How to Account for Disengaged Employees in a Remote Setting: 4 Tips

Even the best leaders and workplaces in the US have challenges with a disengaged employee– or employees– on their team. Working remotely can get lonely for people. A remote employee in the US can easily lose touch with their leaders and coworkers on their team. It’s also easy for a remote employee (or employees) to lose sight of larger company goals or progress when they’re in a remote setting. Here are 4 ways for leaders to get their employees engaged, even if the employee is fully or partially remote.

1. Perform more frequent check-ins with remote workers.

One of the best ways to reduce disengagement among a remote employee or employees is to set up regular team, or one-on-one, employee check-ins. Leaders will get a better read on whether employees are feeling motivated, engaged, or disengaged. Check-ins are a good time for leaders to share how their employees’ work contributes to larger team goals. Leaders could also get feedback from their remote employees, asking people how their experience could be improved upon, how manageable their workload is, etc. Sometimes it’s enough just for leaders to get that feedback from their remote team or to check in with their people. People frequently just want to feel heard.

2. Use anonymous surveys to research whether or not you have employees engaged with their jobs.

It’s a best practice for US companies with a remote team of people to use anonymous surveys. These help them to research how engaged or disengaged their employees feel. With an anonymous survey, employees may feel more comfortable being honest about their experience. Employers will get their worker’s true concerns, not just the feedback they feel comfortable sharing in front of their boss.

3. Recreate the experience of watercooler chat, even in a remote workplace.

Often, employees are disengaged because they don’t get to connect much with the people on their team. Employees who work remotely don’t experience casual chats at lunch or at the water cooler. Employers can help to recreate these moments by leaving time for people to make small talk at team meetings or employee check-ins. Even if it’s only for a few minutes, every employee on the team may benefit greatly by taking time to connect with their team as people, not professionals.

4. Ensure that leaders aren’t favoring in-person employees over the remote workers.

A key tip for keeping employees engaged is to ensure that any employee working remotely receives the same opportunities as an employee on the team that comes into the office (or the people that come into the office every day). Sometimes, a remote employee can feel discriminated against or just less important than the people who have frequent face time with their bosses.

Want more? Here are our 10 tips for managers of remote teams.

How to Account for Disengaged Employees in a Remote Setting: 4 Tips

1. Perform more frequent check-ins with remote workers.

2. Use anonymous surveys to research whether or not you have employees engaged with their jobs.

3. Recreate the experience of watercooler chat, even in a remote workplace.

4. Ensure that leaders aren’t favoring in-person employees over the remote workers.

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