How to keep remote employees motivated and engaged

Companies that nurture a culture of learning and improvement have been proven to retain employees for longer

Employees globally have found a much better work-life balance with new ways of working. Alamy

A recent report by Cisco found that 90 per cent of UAE employees want to work either in a hybrid or fully remote working model in the future. Let that sink in.

It’s no surprise really. We’ve heard countless testimonials of the benefits of global hiring, whether it is from business leaders who have noted that remote work helps increase employee productivity or from employees who have found a much better work-life balance with these new ways of working.

This should incentivise companies to embrace a long-term, remote-first approach. However, building a great distributed workforce culture isn’t easy, given the lack of face-to-face communication and perks of in-office bonding. But it’s more than possible.

Whether the company is fully distributed or hybrid, the distributed team deserves investment in a remote work culture.

According to a FlexJobs study, toxic workplace culture has been the leading cause of employees quitting their jobs, especially during the Great Resignation. At the same time, companies that nurture a culture of learning and improvement have been able to retain employees for almost twice as long as the average retention span of 2.9 years.

It highlighted that when leaders nurture interpersonal relationships, foster belonging and celebrate accomplishments in the workplace, employees are about 400 per cent more likely to feel engaged in their role.

Engagement correlates to increased employee satisfaction and retention, which can even positively impact company profitability.

Moreover, leveraging technology can strengthen a company culture.

Encourage employee resource groups

Employee resource groups are employee-led groups where workers gather in a safe space to discuss and support common goals and experiences. These groups encourage employees to build trust with their peers, facilitate friendships and bring their full selves to work each day.

The groups can help distributed workers bond as they don’t have a physical office space to spend time together like office employees.

When implemented correctly, on a company-wide level, they can help identify issues before they escalate and reduce the possibility of the environment becoming toxic.

Groups related to mental health are particularly helpful in companies embracing global hiring since the time difference can affect communication and lack of water cooler face-to-face chats can cause isolation in a remote set up.

Talk about career development with employees

Once employees become more tenured in their role, encourage them to be transparent with their manager on growth areas and see if they can leverage their experience to reach a higher level of contribution.

That could be organising team meetings for collaboration, creating a training session where they excel or connecting one-on-one with a team member each week to check in on them and act as a leader.

Have a shared goal to boost collaboration

Shared visions and common goals develop a bond between leaders and employees, allowing them to enjoy success and face failure as a team.

Although we are unique individuals with different aspirations, once employees join a team within a particular organisation, it is not all about professional growth; it is also about the company's growth.

That’s the reason senior leaders should focus on creating a shared goal and encouraging employees to work together to achieve it.

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Top 15 companies to work for in the UAE, according to LinkedIn — in pictures

Luxury retailer Chalhoub Group is the best company to work for in the UAE this year, according to LinkedIn. Photo: Chris Whiteoak / The National

Abu Dhabi’s strategic investment arm, Mubadala Investment Company, was second on the best company list. Photo: Mubadala

Healthcare provider Mediclinic was third on the LinkedIn list. Reuters

Europe’s largest bank, HSBC, is the fourth best company to work for in the UAE this year, according to LinkedIn. Reuters

Hospitals operator Aster DM Healthcare completed the top five best companies to work for in the UAE in 2022. Jeffrey Biteng / The National

National health insurer Daman was sixth. Ryan Carter / The National

The Al Tayer Group and its portfolio of businesses was seventh. Photo: Facebook

Cosmetics company L’Oreal was eighth. Reuters

Dubai lender Mashreq Bank was ninth on LinkedIn's list. Satish Kumar / The National

Life insurer MetLife rounded out the top 10 companies to work for in the UAE. Reuters

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank was 11th.

Gulf Marketing Group (parent of Sun & Sand Sports) was 12th. Photo: Facebook

Business conglomerate and mall operator Majid Al Futtaim was 13th.

E-commerce company Amazon was 14th. AP Photo

Energy services company Schneider Electric completed the LinkedIn top 15. AFP

This is where sharing the results also makes an impact — when the team knows about the difference they’re making, they’ll feel motivated to do even more.

Create and foster intentional connections and mentoring

Leaders should make themselves available to build one-on-one connections with employees at all levels as well as encourage other senior leaders to do the same for less experienced colleagues.

Senior leaders can give more junior employees unique insight into company priorities and share stories and tips from their own career development. Providing employees with a meeting template or guidelines ahead of the call will allow them to be prepared to make the most of the time.

Mentor relationships can enhance the bond between employees. More than 70 per cent of Fortune 500 companies implement mentoring programmes, and many of them have seen positive effects on different aspects of company culture, such as diversity and better employee experience.

Finally, I will say that whether the employees work from the office or opt for remote work, leaders need to establish a team culture to keep everything and everyone together.

As business leaders, it is worth keeping front of mind that hiring a top-notch workforce depends on the values the company promotes.

Tarek Salam is head of Mena expansion at Deel