Motivating employees in a post Covid-19 remote working scenario

Importance of internal communication in remote working scenarios

Business organization are an integral part of society which gives way to social interaction as varied individuals with varied work experiences, knowledge, cultural backgrounds and gender come together to share their individual experience and knowledge with each other in an organizational setting. This sharing of knowledge and experiences leads to strengthening of cooperation among the employee, staffs and management and altogether it helps to build an interactive and positive work culture (Lawrence and Weber, 2014). As business organizations operate in a social setting there are significant hierarchical levels through which information pass and which actually sets the direction and pattern on internal and external communication. Business organizations are identified as an important tool for initiating constructive discussion, critical analysis taking it account the needs and demands of the internal and the external stakeholders (Child, 2015). The primary reason why today business organization should provide more focus on internal communication and the aspects of team building is because today employees or people associated with the organization not just look for financial assistance from the organization they work but their level of job satisfaction is equally dependent on the equations they share with their colleagues, the senior management and the overall work culture in which they function (MADAN, 2017).

However in the past one year this experience of business functioning as a social unit of financial transaction has been modified owing to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The growing significance of remote working has led to the changing concepts of how individuals used to interact in the work place (Jasmine, 2019). This interaction not just enabled in knowledge sharing but was undoubtedly a stress-breaker which necessarily helped individuals or employees to stay motivated even in the most stressful conditions. In this aspect this essay will focus on how in this new normal organizational employees who are remotely working can be motivated by the management and what are the core aspects that the management can focus on to strengthen employee-employer relationship in the post Covid-19 scenario

According to a survey conducted by Harvard Business Review between 2010 to 2015 taking into concern around 20,000 workers from 50 major companies (hbr.org, 2020) to actually understand what actually motivates employees and the impact of remote working it was assessed that people working remotely are less motivated and the results seemed to worsen when the employees are left with no choice like the one that they are currently facing due to the pandemic scenario. Thus the economic stress coupled with the emotional pressure and isolated work structure has been a significant reason behind loosing motivation and productivity of employees. When employees do not get the access to interact with colleagues from whom they often learn new things this altogether becomes quite demotivating. Hence such scenarios team leaders or the management of the organization needs to concentrate on ways how virtual or remote working can foster internal team communication as well as help employees stay connected with their colleagues (Owl Labs (Firm), 2017). It is also equally important for the management to understand the psyche of the employees that is what primary factors are acting as a barrier to motivation or how communication between colleagues can be virtually improved to help achieve the set goals without compromising on their mental wellbeing.

Strengthening team building activities in virtual settings

To help the employees find motivation in the work process, the first and foremost important thing is to build a strong communication network (Kaushik and Guleria, 2019). Communication is the key to motivate employees and internal communication can be strengthened through using of technology like Workplace by Facebook which actually helps to bring all the employees of an organization in the same network and allows integration with the help of cloud-based tools (Mark, et al. 2013). Keeping the team together and allowing discussion and sharing of ideas and opinion among the employees using these communication tools will actually help in mitigating the gap that has been created through remote working. Apart from this the management across different industry sector needs to understand the fact that working in isolation definitely demands greater team communication and team building activity (KÅ‚opotek, 2017). Therefore it is more important to focus on group projects that can actually foster team building essence and help to bring more scope for internal communication and discussion among employees. Focusing on team project where few employees can be clubbed to work together is another important way to generate more communication among team members and lessen the feeling of working in isolation (Hunter, 2019). Here using screen sharing software like Screenleap or Team Viewer can help give an impression that the team members are all connected with each other and the people can discuss the whole process of how they intend to work or strengthen their team coordination or can also view the developments or progress made. Hence in these aspects it is easily understood that technology with a creative and flexible work approach is the key to retain employee motivation, reduce the feeling of isolation and overall help employees to remain connected with their colleagues even in remote working scenarios (Flores, 2019).

The main concern here is increasing the employee’s engagement not just limited to his job role but strengthening bond with the organization. Hence performance analysis is a very vital part which helps to build employee’s responsible attitude towards the duties assigned, helps in understanding which are the core areas  that need necessary improvement, makes the employee feel that the management is concerned about the output and also acknowledges the efforts given through bonus, increment or other non-financial acknowledgements (Johnson, et al. 2018). Now as the concern revolves around how to remove the monotony and isolation that rests behind isolated working, hence in this aspect the human resource management of the organisation can arrange for an interactive performance evaluation system where the employees can evaluate each other’s performance in an anonymous manner. This can be done virtually using digital performance management solution along with a virtual discussion session for employees to evaluate individual strengths and weaknesses, create more dialogues between the colleagues and help each other understand better (Yoerger, Crowe and Allen, 2015). The post Covid-19 work scenario will definitely not change much as remote working will still be largely preferred owing to several health risks along with budget constraints of organizations to run physically. Hence to reduce the impact of isolation on the performance of the employees and staffs it is important for the organization to come together to create similar work environment virtually where the employees are equally connected with colleagues, with the management and the concept of remote working does not come in the way of employee motivation and work performance (Ugwu, Onyishi and Rodríguez-Sánchez, 2014).

