our favorite games is a home office version of MTV’S Cribs – where guests sip their beverages while following a team member on a home office tour.
Or, since everyone will be at home, you can have attendees introduce their dogs, cats, or hamsters at virtual happy hours.
Pets and their unpredictable antics can create just the mental health break your team needs.
4 – Virtual Pep Rally
A virtual pep rally is one of our favorite remote team building activities.
It can be a vital shot of energy for struggling and new team members! Here are some ideas to get you started:
Motivational Jam
Press play on an inspirational song.
Try Roar by Katy Perry or Unstoppable by Sia.
Solicit requests from your virtual team.
What song makes them feel unstoppable?
When you ask about someone’s favorite music, you’re asking them to share a sacred part of their heart with your team and encouraging bonding.
Peer-To-Peer Shoutouts
Save time for peer-to-peer shoutouts!
“Thanks, Martina, for getting those reports done in record time!” or “Hey Thomas, thanks so much for being my sounding board last week!”.
Everyone loves a public compliment.
It will inspire teamwork to hear how coworkers make a difference in each other’s lives.
Teamwork Games to Keep People Laughing
Keep a gag game running, like one called “Sneak It In.”
At the start of the pep rally, participants split into teams, and each team chooses a secret word such as “football,” “meow,” or “cake.”
The goal is to sneak the word into the conversation as many times as possible without others noticing that it’s being overused.
Players get one point for every successful mention, but if someone guesses the word, the other team loses all their points!
Make Every Team Member Feel Seen
Even when you don’t see each other physically, the key to successful teamwork from home is to make sure every person knows their contributions are seen and appreciated.
Value their work-life balance, encourage everyone to build relationships on a personal level, and give them the tools to stay productive.
When done right, you may find that working remotely enables your entire team to crush goals and stay connected even better than in a physical office environment.
