I will be holding a webinar along with Stephen Trimboli in the near future to discuss Common Challenges of Remote Work. In the meantime I will sharing some tips on how to deal with various challenges.

Are you having a hard time keeping up with morale since your organization switched to remote working? This transition has had a psychological impact on employees who were abruptly transitioned out of the office to work from home as it removed their social interaction.  Employers should focus on a way to promote remote social interaction amongst their staff/teams.

One idea: Utilize a local business to send coffee and a cinnamon roll to a few employees each day (using Uber Eats…or maybe the business can accommodate delivery) which they can have during a scheduled Zoom call with the executive team, their manager, etc. This gives you an opportunity to socialize and take their pulse to see how everything is going.

If your workforce is to spread out or just too large to accommodate something like this, set time aside in the beginning of your weekly video calls so you can catch up with each other: “How was your weekend? Any big news you would like to share with the team?”

Research on emotional intelligence tells us that employees look to their managers for cues about how to react to sudden changes or crisis situations. Effective leaders need to acknowledge the stress and anxiety that employees may be feeling in difficult circumstances, but also providing affirmation of their confidence in their teams, using phrases such as “we’ve got this,” or “this is tough, but I know we can handle it,” or “let’s look for ways to use our strengths during this time.” With this support, employees are more likely to take up the challenge with a sense of purpose and focus.