Remote Work is Here to Stay
A recent survey conducted by the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank, the University of Chicago and Stanford shows that most companies expect both fully remote and hybrid work scenarios to grow. This has left many enterprise organizations grappling with enhancing employee engagement in a hybrid work environment. Despite many companies encouraging employees to return to an office environment, the remote/hybrid work model is now the norm. So how will companies keep their employees motivated and engaged in the era of remote work?
Employee Engagement Strategies in a Hybrid Workplace
Recently Avature, an onboarding company, recommended a set of strategies companies can adopt to keep employees engaged in this new work landscape. These strategies would not only help with the recruitment and onboarding process but also ensure that overall productivity and talent retention would continue to thrive and grow in this new environment.
Their recommended best practices include:
- Fine-tune Virtual Onboarding - In this new scenario, organizations must rethink many steps of their recruiting and hiring processes. Onboarding is one of them. Enterprise organizations will have to rely on technology to transition the onboarding experience from purely administrative to social. Maintaining the social elements of onboarding can help companies promote employee engagement early on, which can have a long-term impact on retention, as well as reduce time to productivity as new hires find their feet faster, supported by their peers.
- Keep Employee Engagement Social - Beyond onboarding, companies should implement social employee engagement strategies to thrive in this new hybrid work landscape. For most managers and direct reports, the experience of working exclusively from home presents unique challenges as offices are no longer the preferred space where employees and managers converge. Organizations need to create an online employee hub as a mechanism for bringing company culture to life.
- Boost Employee Engagement Through Internal Mobility - Hiring from within is another strategy that can significantly impact employee engagement. As competition for skilled talent continues to increase, internal mobility helps organizations get more from their existing workforce by identifying and leveraging skills that already exist within the organization. This also enhances retention across companies, making employees aware of different available opportunities that may help them develop, both professionally and personally.
- Focus on Principles of Continuous Performance Management - Another best practice for encouraging employee engagement in hybrid work models is to focus on implementing the principles of continuous performance management. The continuous model is uniquely positioned to provide meaningful engagement by replacing the once-a-year appraisals of yesteryear with ongoing, highly visible, and ever-evolving discussions.
- Adopt AI to Address the Skills Gap - It is increasingly important for companies to focus on their skills strategy to thrive in this agile scenario. AI is exceptional at making connections and identifying relationships which allows for insightful predictions. Applying it to a skills-matching strategy will enable companies to better understand their skills gap and identify where to concentrate their efforts efficiently.
Upgrading Your Employee Recognition Program
You will need an employee recognition program that can adapt to your new workplace model. Our technology-based solution can adjust to your virtual work environment and continuously recognize and reward your employees’ performance. Give us a call.