Effective performance evaluation systems in remote working scenarios

The human resource department of global organizations have a very big role in helping employees to keep themselves motivated and work with dedication without compromising on their mental wellbeing. Hence for making virtual or remote working more interactive as well as keeping the employees motivated as a team the human resource managers can approach the management to initiate virtual luncheons (Al-Emadi, Schwabenland and Wei 2015). This will definitely be different from physically attending an office luncheon yet the interactivity that is often missing in remote working can be brought back using this particular method. Virtual luncheons can help build the necessary interaction between employees, create an informal work setting which is not really present for people working remotely from home (Bratton and Gold, 2017). Another very vital consideration for ensuring employee motivation in the post- Covid-19 work scenario is initiating measures to gradually set up a new normal where the management can arrange for a hybrid work structure. This is very important as to gradually move to normalcy. A hybrid work structure basically suggests the use of both remote working along with rotational shifts of attending office physically (Keating and Heslin, 2015). If an organization has huge employee base it is expected that the human resource department will prepare a roaster where teams would be divided and allotted specific dates for attending office while rest of the team members will work remotely. This kind of hybrid structure is quite useful in breaking the monotony of working remotely as well as helps business maintain the necessary safety protocol.

 However in contrary to all these practices it is also necessary to understand what would actually happen if permanently employees are meant to follow remote working practices post Covid and without any face-to-face interaction in reality how employees can be kept motivated. In this aspect according to Karanges, et al. (2015) the primary instrument to keep employees motivated in remote working is to remove all aspects of uncertainty which might arise when teams are working remotely and there is no scope to come together in reality under one room (Elshaiekh, Hassan and Abdallah, 2018). This uncertainty often lead to more stress among employees, increasing panic affects work and employee morale. Post Covid-19 when the financial conditions of the global market is under extreme crisis apart from clarity in work communication another major motivator is definitely financial security and business organizations have to ensure the same to retain workforce effectively. Financial and non-financial benefits are major ways to drive motivation (Follis, 2014). Along with these the organizations must again focus on training and skill development of employees which is another important aspect to help build motivation for employees. This will not only help in enhancing the overall work attitude of employees but will ensure better job security. Engaging employees through these kinds of strategies have a positive impact on job security which is very necessary in this crisis market condition (Bloom, 2014). Hence to actually help employees find meaning and motivation in work place the management must look after providing better job security along with ensuring safety measures so that the employees can work in a secured environment.

Virtual luncheons as a way to enhance interaction among employees

The Covid-19 pandemic has no doubt completely changed the employee-employer as well as employee-employee relationship with remote working becoming a significant aspect of this post-Covid work culture. In this scenario it has become extremely important to focus on how communication and interaction between teams can be strengthened and how complex work structure can be simplified which will ultimately boost easy flow of information within the organization (Thoti, 2016). This is exactly the reason why hybrid work culture needs to be incorporated by the management where internal and external communication would be prioritised and overall the focus would be to help employees with the necessary equipments and technological assistance that will allow for smooth remote working environment.

 This pandemic scenario has undoubtedly been an eye-opener for people to realise why human beings are identified as social animals. It is very important for humans to strike the right conversation with the right people and this is exactly the reason why business organisations focus on getting employees, the management altogether under one roof (Bower, et al. 2014). It is not just the economic benefits that people expect from their workplace rather it is the conversation, team communication, the overall engagement among employees which develop social relationships and act as stimulation for improving individual performance and strengthen work commitments. Therefore in this new normal retain employee motivation has become a real challenge specifically in situations where remote working is encouraged (Townsend, et al. 2016). Amidst this changing circumstances business organizations have actually realised the significance of face-to-face communication and how it is irreplaceable no matter how well developed the virtual technologies are that enable video conferencing. It is never same to make a direct eye-contact and doing the same on a digital screen. This difference often comes as barrier in understanding the body language of team members leading to miscommunication and lowering the quality of team integration (O’Neill, Hambley and Bercovich, 2014). This is exactly the reason why remotely working companies are still encouraging occasional meet ups for teams in this post-Covid scenario because completely remote team often yield unproductive results and lowers employee commitment to perform. Today in this 21^st century where technology is considered as a boon for business industries and organizations, where technological innovation has been identified as the primary driver of growth this pandemic has proven that technology is no doubt an important force towards bringing significant developments yet the traditional aspects of communication and the significance of face-to-face interactions cannot be replaced with any technology

Gradually transitioning to a hybrid work structure

 The concept of human motivation in workplace is very deeply linked with how the organizational not just values the economic wellbeing of its employees but shows equal concern for the mental wellbeing of individuals. This understanding automatically determines the bond which employees will share with the organization. However in the post-Covid scenario where the market is still recovering, where the risk of the virus is still quite high it is indeed quite difficult to completely return back to normalcy. The health risks and safety of employees and staffs is not allowing organizations to open offices everyday and call all the employees together (Buheji and Buheji, 2020). Hence in such situation to keep the workforce motivated it is important for the management to concentrate on how to help the employees or people realise the benefits that remote working has and enable them to take those advantages. For instance managers can hold a training regarding how in this remote working condition they can use the available flexibilities to build a better work-life balance. The management can also initiate a measure of providing financial assistance to employees to build a better workspace for them so that even when they work remotely they feel equally motivated to give their best for the organization.

The importance of this ongoing crisis situation needs to be understood by employees and organization’s management. This is exactly the reason why now most companies has started their hybrid work structure which will balance the need of employees to have face-to-face conversation without compromising on their health safety (Kniffin, et al. 2021). The post-Covid19 phase cannot be regarded as a Covid-free stage rather it is a recovery phase and here it is equally important to keep restrictions as well as focus on workforce agility so that the employees do not lose motivation. The overall analysis in this essay largely depicts why it is important for employees to physically go to office and why complete remote working is still not preferred owing to the unseen distance that it creates which might come between organization’s productivity and affect employee morale. It has indeed established business organization’s not just as a source of earning financial security but has incorporated it in the social setting that boosts conversation, encourages interactivity and helps in developing meaning relationships.

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