By now, your workforce may be working remotely, and you’ve had some time to evaluate the outcome, and how things are working overall. How have your employees adjusted? What are you doing now to make sure your employees are engaged and productive? What changes do you need to make in the coming months? 

Here are a few strategies to help you enhance productivity and keep our employees engaged while working remotely.  

Stay Connected and Communicate Regularly  

It’s more important than ever before to stay connected. Schedule more check in calls with employees and host more video meetings with free conferencing tools, like Zoom and Google Hangouts, to keep remote workers engaged and connected. 

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Manage Expectations 

A new working situation means defining expectations to help employees to become more efficient. Manage expectations by setting deadlines and keeping realistic goals. Define the scope of work, tasks, and deadlines and define deliverables. 

Use Tech Tools to Boost Productivity

Thanks to technology, employees can be productive in any location. Equip your team with the tools that are right for the project and right for your teams. There are a number of tech tools available to help keep your remote teams on course. Here’s a shortlist of some of the most popular: 

Microsoft Teams. A part of premium Microsoft Office 365 subscriptions, Microsoft Teams is a full-service collaboration and communication suite for video conferencing. Microsoft Teams allows remote workers to chat, meet, call, and collaborate all in one place.

Zoom. Zoom is a popular videoconferencing tool for team meetings and collaborating on projects.

Slack. A smart alternative to email, Slack integrates with Google Docs and DropBox. It has a robust API, enabling IT pros to tailor Slack apps for specific team needs.

Basecamp. For project management, Basecamp core functions include task management, messaging and collaboration, reporting, file sharing, and scheduling. It also includes tools for teams to work together, such as message boards and real-time group chat. Its flexibility also allows you to integrate third-party tools like time-tracking for specific projects.  

Trello. When it comes to project management, Trello’s appeal is in its simplicity. Each bulletin board represents a project where teams can come together to collaborate, assign, and prioritize responsibilities, set deadlines, and determine deliverables. 

Timely. Timely does more than track time. Working with a calendar interface, it schedules tasks and tracks time spent on specific projects in real-time.

Offer Training

At home or in the office, there’s only so much an employee can do in a day. Additional training, such as a time management webinar, may help workers become more efficient with their time.  

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Be Flexible

Working remotely is not the same experience for every employee. Suddenly, your workers are having to meet deadlines while homeschooling children, sharing workspace with a spouse, caring for family members, or managing working roommates. How can you preserve or enhance productivity when your employees have to juggle new changes, work commitments, and family? This may require a shift in focusing on specific outcomes for each employee and being flexible with the timelines to get there. 

Encourage Self-Care

With the added pressure to be available 24/7, employees may feel that there is a blur between their work and personal space. As a result, levels of stress and anxiety are at an all-time high, so it's important for HR professionals to help employees avoid burnout and achieve a healthy balance. 

According to recent research, employees who took a daily 30-minute nap were more productive and had increased levels of patience and attention. 

Encourage remote employees to exercise, get quality rest, and continue to work and live their lives as normal as they can. Help your employees create healthy boundaries. Suggest regular hours for work and support stepping away from the computer. Encourage regular breaks, which can boost their attention and well-being, as well as the company's bottom line. 

Show Appreciation

Acknowledge, recognizing, and rewarding employees for hard work is the key to boosting engagement and productivity among remote workers. Employee recognition can take many different forms, but to be effective, it should recognize and reward employee productivity and dedication. 

A New Norm Requires A New Approach to HR 

For many, managing a remote workforce may be new and require a new way of thinking about HR and a new way to enhance productivity. We are here to help and can show you how. 

As an IRS-certified PEO, Propel HR has been a leading provider of human resources and payroll solutions for more than 20 years. Propel partners with small to midsized businesses to manage payroll, employee benefits, compliance and risks, and other HR functions in a way that maximizes efficiency and reduces costs.