The current coronavirus pandemic is forcing people to work from home in order to stay safe and healthy. There’s a good chance many of the employees in your company aren’t handling this change well. It can be much harder to work at home than at the office because you’re faced with more distractions. Aside from the common challenges of working remotely, workers also have to deal with stress and fear caused by the COVID-19 crisis. As a leader, you need to do everything in your power to boost staff morale. Here’s how you can do that.
1. Drop the Serious Tone Occasionally
Although your employees should know that they still have to work hard even despite everything that’s going on, you should drop the serious tone from time to time. Start meetings with a joke or encourage conversations that aren’t related to work. Understand that your employees are afraid due to everything currently going on. In this situation, being a good leader requires you to drop the serious tone and help keep your workers’ minds off the crisis. Encouraging employees to engage in small talk before you get down to business is an excellent way to help them get used to working from home.
2. Encourage Video Chat
Your staff members are going to feel lonely while working from home sooner or later. They suddenly won’t have the option of engaging in water cooler conversations and go on coffee or lunch breaks together. This is why you should let your team know that not much has changed and that they can still communicate with each other. Encourage them to take coffee breaks together via video chat. It’s important for your employees to feel connected to each other to boost their happiness.
3. Schedule a Group Workout
Do you or some of your employees like working out? Take advantage of that and schedule a group workout that either you or one of your workers will lead. You can also take turns hosting workout sessions. It’s a good idea to do this at least once a week to boost morale and increase productivity. It can be hard to decide to start training when you’re sitting at home all day. Group workout sessions are an excellent way to help your employees develop healthy habits during the quarantine. Make sure you try different workout plans each week. For instance, you can do cardio one week and yoga the next.
4. Host a Virtual Happy Hour Each Friday
Consider hosting a virtual happy hour at the end of each workweek to give your employees a chance to unwind. Since bars and restaurants are closed, people can simply grab their favorite drinks and enjoy each other’s company via group video chat. Despite the fact that your staff can’t meet up physically, they can still have fun on a Friday afternoon together. Not only will it help them connect but it will give them a sense of normalcy during this crisis.
5. Host Employee Milestone Celebrations
Every time an employee finishes a huge project or reaches an important goal, you should host a virtual celebration. Taking an hour or two to celebrate will show your team that their hard work is recognized. Something as simple as hosting a virtual team event can have a tremendous effect on your employees’ happiness and motivation. Time tracking solutions can help you recognize even the smallest achievements. But be sure to introduce it correctly to your team.
6. Be Understanding
You don’t know the personal situation each of your employees is in, so it’s important that you are understanding if they need more time than usual to finish certain tasks. Some people may be overly anxious or depressed over everything that’s going on, while others may have family members that they need to take care of. Remember that the main challenge your workers are faced with is not working remotely but the coronavirus pandemic. Being understanding will show your team that you care about them, which will mean a lot to them.
7. Encourage Learning
Your workforce will get tired of doing the same thing over and over again sooner or later, which is why you should encourage them to learn new skills. Hold one-on-one meetings with each of your employees and ask them whether they would like to learn something new. If it’s something that will both keep them happy and be of value to your company, enroll them in an online course. Learning a new skill is a great way for your workers to fight boredom at home and boost their motivation.
Some of your employees may be working toward a postgraduate degree, and if they need dissertation help let them know they can come to you for assistance. If their dissertation is related to your field of expertise, share your knowledge to help them get closer to a PhD while they’re stuck at home.
8. Organize Contests
Organizing contests is a great way to bring some excitement to your employees’ lives. You can hold a biweekly contest and give away prizes like Amazon gift cards to the winners. One idea for a contest is to have your workers submit ideas for how people can spend their free time while at home. Choose the best answer and announce who the winner is during your company-wide virtual happy hour.
9. Provide Feedback
The great thing about working in an office is that you can bump into one of your employees in the elevator and let them know they’ve been doing a great job. When your team is working remotely, you will have to deliberately call each worker and provide feedback on their work. Providing feedback is an excellent way to show your staff that you recognize the hard work they’re doing.
Bottom Line
What’s happening now is an unprecedented event and nobody knows what will come next. However, business owners and HR executives have to show courage and strength now more than ever. You have to make sure that your ship is running smoothly, and the only way to do that is to keep your crew happy and motivated.
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