Hybrid or remote working we know isn’t for everyone; some thrive whilst others struggle with the concept of working remotely. As an employer, it can be a really tricky balance to get right for your teams, especially as we are in the middle of the cost of living crisis where you may be potentially having to close the office a few days a week to try and save on energy bills.
Not everyone is a self-starter or motivator, even those that are, can have their off days (me included!). So, how do you manage the balance? What can you do to keep people safe, happy and motivated when not in the office?
- Culture: remember it is important to live by the values you want your employees to do.
- Support: what is in place to help those who are open about their struggles or are showing signs of impacted performance.
- Work-life-balance: are you fostering a healthy balance for ALL employees?
- Time management: are employees managing their time well? Taking regular breaks? Achieving their objectives?
Working longer and managing our time poorly can quickly lead to increased stress and anxiety, which affects the way we function especially when it comes to concentration levels and productivity. Some of the most successful people work in small chunks of time, the world is no longer 9am-5pm, does your business operating times need to be that way for ALL employees? Or could there be more flexibility?
I think one of the biggest areas I support my clients with supporting employees is when it comes to new starters. Getting the onboarding process right is key to your new starters feeling included, welcomed, and settled. It’s all in the small things for me; for example, communication pre-start date with an induction pack and mapping out their first week or 2 is a no brainer. No one like to feel like a spare part on their first day and if you start remotely, it can certainly feel like that very quickly.
Making sure there is an induction process/period and new employees are made to feel welcome and get the deserved time and attention (if only I had £1 for every time a Manager said they hadn’t had time to train/spend time with a new employee and then wonders why the new employee leaves or becomes totally disengaged!).
Let’s not forget training! If one thing is for sure it’s that the world doesn’t stay still for long, especially if you’re in HR. So, if there is a need to upskill, update and or take on new learnings look for options that cover all angles, give employees the option for in person or digital learning (where possible), like many things in life we all learn differently and the more employers can recognise that, the more they will engage employees.
Team building exercises, manager training and company conferences can all be taken online too, or approached with a hybrid solution. If I’ve learned one thing over the last few years it’s to always think outside the box and push boundaries, things we thought weren’t possible just a few years ago are now fixed in the most successful toolkits we have!
