Are Your Remote Employees Still Engaged?

Global Analytics Workplace found that approx. 80% of employees consider teleworking to be a job perk. Research also found that 36% of employees would prefer working from home over a pay increase.

Here are some of the benefits of teleworking for remote employees:

• Reduces attrition
• Reduces unscheduled absences
• Equalizes personalities and reduces potential for discrimination
• Cuts down on wasted meetings
• Increases employee empowerment
• Increases collaboration
• Expands the talent pool
• Improves performance measurement systems

So, we understand the advantages -- but the challenge is now engagement. How can you create a feeling of camaraderie for employees that work remotely? How can you help these individuals feel like they're a part of the team, too? Here are a few ideas:

• Leverage technology to bridge the distance between remote employees and rest of team
• Coordinate face-to-face social gatherings with remote workers and team
• Create informal channels of communication outside of work topics
• Gamify the work to encourage collaboration and interaction between all team members
• Create opportunities for remote works to volunteer with other team members

Source: Forbes