During this time working from home is becoming more and more popular for non essential companies. Working remotely can have its perks but it also can be hard especially for those that have been doing it all year. That's a long time away from your coworkers and kid free work environments. It can be hard for employees to stay motivated when they have so many distractions and the days just seem to blend together while staying quarantined at home.

So how can you keep your employees spirits up and help maintain their efficiency during this Covid pandemic? Here are some ideas to help you and your employees perform at their best during this time:

Communication is key, especially when it becomes harder to connect with people. Your employees need constant communication when working from home. Make sure that your company utilizes multiple ways to reach out to your employees such as video calls, chat rooms, and email.

Keep your employees updated every day about what is happening, what changes may be coming, new information, etc. If they are kept in the dark or keep being blind sided by last minute information, your employees will struggle to keep up and perform their best.

2. Create as much “Face to Face” time as possible

Video calls are extremely important in a time when face to face time is limited and, in some places, prohibited. People are wired to want social connections with others, which is very difficult to maintain when you don’t have the chance to physically see them. One way to help keep a better connection with each other is to require that your employees always have their cameras on during video calls so that you can see each other’s faces. Create as much face to face time as you can so that everyone can connect with each other instead of just a black screen.

Creating these face to face moments also helps employees to focus more on what you are saying. Let your employees see that they are being led by a real person that cares about them and not just someone stuck behind a screen.

3. Don’t micromanage

Working remotely is hard, especially when there are so many distractions at home that could prevent employees from working. But one thing that truly motivates them to keep working hard and maintain their confidence is trust. No one likes to feel like their boss doesn’t think they are working hard or doesn’t believe in them. Micromanaging all of their tasks or projects tears down that trust. Be encouraging and positive when asking for updates or during meetings.

4. Encourage breaks either online or off

When working from home, some employees can tend to overwork themselves or forget to take breaks. But people need to break up their blocks of work in order to be effective. Encourage your employees to take small breaks in between tasks or projects so that they can step away from the screen for a second and get some fresh air or stretch or cook lunch.

Virtual “coffee chats” are a great way to break up your employees day and connect your teams. Breaks like these allow them to get together to talk about things that aren’t work related.

5. Get employee feedback regularly

Check in with your employees individually each day. Make them feel like you care about them and their well being. Ask them how they are doing and how you can help them. Get their feedback on projects, tech experience, meetings, tasks etc. so that you can better understand how they are feeling and help them adjust where ever necessary. It’s also important to check in with your employees personal lives. Getting feedback doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be work related.

One way to get feedback quickly from everyone at once is to send out surveys. These can be an effective way to gauge your employees' feelings.

6. Shout outs

Show your employees that you recognize their hard work and efforts while working from home. Send shout outs on group chats, email, or even during a conference call. Spotlight someone who’s been going above and beyond so that your employees will be motivated to receive that recognition as well. Everyone loves to know when their work is being noticed and is appreciated.

Also, try to make shout outs that aren’t work related like a birthday, anniversary, new baby, marriage, engagement, or any other live achievement that your employees may have. Let them know that you recognize not only work accomplishments, but their personal accomplishments as well.

7. Appreciation Gifts

Your employees have been working hard through all of the chaos and uncertainty of a pandemic. Show them your appreciation by sending them a custom gift they can use while working from home. It doesn’t have to be huge or expensive, but giving them a gift will help them feel appreciated which is a great motivator to keep working hard.

At Namify, we can customize any of our products to fit your company and your employees. Whether you want your company logo embroidered on a jacket or your employees name printed on a tumbler, we can do it all. Just head over to our website to start designing you custom gifts today!

8. Meetings

Meetings are a key component of working from home. Since you don’t get the chance to see each other in person every day it’s harder to communicate with your employees about even small things. This is why having multiple meetings each day and week is very important to keep your team updated and on track. Make sure that they don’t feel like they don’t have enough instruction or leadership when needed.

9. Share tips and experiences

Living in a pandemic is definitely a strange time full of adjustments and growth. One way to help your employees and vice versa is to share your experiences and your hacks to living and working during Covid.

What time management skills have you learned to keep you on track with your daily projects? What recipes have you been creating? What do you try to do on the weekends to “get away” or get out? These are just a sample of questions that your employees might need answering. Let your teams help each other during this challenging time by sharing their tricks that help them live and work effectively.

If you utilizes even just a couple of these ideas towards your employees, they will feel more connected to you and their coworkers and be motivated to perform their best in all their tasks and projects. People respond to appreciation and positivity, so drive you employees to be efficient by emphasizing these two concepts.